Alrighty, I personally had a lot of fun writing this chapter and quite a lot happens in it. It probably won't seem like it as you read over the chapter, but trust me when I say that this chapter is rather important for a lot of things. I hope everyone enjoys and R&R folks!

--: 10 :--
Something About a Discovery

Sora adored Arabia.

He wasn't even entirely sure why he liked it so much. He was used to the warm weather from Twilight Town, so it wasn't as if this was that big of a change. Most of what there was to see involved sand, sand, and more sand, and he didn't understand a word people around him were saying. Still, for some reason he was having the time of his life, even if they weren't really getting anywhere in their search for the last Princess. Besides, they'd only been there for two days and according to Riku, Xemnas hadn't gotten that much further than they had so they probably still had all the time in the world. There was no harm in having a bit of fun in the meantime.

It was currently night time and Axel had left to try and cover as much ground as possible in one night without missing any spots the last girl could be hiding in. Roxas and he had managed to find an abandoned and rather run-down house — something Arabia did not seem to have a lack of — and they were using it to sleep during the day.

Their little switch from staying up during the night and sleeping during the day still hadn't entirely settled in completely, and so Sora was currently sitting on the balcony of the second story, looking out over the city as he very nearly dozed off. He knew they'd agreed that since Axel could only search during the night they should probably switch around to match the redhead's sleeping pattern for when he actually found the last girl, but it wasn't as easy to switch day and night around as some people had always made it seem. Then again, it could just be because he had hardly slept at all in the days prior to them coming here and he was still recovering from that.

He yawned as he watched the lights flicker outside. He had almost dozed off when he saw a shadow from the corner of his eye and turned towards the entrance of the balcony to see Riku stepping outside. Judging from the tired expression he would usually try to hide, Sora doubted the other had noticed him. Riku had been checking in with them every night to see if they'd found anything yet. Roxas only ever answered the question of whether or not they'd found the last princess, never where they'd looked already. Since Riku still hadn't revealed his motives, Roxas insisted they couldn't trust the other. Sora couldn't bring himself to believe that Riku was really trying to lure them into a trap. It could very well be his hormones talking, but in his opinion there were far easier and faster ways to get them killed.

Watching him now, Sora couldn't help but think Riku looked even more exhausted than Roxas and he himself did. Sora had to wonder if Riku would really put so much effort into getting a group of people killed, completely exhausting himself in the process, when he could just lead an army of Heartless to them to kill them. Keyblade or no keyblade, an army of Heartless would be pretty hard to beat.

"Riku?" The silver-haired teen's gaze shot down to him, obviously startled by his presence. Sora sat up curiously, his fatigue forgotten for the time being. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, why do you ask?" The exhaustion that Sora had previously been able to see so clearly disappeared behind the carefully blank expression that Riku tried very hard to keep up. Although Riku had become much less of a jerk, he still wasn't one to show anybody what was really going on with him by choice.

Sora smiled, the determination to decipher Riku only having grown since he'd first seen that distant, swirling pool of emotions in the other's eyes. "You just looked tired. You should really take a break or something."

Riku shook his head. "Really, I'm fine. I don't have time to take a break anyway."

"Axel's out to try and find the last girl and you've already talked to Roxas," Sora pointed out, "Just come and sit down here and take a break for a while. You seriously look like you could use it, even if you try to hide it."

Riku stared at him for a moment, once more looking like he was trying to figure out a very difficult problem. After a minute he finally shook his head and sighed, walking over and sitting down on the balcony as well. "I give up."

Sora tilted his head. "Give up?"

"I can't figure you out."

"What's there to figure out?" Sora blinked. "Most people think I'm an open book."

Riku chuckled, a smile working its way onto his face for the first time since Sora had met him. "Not like that. I just can't decide whether you're as innocent and weak as I first thought you were, or if you're actually the complete opposite of that. You look like you wouldn't hurt a fly and yet everyone insists that you were the one who killed Larxene. I just can't figure out what you're really like."

Sora pouted at being reminded that Riku still didn't believe he'd beaten Larxene and thought he was weak. "Can't I just be a nice guy who can kick ass?"

