A/N: 1—well, despite all the votes and stuff, I decided to just continue it as I had been. I think it would kind of be weird to change it all of a sudden and all, but if you really want a slash story, e-mail me at analiantha@aol.com and I'll send you the chapters with yaoi or something…
2—I got what is it, 26 review now? YAY!!! ^.^ Thank you guys so much, as before, notes to you all at the bottom! But on with the story!!
I could make out voices...3 or 4 different ones, I think. I couldn't understand what exactly was being said, they seemed to be talking in some other language, all the words pooling together.
Slowly the sounds became clearer, and I was able to conceive there were four voices, talking in a whisper. I kept my eyes close in fear that the strangers might be plotting something…but then a familiar voice spoke like honey, and I knew who it was instantly: Riku.
I opened my eyes slightly enough to be able to see three figures standing near the side of my bed, and the slope at the foot of my bed told me the other was sitting on it.
"It's not like we meant to hit 'im" said a sad high pitched voice.
Do I move? Should I tell them I'm awake? Should I pretend to be asleep? I closed my eyes completely now, while I thought. If Riku's here, then I shouldn't worry…Before I could make a final decision, my grip on reality faltered, allowing darkness to swallow me once more.
I awoke with the sun boring into my eyes unmercifully and I sealed them together once again with a grunt. My hair was being tugged at slightly, twirled and twisted around fingers, and then the motion stopped abruptly.
"Sora?"
"What?" I muttered, though it came out somewhat muffled as I moved my head into the pillow. My head was pounding and I really didn't feel like talking to Kairi, even if she was only concerned.
"Sora! You're alright!" She screeched, making my head feel like it was pressed between two bricks. "I was so worried! You had us both all concerned about you! You were out for hours!"
"Us?" my voice was too stifled to be understood by Kairi who rolled me away from the blazing light of the sun to face her.
"What?"
"Who's 'us'?" I repeated.
"Riku and myself, Silly."
I opened my eyes and stared into the violet depths of Kairi's orbs. She was so pretty, beautiful eyes…no, I would not think that way. I would not, I chided myself silently, worsening my headache.
"Hi, you lazy bum," she giggled.
The mattress beneath my feet sank as more weight was added to the bed. "Sora, I thought you were stronger than that…a ball knocking you out? It couldn't have hit you harder than Selphie with her jump rope." Riku laughed. "Certainly not harder than I've hit you." He punched my leg playfully.
"Ugh, "I groaned. I couldn't take much more of this. A wave of dizziness spread throughout my body, blurring my vision of Riku and Kairi.
"Sora?" My name itself seemed indistinct, barely recognizable, almost as if she were talking underwater. "Sora, can do ear me?" I couldn't understand what she said.
"Sora!" Riku's face came close to mine, blocking Kairi from sight. I tried to focus my vision, but the effort seemed futile. "Sora, mop go king mound." I cocked my head. What was he talking about?
Kairi tossed Riku out of the way then yelled something at my older friend. Her cold hands cupped my cheeks, allowing me to come back a little more.
"Sora, what's wrong?" Her voice was full of concern.
"I-I don't know. Help me." I didn't know what to say. I felt so helpless and confused. I'd never felt this way before, what was happening--? My vision was like I was running though the tunnel of the secret place, dark around the edges, but not completely blocked off. "Tunnel…" My voice was failing me, and so was my vocabulary.
With a swift movement, as if on cue, both Riku and Kairi lunged toward me, Riku pulling me into a sitting position with my legs dangling uselessly over the side of the bed, and Kairi forcing my head down between my knees…
At first, the jerky movements had made the black swirl and begin to close in on me, but began to clear now that I had stopped moving.
"Thank you." I managed, barely audible though it was, my friends heard it as if I had sung it.
"Man, Sora, they must have hit you harder than I thought," Riku said,"That duck must be able to throw pretty hurt."
I sat back up, a wave of dizziness coming over me, but passed swiftly. "I don't know what happened," I laughed dryly. "It all happened so quickly…Riku?" I turned to him, "What happened, exactly?"
He looked at the ground for a moment before telling the tale. "Well, we were going to get the things Kairi had on that list," he began. "As we walked a few feet into the trees, I saw you begin to fall to the ground. I caught you before you hit the ground, but there was a large red mark right between your eyes, and you were unconscious. A foot or so away, a brown almond-shaped ball rested. A lot of screaming and yelling followed as four ducks, one older, and three younger, came running up.
"The older duck was muttering something that I couldn't understand, and the younger triplets were yelling at him about losing their ball, which we soon discovered to be what hit you.
"Once the older duck realized what happened, he ushered us back to this castle, where I met with the king and his wife the queen, who were quite nice and offered a room for you to stay in, this one being it, obviously.
"King Mickey sent for Kairi, who was rushed here immediately, and that's about all." Riku concluded.
"We've been by your side for the past…" Kairi paused to glance at a clock on the wall. "The past eight hours."
"Eight hours?!" I exclaimed. "I was out that long?"
Riku and Kairi nodded in union. It was already
"You think it could be the berry?" Riku mused. "You were the only one who ate one, Sora, or maybe it was even an allergic reaction to it or something?"
"I don't know, maybe." I agreed with his suggestion. The berry had done some odd things to me…giving me all that strength, then being hit square between the eyes I'm sure didn't.
"Well, if you're up to it, why don't we all go get something to eat?" Kairi said as happily as ever, and we did, without objections.
We wandered down more than a dozen different corridors and entered at least seven rooms before we finally found the dinning room where we were informed that we were just in time for dinner and were kindly invited to dine with the king and others. Riku spoke for the three of us graciously excepting the invitation, and we were led to a huge table that must have been the size of the school bus that gathered all the children to take them to school in the morning to school.
