Author's Ranting: And here goes Chapter 46! Sora and Riku are on a break, but what exactly does that mean? Can't they see each other anymore?

Riku is taking a lesson from Selphie and Tidus and Wakka are helping out... how's that going to turn out? READ IT! ^^

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Sora sat in the cave with Kairi, eyes squeezed shut to prevent the tears from falling. He could see Riku still before him, the shock written all over his face as he uttered the words.

'WE'RE ON A BREAK!'

He winced. If it hurt Riku half as much as it hurt Sora, then he must be dying right now.

Then, the image in his mind changed into Kairi smiling at him, and to his surprise it scared him. It disgusted him in a way he couldn't understand, almost as if his mind was trying to tell him that she was evil. But what was evil about her? Sora knew that she had changed, that she wanted to help him.

And again the image before him changed into Riku. Riku, sleeping peacefully with his hair spread beautifully on the pillow. He remembered when he had seen him sleep like this, surprised by how innocent he could look. So pure and child-like despite his obsession to be seme.

Sora mentally sighed. That was the whole problem. Riku had just this obsession of dominance and possession. It made Sora sick. But at the same time he longed for Riku to come running in, beat him senseless and take him with him.

Okay, so he didn't want to get beaten. But he suddenly found that he wouldn't mind at all if Riku just came in here and demanded Sora to come back to him. He actually counted on this. So, wasn't he serious about this break? Sora sighed. He didn't know. He had just done what had seemed right at the moment, what Kairi told him. He believed in her.

Meanwhile Riku followed Selphie into her house.

"So, the first lesson will be about how to react when you find your boyfriend kissing someone else. Therefor I will call Tidus and Wakka. Stay here and take care of Sora and Riku, Lord Fluffy Tail!" Selphie pushed Riku into her room, which was full of stuffed animals and toys, and waved before she bounced off to get the other boys.

"Sora and Riku, huh?" Riku quietly murmured, scanning the room for the two turtles. He shuddered at the thought of those small, green, slowly crawling things that were in this room. He hoped they were sleeping and wouldn't creep around on the floor so he had to watch them.

Something in the left corner moved and Riku mewled, jumping onto the bed. He grimaced as he saw the green thing on the floor, moving so slow and sluggish.

"Come near me and I kill you," Riku muttered, hoping that it would stop moving. Watching it made him sick. Then he remembered that there was supposed to be another one of these -things- and he quickly jumped off the bed as he thought he felt something creep onto him. He was getting paranoid, all right. Riku frowned and looked around the room. There was the bigger one, still crawling around on the floor and then he saw the second one, sitting on Selphie's desk. It almost seemed to look at him, moving its mouth as if to say something. Riku shuddered. This was more than creepy.

As the one on the desk started to move, Riku panicked.

"Nononononono you don't come here, nononono!" He bit his lip, fumbling with the doorknob while his eyes were fixed on the turtles, moving towards him. The one of the floor was suddenly extremely fast, or so it seemed to him and the one on the desk was searching for a way to get down and follow. Riku shouted at them to stay in place, but nothing worked, and eventually the silver haired boy managed to open the door.

He let out a scream and ran away as fast as he could, far, far away from the sluggish monsters. He was constantly looking back as he ran, hoping that the turtles wouldn't follow him. Who knew what things Selphie had done to them. Maybe they were mutant turtles and could talk and fight and even *eat* humans. Ok, so they weren't. But Riku was scared and he was not afraid to admit it. So he ran in panic.

It was on his way towards the beach that he bumped into someone while he was still looking back.

"Ow! Watch where you--" Sora rubbed his nose and looked at the person that had almost knocked him over. His eyes widened.

Riku's head snapped forward, and it seemed like he had a psyched look on his face.

"They're after me!" he cried out, frantically pointing at the distance. Sora frowned and cocked his head, wondering how much he had hurt Riku. Did he go insane now after they broke up?

"Um, yes, Riku. They're after you, but they won't get you. Come on, let's go this way..." Sora muttered, grabbing Riku's arm to drag him to the tree house.

When they reached the place, Sora climbed the ladder, waiting for Riku to follow him. The silver haired boy stared at the ladder as though it was a monster and Sora sighed in annoyance.

"Riku, it's all right. Whatever is trying to kill you, it's not here. Come up to me." He stopped, frowning in confusion. Hadn't he just decided to avoid Riku? They were on a break, so did that mean they couldn't see each other? Or were they just supposed not to make out? Sora suddenly realized that he had no idea what a 'break' was so he also didn't know how to act.