"You'd be the first one I've ever met." Riku continued to stare at him, his eyes searching for an answer he wasn't going to find so easily. "So far I've only ever met people who were either nice but weak, or assholes but strong. Strong people just don't bother with being nice generally because it doesn't get them anything and no one can stop them."

Sora stared at the silver-haired teen for a moment before shaking his head. "That's stupid."

Riku burst into laughter. He just couldn't help it. Sora had said it as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world and it had just come out sounding funny.

Sora watched as Riku's entire demeanour changed. The first time he'd seen Riku he'd been undeniably attracted to him. It was a fact that Riku was good-looking and girls would probably kill to go out with him. Regardless of this, Riku's behaviour towards him had stopped Sora from being anything more than just attracted to him. Yes, he'd wanted to impress Riku by proving he wasn't a weakling, but that was also out of a sense of pride. His determination to figure out what was going on in Riku's head had been driven by curiosity and even concern, not because Riku looked like he could be a supermodel.

Now, though, as Riku laughed and for the first time seemed like the teenager he was, Sora was very aware of the fluttering in his stomach. He apparently had issues, as Axel had previously stated it.

Trying to ignore the odd sensation, Sora pouted as Riku continued to laugh. "Don't laugh at me!"

Riku shook his head, trying to calm down enough to speak normally. "I'm not laughing at you." He wiped away a tear that had formed in his eyes and smiled, still chuckling lightly. "You're just so different from the people I normally see. Hearing you call them stupid just…" He shook his head again, unable to come up with the word he was trying to find.

Sora stopped pouting, smiling back at the other. "You have a lot of stupid people in your life."

Riku burst into laughter again and this time, Sora didn't interrupt him. Riku actually looked relaxed while laughing, his eyes not showing the forced, distant look. He looked… normal.

Sora bit his lip as he felt his heart flutter once more.

Riku slowly calmed down again, wiping more tears away from his face and grinning. "You're an impossibility, Sora. I think you're the only person alive I'll never be able to figure out."

Sora simply grinned back, more than a little pleased with himself. "You're pretty hard to figure out too, you know."

Riku's entire demeanour changed once more. The relaxed, grinning and presumably happy teenager disappeared in less than a second and to Sora's great dismay, the distant, serious, and often cold one took his place. "You shouldn't be trying to figure me out."

Sora's shoulders sagged and his heart fell. He looked down at the floor of the balcony in disappointment. If he had just kept his mouth shut, Riku would still be smiling at him right now. "I just want to know why you always act so cold," he mumbled, not expecting Riku to hear him. Riku did hear, though, and his face froze over even more.

"There's nothing about me that you need to know."

Sora drew his knees up to his chest and glared at the floor. He wasn't sure whether he was angrier at himself for ruining the moment or at Riku for turning back into his cold self the moment the conversation switched to anything personal about him. "I still want to know."

Riku stood up without a word and started walking towards the door, his expression blank but his aura angry. Sora glanced up at him as he went, the image of a smiling and laughing Riku in his mind's eye. That was the Riku he wanted to get to know. That was the part of Riku he could usually only see in that distant swirl of emotions. That was the Riku he was determined to bring out.

He stood up to stop Riku from walking away when they heard a sudden crash, followed by Roxas' voice calling out both their names. Both Sora and Riku rushed down the stairs to find Roxas fighting a group of Heartless. More Heartless were appearing out of nowhere each time Roxas managed to beat a few.

It was a good thing the house was spacious and already broken-down. Roxas would have probably torn down some of the walls otherwise.

Sora quickly summoned his keyblade and ran towards the first Heartless he saw. He saw balls of dark energy fly past him and knew Riku was taking out several Heartless as well. Rhapsodies of several colours, Shadows, a fire-breathing variant of the Large Bodies, they were all coming at them in droves. Sora could hardly keep up with deflecting all the different attacks while still getting rid of the Heartless, let alone keep up with how Roxas and Riku were doing. Where were these things coming from?