All sorts of different foods were piled on top of the mahogany table, types I recognized, such as fish, and other seafood, but also there was the rare turkey and ham that was eaten on Destiny Islands. There was a large tray of different vegetables, and on another silver platter different fruits lay with a dipping sauce in the middle. In other pans casseroles and pastas with different exotic sauces resided and in the middle of the large table, muffins, rolls, and other bread products called out to be tasted, adding to the delicious aroma in the room.
We took our seats at the table; I sat between my two companions. Everything looked so delectable I couldn't wait to eat, and a rumble from the depths of my empty stomach only confirmed my desire to dig in.
I looked around at all the inhabitants of the castle who had bowed their heads, the exception was the king. I exchanged glances with Riku, then followed suit. Silence poured into the room, and then King Mickey spoke.
"As we sit here at this table, we give thanks those who have provided us with food to fill our stomach and the peace that has shrouded these lands."
Grace, how could I have forgotten?
The food was disappearing from the different platters and onto the plates and from there into the stomach of us all. The food tasted simply splendid and I ate till I couldn't eat anymore.
We were dismissed from the table, and wandered back to the room I had woken up in with the words of Queen Minnie ringing in our ears. "I'll send up someone to get you when dessert is ready! There'll certainly be plenty!"
I collapsed back on the bed, to full to move. I had gobbled down what would have been an entire feast on Destiny Islands, or, it seemed that way…
"So, what are we doing tonight?"
"What do you mean, Kairi?" I cocked my head to look at her, sitting in the recliner.
"I mean, like, do you think they'll give us each separate rooms?"
"Well they certainly have enough of them!" I joked, "It took us forever to find the dining room! We must have walked into a 50 different vacant rooms before we got there…"
"Well, I think one of us should stay with Sora tonight, to keep an eye on him so nothing happens as effect from earlier." Riku cut in, the room falling silent.
"I'll be alright, I'm not a baby." I half whined half stated angrily. His blue-green eyes shifted from Kairi to me.
"It's not something you have control over. I'm not saying you have to sleep in a crib, I'm just saying someone should stay in here to make sure nothing happens."
Kairi nodded in agreement with him. "It's not going to hurt anything, Sora, just let one of us stay in here…It's not that big a deal." I pouted, there was no way one of them was going to stay in here and watch over me like a mom watches over an infant. Why did they have to treat me like I was a child?
Riku and Kairi agreed between them that it would be better if Riku stayed with me seeing as how he was first of all, a guy, and secondly, he was stronger and would be able to take more control of a situation should something go wrong.
We didn't eat dessert that night, but retired early, and Princess Daisy set up a room across the hall for Kairi to sleep in. I narrowed my eyes at Riku.
"You know, this really isn't fair. I'm old enough to take care of myself."
"You couldn't have taken care of yourself if you were unconscious," he said coolly. I tried to protest, but he was right, oh well, a little hurt pride could be taken, I guess…
"You'll sleep too, won't you?"
"Yeah, but I'll sleep light enough that if something were to happen I'd wake up."
"You were always a light sleeper anyway." I mumbled as I crawled beneath the covers of the bed.
"Oh and Sora?" I turned to look over at my silver hair, waiting for him to continue. "Stay on your side." He smirked referring to a sleep over we'd had a little less than a year ago for Riku's birthday when I'd awoken on top of him.
~*~Flashback~*~
A now fifteen year old Riku climbed into his sleeping bag between Sora and Wakka at the bidding of his mother. "You boys want to be able to get up and have some time in the morning, you'd better go to sleep now." She said before closing the door and walking down stairs.
"Goodnight Riku, Tidus, and Wakka." A chocolate haired boy sighed from his sleeping bag.
"Goodnight" chorused the others with other names mentioned after it.
The next morning, the aquamarine eyed boy awoke finding it rather hard to breathe as if a weight had been laid on his chest. He opened those eyes and stared into a mass of brown spikes, catching him off guard.
"Get off me, Sora!" he said almost tossing the fourteen year old off him and onto his own sleeping bag.
"You get off me…" he mumbled in return, not fully aware of the situation before drifting back off to sleep.
~*~ End Flashback~*~
I grinned at him. "I'll try."
A/n: Well, that was longer than the first one, that's always a plus, though I don't know when the next time I'll get another chapter up will be, I'll have to figure out what else I'm going to do.
Maxine: yeah, maybe I'll see you one AIM. Well, I didn't make it riku/sora, but I can try to write something to that effect like I said earlier, just e-mail me…I've never written anything like that though so…be forewarned.
Lily: pretty much the same thing I told Maxine, e-mail me and I'll try to make up something riku/sora. Not really a coconut, nor was it thrown by Riku, but the end was kind of cute maybe? Oh well, maybe not; tell me what you think…
Ann-chan: Same as what I said to those before you. I don't know why I didn't make this riku/sora, many of you seemed to have wanted that, just drop me an e-mail and I'll see what I can cook up…
Angel Bliss: Well I believe things are all good and well for you then! ^.^ it's not yaoi or whatever so…yay I guess! Hope you'll continue reading and reviewing!!
Phantazy: Yup, I'm pretty much with you on that one, thanks so much for your review, it really made the deciding factor on how I wrote this. ~.^
RIA: Well things worked out in your favor, I do believe, yay!! *looks at the clock* well I'm passed my curfew, so I better be off before I get in trouble and can't get on the computer for a month ~.^ Hope to hear from you again! ^.^
Once again, thanks to all those of you that reviewed, I really appreciate it!
~*~Sora~*~