Riku came climbing up the ladder and eventually sat down huddled up in the corner, murmuring something about greenish sluggish things in Selphie's house, trying to speak to him and then kill him. Sora almost laughed as he realized that he was talking about Selphie's turtles. Riku and his turtle-phobia...who would have thought that. Sora smiled and patted Riku's arm, trying to calm him. And after a while, Riku calmed down and came back to his senses. He was motionless as he sat beside Sora. Sora felt uncomfortable now and wondered if he should say something. They were on a break....the problem was, what did this mean?

Eventually, Riku rose and went to leave. Sora frowned and wanted to stop him but Riku cut him off.

"Sora, give me one week." He lowered his head, letting his silver strands fall over his eyes. A small smile crept up his lips and he turned his head fully to face Sora.

"One week. And don't forget our promise."

Sora blinked but Riku jumped down too fast for him to stop him. He sat in confusion, wrinkling his forehead.

"One week?"

Riku decided that he really needed Selphie's help. Seeing Sora made him feel guilty and angry and he knew that he had to change if he wanted it to be all right again. He would force himself to be less jealous and obsessive. It had to be, for the sake of Sora.

Walking back to Selphie's house, he was relieved to see Selphie, Tidus and Wakka in front of the house. There was no way he would go back in to see those monsters again.

As the brunette saw Riku strolling towards them she pouted.

"Fluffy! What did I tell you about Sora and Riku? You were supposed to take care of them while I'm gone!" She put her hands to her hips and huffed a little more just for the sake of it. Eventually she lost track of the topic and began to talk about squirrels in trenchcoats... or something like that.

After she was done with her random story, she turned back to the actual topic. She smiled mischievously at Tidus and Wakka who were looking at her in fear.

"So, we will now stage a situation that might happen between Sora and Kairi, or generally between Sora and someone else. Wakka will be Sora, and Tidus will be Kairi or another girl. And I'll be you!" Selphie explained as Tidus and Wakka stared in horror.

"Hey! Why do I have to be the girl?!" Tidus complained, crossing his arms.

Selphie giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Because you're so cute. Besides, can you imagine Wakka as a girl? That'd be horrible! It's supposed to be believable!"

Riku slapped his forehead as Tidus continued to complain. This was one hell of a lesson....

When Selphie had finally persuaded the boys to act out the scene, she told Riku to stand at the side and watch.

"Ok, action!" she called, pointing at Wakka and Tidus.

The boys stood in awkward silence, looking at each other, then looking at the ground, and then back at each other. Selphie grinned and motioned them to go on. Tidus gave her a pleading look, but she didn't even seem to notice. Then, Wakka decided to make the first move.

"Um, K-Kairi," he said, trying not to laugh as he called his best friend that. Tidus was more than humiliated by it and glared.

"Yes...SORA..." he bit out in frustration. Selphie groaned and clapped her hands once.

"Oh come, boys! It's not that hard! Just do some sweet talk and kiss!" She ran to them, pulling on their hands to get them closer to each other. Wakka and Tidus blushed, looking uncertain. Eventually, Selphie's comments and complaints got too much and Tidus decided to act.

"Fine! So, there!" he yelled, reaching for Wakka's neck to pull him down for a kiss.

Riku, who had closed his eyes while the others argued about the scene, opened them at once and stared at the two boys kissing. The strange thing was that it didn't even surprise him or that he thought it looked weird. No, Tidus and Wakka almost seemed cute when they kissed.

Next to them Selphie squealed in delight. "Finally!" She bounced around, nodding at Riku to look at her.

"Oh, what is it I'm seeing? Sora and Kairi? My boyfriend is kissing another girl! Ohh....." she made a dramatic pause, lowering her head as though she was hurt, but then snapped her head back up. "Awww but aren't they cute?! Soo *perfect* for each other!" she suddenly sang, bouncing around happily with her hands over her heart. Riku raised an eyebrow at her behavior. Was *this* supposed to be the way he should act when he saw Sora kissing Kairi?

Selphie continued to rave in utter happiness, singing and squealing while Tidus and Wakka seemed deepen the kiss. Riku turned his attention to the boys and watched with a curious smile. He could see that they were enjoying it. He smirked.

