A/N: As requested, this chapter is from Sora's POV. Prepare for a second dose of confusion.(albeit this is slightly less confusing.)
"Riku, c'mon-I need to go to work," I said, giggling as he sleepily pulled me into him, covering me with kisses. "What's gotten into you all of the sudden, Ri-ri?"
"Stay here with me," he said, lips moving down my neck.
"I- hnnn -can't," I said, as he nipped lightly at the hot spot on my neck, exciting a small moan from me. "I have to go to work."
"Call in sick," he said, running his tongue over the abused flesh on my neck, making me whimper and squirm.
"Riku, quit it," I whined, trying to shove him away.
"I don't want to," he said, pressing me down against the bed. "And you don't want me to."
"Riku, come on- why do you have to do this now?"
Riku pressed his lips against mine. "I've got a bad feeling about today," he said. "So I want you to stay."
"I can't just miss out on work," I said, twining my fingers in his hair despite myself.
"They'd understand," he said, pressing kisses to my forehead, nose, neck and ear.
His hand slipped up my shirt, making me jump slightly. "Riku... no," I said, staring him in the eye. "You're not making me skip work."
Riku sat back, running a hand through his hair and glaring at the floor. "Please, Sora-just listen to me for a second, okay?"
"Alright-what's wrong, Riku?"
"I- today's no good; something bad's going to happen."
"Okay, and?"
"And so I think we're better off if we stay here together, and don't go anywhere, and tell all our friends the same."
"You make it sound like the world's ending."
"Maybe it is," he said, shaking his head.
I sighed, shaking my head too.
"Oh my god," Kairi said, dropping the platter in her hand. "Oh my- Sora, the screen!"
"Wha-oh god," I held back a small whimper. I hated when they told us about accidents on the news- wait a second. "Kairi-Kairi, that's here! That's-that's here!"
"Oh my god- you don't think-"
I stared at her in horror. "I-I need to go; I can't- I need to-" I sputtered, pacing and grabbing my hair and pacing more.
"I-HEY, CID, WE GOTTA GO, NOW," Kairi screamed, ripping off her apron and mine and tossing them at the befuddled manager before taking my hand and dragging me out of the resturaunt.
"Riku and Yuffie were supposed to hang out today," I said, frowning. "Yuffie's nineteen..."
"Riku's male..."
"We have to-"
"Get in the car!"
I jumped into her car, holding on for dear life as she launched off towards Riku's house.
"Riku's not here," I said, as I came back to the car. "He's- he's—-"
"Yuffie's not picking up her phone," Kairi said, holding back tears.
"Well...maybe they're playing video games at Yuffie's house," I said, biting my lip.
"Yeah- that's probably it. Silly me, jumping to conclusions- c'mon, let's go, Sora," Kairi said, letting out a laugh that sounded a bit like a sob.
"They... aren't here."
"Godo's not here."
"Do you think-"
Kairi blanched and nodded. "When we were on lunch, I felt this weird pain in my chest," she said, holding her chest and frowning.
"Me...too." I said, holding my chest too and frowning.
"Kairi-oh my god, Kairi! What the heck are you-there's no road there!"
"I'm sorry, Sora," she said, smiling.
"What are you-"
Kairi slammed down on the gas, heading off the side of the road.
"Kairi?" I asked, opening my eyes. I sat up, and glanced around. "Kairi?"
"Hey-wha-Sora?"
"Why are we at your house?"
"I...Sora-I don't think this is my house," she said, looking out the window.
"How is it not your house? It looks like-oh my god," I said, staring in wonder. "Are we-?"
"I'm sorry, Sora- really," she said. "I shouldn't have- I killed us both."
"I-," I frowned. It really didn't bother me- I wasn't even angry. "It's alright, Kairi. I forgive you."
We smiled at each other. "Thanks, Sora-" A knock at the door made both of us jump, and Kairi frowned. "I'll get it, I guess."
"Kairi! I don't know why I never noticed this before, but did you know your house is like... on a cloud?" Yuffie said, walking into the house. "It's really awesome-but it definitely doesn't taste like cotton candy."
Kairi grinned. "That's wonderful, Yuffie," she said. "What's it taste like?"
Yuffie made a face. "Kinda like when you put your face over a humidifier that hasn't had it's water changed in a while..." She paused. "Or Godo's feet, I guess."
Kairi grimaced. "That's absolutely disgusting, Yuffie."
Yuffie shrugged. "So, what's - hey Sora! I didn't see you there! - up?"
"Hey Yuffie!"
"Um... Yuffie... you do know what happened, right?"
"What are you talking about, Kairi?"
Kairi bit her lip and glanced over at me. "Look, Yuffie-"
I frowned at the kitchen table. It had been four days, and nothing had really happened. Yuffie had taken the news a bit hard, and was in a state of denial for all of the first two days she'd been here, but now she was starting to understand that we weren't just messing with her.
But when I said nothing really had happened, I meant that there had been no sign of Riku. What if... what if he was still alive? What if he had survived, and I was here and he was alone? What if he needed me?
I should have listened to him.
"Don't worry, Sora," Kairi said, frowning. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"What do you think is taking him so long?"
"Maybe-maybe he got lost," she said, putting a finger to her mouth in thought. "It's Riku; maybe he had to make sure of something, or check on someone, or do something before he joins us."
"Yeah..."
"Or maybe he's still being weighed," Yuffie said, sitting at the table and resting her chin in her hands.
