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.