"I never knew you two were gay," Riku smugly commented and the boys tore apart from each other, looking shocked.

Selphie giggled at their expressions and nudged Riku.

"Aw see what you've done! You made them stop," she whined, giggling even more as Tidus turned a deep shade of red.

"It wasn't that!" both he and Wakka exclaimed at the same time.

They exchanged a look and shook their heads. Then, Tidus crossed his arms.

"We were merely acting out the scene. It was supposed to be believable, right? So, there you had your scene!"

Wakka nodded to Selphie and Riku who were currently grinning from ear to ear.

"All right, all right," the girl eventually said. "Since you're so good actors, please repeat it."

Tidus gaped but Selphie ignored it, turning to Riku.

"And now that you've seen how you should act when this happens with Sora, try it! Imitate me at first, but be sure to get into the feeling so it goes with the flow in case you're caught off guard!"

Riku laughed and shook his head. "You're not serious, are you? You want me to jump around and squeal like you?" He laughed again, waving her off in a dismissing motion.

"Yes, exactly," Selphie sternly answered and Riku's eyes widened. He turned to her, staring in surprise.

"Seriously?" he asked, scratching his head.

The girl nodded. "Seriously," she repeated, looking directly into this eyes with a threatening glare. Riku gulped.

~~

Meanwhile Sora decided to finally confess what had happened to Kairi house. After the incident at the tree house he came back to Kairi, telling her about it. He told her that he didn't know what to do and that Riku was acting weird. However, he didn't tell her about what Riku had said before he left. Even though he didn't understand it, he didn't want to ask Kairi about it.

And then, after he had poured his heart out to her, he confessed the story of the cursed house.

"So, Selphie thought the only way to undo the curse is to blow it up...."

Kairi nodded as though it was the most common thing and then she patted Sora's back.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's all right. She wouldn't have blown it up... I know Selphie." She smiled at him, but he couldn't help feeling strange when he saw her. She was still wearing his clothes and the hairstyle seemed to be a lousy imitation of his hair and her antics. It was just like she was copying him. But what for?

"Let's go and look what happened," Kairi suddenly said, smiling brightly. She extended her hand and Sora took it, together walking to Kairi's house.

As they reached the place, they blinked.

"Did we go wrong?" Kairi asked, scratching her head.

Sora was speechless and merely stared at the ruins and ashes. There was a piece of glass lying somewhere, probably a part of a window. Most of the things there, however, were ashes.

"Um, no...this is...I mean, was, your house...I guess..." Sora stammered, staring at the ruins.

Kairi frowned and cocked her head as if she was thinking over something.

Then she smiled again and shrugged.

"So Selphie did blow it up, huh? Oh well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it, right?"

Sora's eyes snapped to meet hers and he gaped. "W-what?"

The girl shrugged and crossed her arms behind her head, smiling up at the sky.

"Not a big deal, really! But do you think I can live with you? I mean, you're used to living with someone since you've been living with Riku. And now that you're on a break, maybe I should take his place..." she trailed off, smiling contently.

Sora frowned at her words and attempted to reply, but Kairi cut him off.

"Don't worry, don't worry! I didn't mean that I want to replace him fully. I just meant, as long as you're on a break, I'll be here and care for you. As soon as you worked out your issues, you'll be fine with Riku. But until then...since I don't seem to have a home anymore...What do you think?"

Her eyes held such a hopeful and pleading look that Sora couldn't resist. He could have sworn that she was using *his* 'I'm-too-adorable-for-my-own-good' look. But maybe he was just imagining things.

"I guess that's okay..." he mumbled, scheming his own plan now. He didn't trust her completely, even though he was quite sure that she was honestly trying to help him. Maybe if they lived together he could find out what she was really thinking.

Sora smiled. "Yup, you can definitely live with me!"

He would find her secret, if she had one. He wasn't as naive as Riku thought, and he would prove it to him.

~Tbc~

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Ending notes: Damn... I meant to write a lot more for this chapter...but it would have gotten too much to read for one chapter so I guess I'll stop here and write the rest in the next chappy. It's not too sad, is it? I try to compensate the lack of SoraxRiku~ness with a little humor and slight TidusxWakka. I hope this is ok, ne? Sora and Riku *will* get together in time, don't worry, they just need to work out some things... like Sora proving that he is not a dumb little kid and Riku has to learn how to act like Selphie...ehh...or not. We'll see.

PS: Turtles rule! ^-^