"Weighed?"
"You know... judged. They gotta decide where you're supposed to go when you die," she said, smiling. "We can't all go to the same place- it'd be too crowded."
"What if... what if he gets taken somewhere else?"
Kairi rubbed circles on my shoulders. "Don't worry, Sora- I'm sure they'll understand."
I choked on a sob.
"I can't just miss out on work."
"They'd understand."
"Sora?"
"I-he told me not to go," I said, wiping a tear away with the heel of my hand. "He practically begged me not to. Why didn't I- why didn't I listen to him?"
"Sora- it's not your fault," Kairi said, frowning. "You didn't know- you couldn't have."
"It is my fault, Kairi! If I had- if I had listened to him, he would have never have gone to hang out with Yuffie, and they wouldn't have been killed, and you wouldn't have had a reason to kill us with your car, and-"
"Sora, look at me," Kairi said, jerking my chin towards her. "None of this-none of it- is your fault."
"But-what if, what if he doesn't want to be with us? What if he's really, really mad at me? What if he blames me?"
"Riku wouldn't do that," Kairi said, rolling her eyes. "You and I both know that Riku could never hate you, or be mad enough at you to not want to spend all his time with you."
"Yeah-Riku loves the heck outta you," Yuffie said, poking my cheeks. "You guys are butt-buddies for life."
"Ew, Yuffie- not at the dinner table!"
"We ain't eating dinner, woman!"
"Don't use slang in my kitchen, you dolt!" Kairi said, smacking Yuffie upside the head.
"I'll use slang in your-heh, Kairi... you just made a sexist joke," Yuffie said, grinning.
"No I-whatever, fine, you win," Kairi said, sighing.
"You love me."
"I do- for some reason," Kairi said, shaking her head.
Watching them together made my chest hurt even more, so I excused myself from the table and went into the room we'd dubbed as mine.
I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on the door and leaped out of bed.
Kairi was two steps ahead of me, though, as by the time I'd even reached my bedroom door, I heard her unlocking the front one. "Hello-?" She said, stopping. "Riku? What are you-Where on earth have you been?" There wasn't a response. "Hey! Answer me!" Kairi said, snapping her fingers.
"Is he here? Kairi-he's here, right? Please tell me he's here," Riku said, and I threw my bedroom door open.
"You answer me first-where the hell have you been?"
"I don't know- now is he?"
"Kairi? Who's at the door?" Yuffie asked from the kitchen.
I stopped in the hall of the entryway.
"Sora?" Riku was frantically trying to see into the house.
"It's-"
"R—Riku!" I said, launching myself at the door. I shoved Kairi out of the way- not that she needed much persuasion, and jumped at him, wrapping my arms and legs around him and covering him with kisses. "Where have you been? I looked everywhere for you!" I said, studying his face.
"I- a lot of places," he said. He looked confused.
"Oh my god, we thought you were gone! We both saw the news at work, and then you weren't at home, and no one had seen you-"
"I saw the news too," he said.
"That's nice and all, you two, but where the fuck have you been?" Kairi said, arms crossed.
"The funny thing is, I really can't remember," Riku said, brow furrowing.
"I'm so glad you're here, too," I said, and despite the fact that I'd been trying so hard not to let them, the tears I'd been holding back came pouring out, and I buried my face in the crook of his neck.
"Shhh, Sora- don't cry," Riku cooed, one hand patting me on the head. "I'm here, now. Don't worry."
"I love you so much, Riku," I said, though it sounded more like 'I muv you so muff,' because I was sobbing into his shirt, which smelled strange- not particularly bad, but strange; like Cloud used to before-
No, that's crazy. He couldn't have been-
"Hey, Riku?" I bit my lip. "Where...where were you?"
"I was... a lot of places," he said, and his eyes seemed to dance slightly. "For a while I was in the mountains, well- more like I was the mountains," he chuckled, "but they told me to seek my sky, so I ran-and I wound up being taken in by someone who found me collapsed on their doorstep, almost dead."
"Riku-"
He smiled. "His name was Zack. He was a weird guy, but he took care of me-"
"Riku-"
"But then I remembered that I wasn't the earth, I was Riku," he said. "And you weren't the sky- you were Sora, and I needed to find you."
"Riku, listen-"
"I love you, Sora."
"Riku, listen, we're- - -"
A/N: You're probably still confused, but don't worry- I'll make it all better later. :)
Akemi713: Thank you! I'm glad you like it :)
Because mom's are not mass produced to be like Riku's. D:
I've had a lot of friends knee me in the crotch. Hurts like a bitch. Dx
XD Maple = my favorite OC I've ever made. And I'm glad my story can make you laugh that much xDDD
The chapter titles are actually quite heavily thought out; but if you /really/ want to know, you'll have to look them up yourself. ;D They can easily tell you a lot of what the chapter's about.
An o-ring is a little rubber (plastic?) circle thingy that goes on tapers and a lot of other types of earrings that people who stretch their ears wear. It's like a backing to an earring, essentially.
SadieMarie: XD oh. wellthen.
And you'll find out what's really going on soon enough.
dearlybelovedangel: yeah, I like to confuse people. I'm a bad person. I should be shot. xD
And-for now? I'm going to let you decide what happened.
WolfPacFaan: I'll let you decide the answers to those for now- but don't worry, I'll start explaining things in the following chapters. Also, if you go back to the chapter titled 'Disquieted,' Aerith makes and appearance. If that helps any. xD
