Crowned Hearts Chapter
Seven
By Blue Dragon
Riku woke up in his bed abruptly,
wondering why his alarm clock hadn't yet come woken him up.
He
looked to find that it was already 9:13 in the morning.
"Ah!"
Riku gave a slight yell as he jumped out of bed and pulled on his
shirt, jeans, and waders and then his favorite pair of shoes.
"I'm
late." he rapidly combed his hair and splashed some water into
his face in the bathroom. He took the Oblivion and put it on his
belt, still feeling better with it at his side.
"I hope
she's not too mad"
Riku called down the stairs.
"Mom!
Dad! I really have to meet someone and I'm late!"
"Okay
son, have a good time" his mother called back up.
It was
the middle of midterm break. School didn't start until tomorrow, the
day of the Crowned Hearts to welcome back the students and also for
celebration of the closing of Kingdom Hearts, the word of which had
quickly spread.
Riku took a deep breath, opened his window
overlooking the road, and jumped out, landing in a crouch on the lawn
from the fifteen-foot jump.
He ran at light speed past the
corners and onto the sidewalk to avoid and oncoming car. He grew
tired and climbed onto a post, and then blasted a fire spell sending
him thirty extra feet. The beach was approaching and he put a new pep
in his step.
Riku reached the beach and saw Lisa staring at
the water ahead of her.
"Lisa!"
She turned to
face him as he rapidly approached.
"Lisa, hold on!"
She
didn't move, simply awaited his arrival. She had a pained look on her
face.
Riku came to a stop and tried to catch his
breath.
"Lisa.my alarm didn't' go off. I got over here as
fast as I could.I didn't mean to--"
"Riku--"
"I'm
so sorry that I'm late. It'll never happen again. We can
still--"
"Riku--"
"Forgive me, I
didn't mean to--"
"RIKU!"
"Yes?"
"I
don't care if you're a little late. I'm just happy to see you again,
and that you still wanted to come. Don't be worried, we're both here
and that's all that matters. I'd wait for you forever if it meant
seeing you again"
Riku stared into her bright eyes,
astonished by her sweet and soothing words.
"Really?"
She
held his hand.
"Really"
Riku started to feel
light, and a dopey smile came onto his face. Suddenly, he felt better
than ever before, as if he were with an angel. What was this
feeling?
"Wow. Great. So, where to?"
"I
don't know, you choose"
Riku scratched his hair making an
amusing sound as Lisa stifled a chuckle.
"You like Chubby
Chocobo's?"
A man in a large chocobo outfit stood at the
reception area of Chubby Chocobo's, counting his money and complained
about his job as a stuffed yellow bird.
Riku walked up to the
counter and handed the man seven munny.
"You payin' for
two?" he asked.
"Yes" Riku responded.
The
man gave him a weird look.
"What?"
"Never
mind. Just get in here"
Lisa walked up next to Riku and
the two found themselves a chair right next to the movie
theater.
"They'll probably be showing Final Fantasy: The
Spirits Within. What do you think?"
"Sounds pretty
good." Lisa responded. "I actually like
Squaresoft"
"Really?" asked Riku.
Lisa
nodded enthusiastically.
"Cool! I think they make the
best games."
"Me too" said Lisa. "Have you
ever played Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross?"
"They
rock! How about Vagrant Story, SaGa Frontier, and Driving Emotion
Type S?"
"All the time, Riku. I like Parasite Eve,
too. But I love Final Fantasy, as well."
"I hear
you. I wonder why they stopped at VI though?"
"I
know. A VII, VIII, IX, or even X would have been good"
Riku
leafed through the menu and thought about two things at once.
"You
know what would make a good game? Squaresoft making a story about
what Sora and I did"
"What did you do?"
Riku
ordered a large pepperoni pizza and told Lisa about all that he and
Sora had done in other worlds, and about his past that was slightly
tainted.
"Wow, that would make a good game."
There
were still two slices of pizza left, and Riku and Lisa took them from
the box and onto the plates.
"The movie's starting"
Lisa whispered.
The two turned their heads to the large screen
as the movie came on, opening with Aki's amazing dream. The lights
darkened and the picture brightened as the tables of people shushed
and fixed their eyes on the movie.
"I never get tired of
this" said Riku.
"Neither do I"
As the
movie progressed, Riku remembered what he had to do.
It can
wait to the end of the movie he thought.
Soon the movie ended,
and most of the audience, which was made up mostly of first-timers
applauded.
"That was even better than the last time."
Lisa evaluated as she stood up and left a tip of three munny on the
table."
"Definitely. Lisa, you don't skate do
you"
"Funny that you mention that, I just happen to
be a champion skater"
"No kidding! Want to go hit
the skate park?"
"Sounds entertaining. We seem to
like the same. never mind"
Riku's expression became
worried.
"Is something wrong?" no, Riku. I just
remembered something, but its not important.
"Oh.
Okay."
The couple walked out of the theater and into the
open sunlight. It was noon and the weather was perfect.
"Lisa?"
She
turned to meet him, focusing her attention on him.
"Yes?"
"I
was thinking, I haven't been asked or asked any body, but if you
don't have anything else to do and are perfectly comfortable with it,
or don't' feel like it, I would understand. Never mind."
"What?
Riku you had something to say, go ahead."
"Uh, want
to come to Crowned Hearts with me?"
She got a worried
expression and sighed.
Darn it! She hates me!
"I'd
love too. I was worried about something, but it doesn't
matter"
"Cool!" Riku was so filled with
happiness that he disregarded his curiosity on the subject that Lisa
was hinting on.
"Then do we go to the skate park?"
Riku
noticed Sora, Wakka, Tidus, Selphie, and Kairi walking down the sand
towards them.
"Yeah, but, I have to do something. Can I
meet you there in three hours?"
"I guess. Later
then."
Lisa nodded and ran at warp speed in the opposite
direction of Riku's oncoming friends.
Could she be avoiding
them? Nah.
Sora came to Riku.
"Hey, man. Haven't
seen you all morning. We were just going to the mall to buy some
stuff."
"Really?" Riku asked as the others
confronted him. "Why now?"
"We haven't spent
our allowances yet, remember! Your parents have to have given you a
raise!" Tidus said.
Come to think of it, the allowance
had increased from the normal twenty munny to twenty-five, and Riku
had some loose change.
"Why not? Lets go."
"Great!"
said Sora. "Maybe we could--"
The phone in Sora's
pocket started ringing.
"Hold on."
Sora
pulled out the cellular phone.
"You've reached Sora
Barzhad. How may I direct your call? What! Dad? You're in jail!? How
did you get there!? The authorities did what!? Just call mom, she'll
bail you out."
Sora hung up.
"Weird, my dad
went to jail because he thought I was having girl trouble. Mom will
bail him out."
"That is strange" Selphie
added.
Riku whistled and looked up at the sky.
"Well,
we're going to get some outfits for Crowned Hearts tomorrow, our
pooled munny should be more than enough.
"Fine. Lets
go"
Riku had his mind fixed on the Crowned Hearts prom
that was only one day away. Would he survive it? He just hoped that
the day would go slow so that he could prepare as much as he
could.
The party of six went over to the sidewalk and made
their way to the mall.
