Crowned Hearts Chapter Three

By Blue Dragon

Maybe he wouldn't be so miserable after all. Perhaps he could try and work up the courage to ask this new girl to that party that everyone was talking about. All of his close friends seemed to have someone to go with, and for the first time in his life he was the odd man out. But maybe this would be his last.

"Do you like ice cream?" Riku asked.

"A lot! Especially strawberry"

"Really? That's my favorite, too!"

"We already have something in common"

Riku felt the gears in his mind shifting to positive as he studied this new development.

"There's a stand somewhere here, wanna get some?"

"I'd love to"

Riku and Lisa walked side by side towards the ice cream stand by the dock overlooking the sea. The guy there was reading his book, probably from slow business.

Lisa and Riku changed to a slower pace as they walked on the sturdy wood of the deck, slightly blackened by how brightly the sun had been glowing lately.

"Hey, can I have two strawberry ice cream cones?"

Riku asked the salesman.

"What? Two? You must be pretty hungry"

Riku paid the four munny and didn't ask for elaboration on the guy's comment as he went back to reading his novel, which seemed like one of those cheesy romance ones.

"Here you go"

Riku handed Lisa the cone, which she began to consume with Riku as the two walked down the side of the beach back the way they had came.

After a while, with both the cone and the cream eaten, the two met an awkward silence when they found no subjects to talk about.

"Are you really comfortable in those clothes?"

"What?"

"Those waders, jeans, yellow shirt, it seems kind of heavy seeing how hot it is and the fact that its noon."

"I never thought about that. I always wondered while I was sweating so hard all the time"

Riku shed his yellow shirt revealing a thinner white one, and also his waders. He pulled up his jeans slightly so he could get some much-needed air into his ankles. He then folded his clothes in a neat pile and laid them next to the seaside shack.

"Thanks. I actually feel a lot more comfortable."

"Don't mention it"

Riku now noticed that his attire now somewhat matched his newfound companion's, save the fact the she wore a thicker white shirt and tan capris.

After a shorter silence, Riku asked a question that he deeply regretted:

"Do you like fighting?"

"Have you seen Riku lately?" asked Sora to Kairi as they, with Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus sat at a table in the seaside pub near the business area.

"He's probably at Chuckis' planning another one of his sinister plots"

"That last one wasn't so bad," mentioned Tidus.

"That's my dad we're talking about! They almost put his bar out of business!"

"Mr. Barzhad shouldn't be so dependant on that, not to mention his mascot of a wife, either" Selphie continued.

"HEY! THOSE ARE MY PARENTS!"

"Sorry Sora, no offense" she apologized.

"By de way Sora, you and Riku destroyed us. It seems like you've been doing a little workout of your own, huh? What was it?" Wakka inquired.

"Nothing special, just like you guys did. Just a few heartless here and there. How did you guys get those weapons?"

"We went to this world called Spira" started Tidus "and this guy named Sir Auron gave it all to us. We got to practice all the time, because in this other world called Gaia, we had to help this guy called Zidane fight them all off."

"That's pretty much what Riku and I did, except we met some mighty tough guys named Cloud and Leon (even though his real name was Squall). They taught us a lot."

Sora was hesitant to mention Riku's little position in the "Dark Side". He didn't want to spoil his ranking with his friends, especially since he had done all he could to say he was sorry. Riku really was a good guy in the end. But something seemed to have been up with him ever since the first few minutes after they came back to Destiny Islands.

Sora also didn't want to try and complicate things by mentioning too much about the detail of his adventures, especially the gory details about all of the powerful enemies he had defeated. And if there was one thing he would keep between himself, Kairi and Riku, it would be the story about closing the Kingdom Hearts all together. He wanted to keep things, well, simple and clean.

Selphie looked over the sea, remembering all that it now symbolized ever since the restoration of the beautiful islands.

"Remember the 'Great Spirit'" she asked the group.

"Isn't he that big bird spirit that's supposed to watch over this island?" Kairi remembered.

"Yeah! You think he helped us any? I mean in bringing back the island?"

"I bet he did. And I bet Sora and Riku had something to do wid it" Wakka added in his input.

"I should make a poem, just about how he brought happiness to us"

"I don't think there any poems that would fit that kind of greatness" Tidus shifted his position in his wooden chair.

"How about 'amidst the blue skies, a link from past to future, the sheltering wings of the protector'?"

".Selphie, if your going to plagiarize, at least rephrase it" Sora muttered.

"I'm not plagiarizing! I made that up!"

"You're lying. That's off of something"

"I don't know what you're talking about. If it is, then what's it from?"

"I can't remember! But that is DEFINITELY off of something. You didn't make that up"

"Whatever" Selphie said as a flock of birds flew by.

"Actually, I do like fighting. But I bet you can't guess my weapon"

"Sword"

"No"

"Axe"

"No"

"Club"

"No"

"Spear"

"No"

"Nunchaku"

"No"

"Ball"

"No"

"Pole?!"

"NO"

"Katana, wakizashi, knife, whip, pinwheel, gunblade, dagger, staff, firearms, leather gloves, metal knuckles, large planes, your mother!?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, close, closer, heavens no, hell no"

"What is it then?"

"My bare hands"

She said, holding up her fists.

Riku paused and cocked his head.

"No gloves or anything?"

"Nope. And I'm fluent in all forms of martial arts, too."

"You're kidding me! I can use at least three, and I doubt you'd be any match for me"

"Care to try me?" she asked, taking a kung fu position in the sand.

"Put up your dukes!"

The two stood slowly circling each other.

"I bet I can make you eat sand Riku. Just try to hit me"

"TAKE THIS!"

Riku back flipped and tried to land his heel on Lisa, but she put a hand up like she expected him to do it, and flipped him eight times until he landed face-first on the sand, which got mostly in his mouth.

"Ptuuii! Ptuuui!"

Riku started spitting out sand all over the place.

"Nasty! I went easy on you. Try to doge this!"

Riku spit out the last of the sand and launched a sidekick. The sad thing was, Lisa dodged that and Riku found himself lodged inside the side of the shack, making a hole with his foot.

"Riku, you're going to have to be faster than--"

She was cut off as Riku launched a flurry of punches quicker than the eye could see.

She dodged them seemingly effortlessly.

"Is there a breeze in here?" she asked as she yawned.

Nothing works! I could try kicking below the belt! Yeah and--oh yeah.CRAP!

Finally Riku was exhausted and gave up.

"You're great."

"Thanks. Its only because of you."

"Huh?"

"Nothing"

"Lisa, who taught you to fight like that?"

"You could say that you did, in a way"

"I don't understand"

Lisa turned around and faced the water.

"You don't have to. Let's just enjoy the time we have together"

Riku noticed the yellow-orange sunset on the horizon, like the day he was going to travel through the water to see what was out there. But now, though, he knew. Just knowing that other worlds were there and not connected comforted him at the time, and kept him from wondering any more.

"Riku, its getting kind of late. I have to go now, okay?"

"Alright. Can I see you here tomorrow morning"

"Of course! I couldn't go through today and not come back!"

"Good to know. Later!"

With that she ran off into the sunset along the shore, her ponytail bouncing. Riku watched her disappearing figure, then went to opposite direction to his home.

Maybe I have a girlfriend.or not. How do I know!? I bet Mr. Barzhad will, though!

Riku looked towards his destination and ran to the bar "Fate" hoping to get some love advice from the almighty Sora's dad.