A stinging sensation shot through his arm and Sora jumped away, seeing two new types of Heartless he hadn't seen before. Both were short and wielded blades, one only using one sword and the other using two. One of the blades of a dual-wilding Heartless had a red edge to it, drops of blood dripping from the tip. Sora glanced down at his arm to see a cut on his left one, blood trickling out of it in small streams. He could hardly feel the cut at the moment, too much adrenaline pumping through his body to let the feeling fully sink in. Sora was sure that if the Heartless managed to cut him a few more times though, he was definitely going to feel it.

The Heartless that had previously attacked lunged at him once more, Sora blocking the attack and feeling more blood run down his arm as he pushed back and tried to hit the Heartless with his keyblade. The blow hit but all the Heartless did was take a step back. Sora's next blow was easily blocked by one of the two swords, the other sword coming at him from a different side. Sora jumped away again, parrying the blow as best he could.

He was so focussed on the fight that he didn't notice a Heartless just like the one he was fighting lunging at him from behind. He didn't hear Roxas calling out to him from the other side of the room. He didn't notice anything until Riku suddenly pushed him out of the way, the sound of steel on steel echoing through the house. Sora winced as he fell — luckily on his right arm — and looked up in surprise. His eyes widened as he saw Riku fighting two of the Heartless he'd been fighting before, a sword shaped like a demonic wing in hand. It wasn't so much the fact that Riku could apparently fight with more than just those dark balls of energy that made Sora stare though.

The sword had the same feel to it as the keyblades did.

The sword cut through the two Heartless as if they were nothing, and Sora vaguely noticed that the flow of Heartless had at long last stopped. He heard footsteps behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see Roxas crouching down behind him, narrowed eyes focussed on Riku as he panted slightly from his own fight.

Riku turned around to face them, noticing them both staring and only now seeming to realise what he was holding. He glanced down at the sword in his hands before letting it disappear and pretending it hadn't just been there. "Xemnas probably knows where you're hiding. There's no portal around here so it's not likely that so many Heartless would come here on their own."

Roxas completely ignored the attempt at a distraction. "That was a keyblade."

Riku, in turn, tried to ignore what Roxas had said. "You should probably find a new hideout in a different town as soon as Axel comes back."

"Why didn't you tell us you were a keyblade wielder as well?"

"When does Axel usually come back? Xemnas might send more Heartless—"

"Riku," Sora said softly. Surprisingly, the silver-haired teen instantly fell silent, averting his eyes. Sora had already seen the look of anger though. It had been as clear as day to him in Riku's eyes. The anger hadn't been directed at them, though. The anger had seemed to be directed at himself.

"Go find a new hideout," Riku said softly, walking past them towards the entrance of the house. Sora scrambled to his feet, wincing at the pain in his arm. He ignored it, grabbing Riku's arm before the other could leave. Riku stopped, though he didn't turn around to face them. "You're a keyblade master?"

There was a moment of silence before Riku finally turned around, his face once more the blank mask he usually wore. Even his eyes, which usually still spoke volumes to Sora, were blank now. "Yes, so?"

"I thought Sora and I were the only keyblade wielders left?" Roxas asked, his eyes still narrowed and his tone torn between confusion and anger.

"I never said that," Riku answered. "And it doesn't matter either way. I've already told you that I can't help you fight, so it doesn't matter what I fight with."

'Can't? He's always said 'won't' before…' Sora bit his lip. This at least explained how Riku had known so much about the keyblade itself, though if he really hadn't ever eaten any hearts it was still strange how he knew so much about the time the keyblade clan had been killed. What was even odder was the fact that, although Riku had said it didn't matter, he'd obviously wanted to keep them in the dark about the fact that he was a keyblade master. And then there was that look of anger towards himself just before he'd tried to walk away…

'Why does he have to be so closed off?'

Riku pulled his arm free from Sora's grasp, turning towards the door once more. "Find a new hideout. I won't come around for a while so tell Kairi where you're hiding and I'll go and ask her when I do want to find you again."

He walked out of the door without another word. Sora stared after him, still trying to figure out what was going on.

He felt someone take his injured arm and winced as it was lifted. He turned to see Roxas examining the cut. "We need to clean and bandage this."

"With what? There are no bandages here and the only clean water we have is what we brought to drink." Sora pulled his arm free. "We can't do anything until Axel gets back."

"When you do want the guy around, he's nowhere to be found," Roxas muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the door. Sora smiled.

