Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Rating:K

Warnings: haha none really, just Riku being a jerk heh

Spoilers: None

Type: One-shot (just barely)

This isn't lovey-dovey per say, but I still think it's cute. I think this could be classified as AU.


Unique

Sora, a young boy of six, kicked at the sand, giggling as the grains erupted from the ground and a cloud of dust followed. "Riku, why does the sand make clouds?" He looked to his older – therefore, wiser – friend curiously. "I thought clouds were for the sky."

"Well that's simple!" The eight year old said with a tone of omnipotence. "The sky makes clouds so it can cry. When you kick the sand, you're hurting it therefore it's crying."

Sora, looking mortified, hurriedly got on his hands and knees, patting the ground. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"It'll only forgive you if you kiss it." Riku said teasingly, a mean smirk crossing his face when his friend compliantly did as he told him.

"There all better!" Sora said jumping to his feet and rubbed at his lips. Then, crossing his small hands behind his head in a habit that would most likely stay with him even as an adult, he glanced at his silver-haired friend. "Now, how do I make the sky un-sad?"

Riku snorted disdainfully. "You can't make the sky un-sad. That's like saying you could make it un-blue."

Sora's eyebrows furrowed closely together with confusion and he looked up towards the swirling mass above him. "But Riku the sky's purple."

"What are you? Stupid?" The other said, giving him a look that Sora could only describe as mean.

"No!" He cried in his defense, waving his hands towards the sky. "It used to be blue but now it's purple!"

"You are stupid. It's blue. It's always been blue and will always be blue!"

"It is not!" Sora yelled suddenly.

"Oh yeah then what's the color of the ocean?"

As one they looked in the distance, seeing waves crashing down onto each other as they lolled towards the beach.

"Red!"

"It's blue too!"

"It's red!"

"Oh yeah well you're just dumb!" Riku insulted.

"Yeah well you're dumber!"

"You're dumberest!"

"You're dumberestest!"

"Oh yeah well…" Riku paused, his eight year old mind trying to conjure up an even worse name. "You're naïve!" He wasn't sure what it meant, but his parents used it sometimes. It sounded good and mean though.

"I am not nai… nai-whatever!" Sora pointed at him. "I hate you!" Suddenly, the boy took off, running for home.

"I hate you too!" Riku yelled back.

"I hate you more!" he yelled over his shoulder. He might have gotten a response of 'I hate you morer!' but he wasn't listening anymore. He couldn't describe the feeling that was in his heart – the one that made his stomach feel nasty and his eyes burn. He just knew he didn't like the look Riku had given him.

He burst into his house without warning, tears running down his face. His mother, acting like a mother should when her son was in distress, jumped into action. She ran to him, hurriedly getting on her knees and taking his small shoulders in her hands, looking adamantly for any scraps or cuts. "Sora, honey, what's wrong?"

"Mommy why is the sky different for me?"

Her heart nearly broke at the words, bringing her son in for a hug. "Why sweetheart, what does it look like?"

"It's purple but Riku says it's blue and Riku's smarter than me so does that mean I'm dumb?"

"No." She said, looking at him, rubbing his back. "You're going colorblind hon."

"Color-what?" He pulled away slightly to look up at her.

"Colorblind. It's when you can't see colors at all." She explained.

"But why!?" Sora cried the tears coming back. "Mommy I don't want to! Fix it!"

She took his face in her hands, looking down at him. "It's not something that can be fixed."

"Will it happen to Riku?" He asked in childish hope, sniffling vainly. If his friend would become like him, then it wouldn't be so bad.

"No sweetheart."

"Why not?!" He stomped his foot in anger and despair.

"Because honey daddy gave it to you."

Sora paused, letting his young mind wrap around this new piece of information and was blissfully confused once again. "But daddy isn't here anymore. He can't give me anything anymore."

His mother went silent for a small time, mulling over her own thoughts sadly. "It was a parting gift honey. You see daddy was colorblind too. Now, you will be, and in this way you'll never forget him."

Sora gasped. "I'd never forget dad! Would I?"

"No, because now you have a reminder." His mother said, feeling her gut clench in sorrow as her son nodded, acting like he understood perfectly. "And he wouldn't want you to cry, because this gift is special, because now you're unique."

He nodded again, rubbing at his eyes no longer sad. "Mommy… what's unique?"

"It means you have a something special that no one else does."

"Oh." He grinned. "Mommy?"

"Yes honey?"

"I like being unique." He giggled. "Can we go visit daddy's grave today? I want to thank him!"

His mother gave him a watery smile and nodded. "Of course."

Years later would find a twelve year-old standing on the beach, hands crossed behind his head of wild and spiky brown hair. He was looking towards the sky. He had yet to go completely colorblind – but the colors tended to change. More nowadays then when he was six. Almost every day the sky was a new hue, every day his sheets were a new color. He took it as a sign that one day he'd wake up and he would see nothing but gray, black and white. Or maybe – his mind thought fearfully – he'd see nothing at all.

"So what color is it today?" Kairi asked beside him curiously.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, smiling. Only weeks after he had discovered about his little defect, he had found Kairi abandoned and all alone on the beach. Unlike the rest of the children, she had thought the fact he saw colors differently to be intriguing. She was one of the few who didn't make him feel inferior. That might be why he had a crush on her.

"It's gold. The sun is silver, the trees are blue, the ocean is green and the ground is this strange mix of yellow and dark brown that I can't remember the name to." He laughed. "Oh and your hair is orange."

"No purple or pink today?" Another, recently cracked voice said in a deep rumble and his best friend came to stand next to him. He wasn't really trying to be mean as much as trying to tease him in the caring-friend type of way.

"Well… you're hair is lavender Riku." Sora teased back with a grin. These days it was rare that he ever saw anything in its original color. It had been weeks – maybe months – since he had seen a blue sky or Kairi's red hair. But he remembered what it was meant to look like and that's what he thought was important. As long as he had his memory, nothing was ever really gone. "And I saw a pink seagull."

The tallest of them snorted. "You're such a freak you know that?"

"No." He said, turning his head to grin at both of his friends. "I'm just unique!"


A/N: This fic was inspired by a romance novel I once read – where the girl had a niece who saw colors differently from everyone else. I have no idea what the title of it was. Anyways, haha I was just having fun.

Reviews anyone?