"You don't find him half as annoying as you did in the beginning."

Roxas glared at him. "He's annoying, irritating, perverted—"

"Funny," Sora cut in, his smile widening.

"Idiotic," Roxas corrected.

"And you've started to like him," Sora finished. The glare on Roxas' face turned into a disbelieving stare. No doubt he was questioning Sora's sanity for even thinking to say such a thing, let alone voice it. "You're kidding, right?"

Sora simply continued to smile, trying not to be too amused at how deep-rooted Roxas' denial apparently was. Roxas just shook his head, the disbelief never leaving his face. "I hit him with keyblades and you think I like him. Honestly…"

Sora just shrugged, his amusement only growing. "You've never reacted so strongly to someone. Usually when people annoy you, you ignore them because they're not worth your time. The fact that you keep getting angry at Axel only proves you like him."

Roxas frowned at him before shaking his head. "You're insane. There is nothing likeable about him. Now shut up and go sit somewhere so I can at least try and clean that cut with some of the drinking water we have here."

Sora sat down as he had been told, the knowing smile never leaving his face. Roxas glared down at his arm in annoyance as he tried his best to clean away most of the blood without wasting too much of the water. Sora knew his smile was only irritating Roxas further, but his brother had trouble letting others close to him. They'd grown up with their old friends from Twilight Town, so naturally Roxas had never tried to keep them out. It had taken Kairi two years after she'd moved to their town — two years of hanging out with them regularly because Sora had taken an instant liking to her — before he'd finally admitted that Kairi was his friend as well.

If Roxas didn't like or care about someone, they were plainly ignored. If one of his friends annoyed him, as Hayner tended to do on a regular basis, Roxas would get annoyed and snap at them, but he'd never been violent towards them. He was doing everything but ignoring Axel though. Roxas argued with Axel all the time and — except whenever Axel tried to keep Roxas in a death-grip in one way or another — made no attempts to distance himself either. The behaviour was completely different from how Roxas would act if he'd really found Axel as annoying as he claimed he did.

"Stop looking at me that way," Roxas grumbled. "If one of us is falling for someone, it's you."

The smile faded from Sora's lips and he looked away. "What do you mean?"

Roxas snorted, looking up at him with a smirk. "You can barely go five minutes without mentioning Riku in one way or another."

Sora blushed and it was his turn to stay quiet this time as Roxas smiled knowingly at him. The image of Riku smiling and laughing once more entered Sora's mind and his blush only deepened. "Is my arm okay?"

Roxas' smile turned into an amused one as he looked back down at the wound. "The cut isn't that deep. Don't move around too much until Axel gets here so he can take you back to the Destiny Islands, and you'll probably be fine."

Sora nodded and stood up. He walked back upstairs so he could continue to sit on the balcony and stare out at the city below, hopefully distracting himself from the pain that was now starting to make itself known.

As he sat there his mind automatically went back to Riku, and Sora glared at the floor as he fully realised that yes, Roxas was right. He was falling for Riku. Not the Riku that kept pushing everyone away, refused to tell them anything, and insulted people without even realising it, though. He was falling for the Riku he could see in that distant gaze and the one that had sat next to him on the balcony, smiling and laughing with him.

Sora's eyes watched the lights outside mindlessly, seeing them but not really taking them in anymore. He was going to find out what was going on with Riku even if it was the last thing he did. He refused to give up on this.

Okay, so I don't generally like to whine about reviews beyond putting 'Review!' at the end of my chapters, but it's been quite disappointing how few people have bothered to press the review button. I've been getting more than enough hits so I know there are more than enough people out there that read the story.

Now, I'm not going to start saying '5 reviews before I update!' because the story has practically been written in its entirety already and I wrote it because I enjoyed doing so in the first place. However, I post it here because I want to know what other people think and so people can point out where I might be able to improve.

I'm sure most of you are just going to ignore this entire author's note and will just click the chapter away as soon as you're done reading, but for all of you who did stick around to read this, please take a moment to tell me what your thoughts on the story are. I've put a lot of time and effort into writing this, so it would be nice if you all took a minute to put down what you think of the story.

Please review.