Title: Ancient Dreams
Author: Bagelbunion
Category: Shounen ai, AU, adventure
Pairing: RikuSora
Rating: PG-13 so far
Warnings: none
"Hey, I got an idea."
Sora looked up from his current location on Riku's floor to his silver haired friend who was lying on his bed. "What's that?" Sora asked.
"You know that story about the loot somewhere on the island? Well, let's go dig it up!"
"Riku, that's just an old legend."
"Yeah, but all legends have some truth to them."
Sora snorted and just lay back onto the floor again, his hands supporting his neck.
"C'mon Sora. It's not like there's anything better to do."
Sora continued to snort. "First of all Riku, it's hotter than hell during this spell. Second, do you even know where to begin to look?" Riku shook his head, forlorn.
"Third, how do you know it's real?"
"It has to be! Think of it Sora! Wealth beyond our wildest dreams, with money like that we could finally get off this stupid island." Riku clasped his hands and stared dreamily at the wall.
"Alright Riku. Tell you what. If you find out where it is buried or some clues that will lead us to it, then I'll go. But…I'm waiting until it cools down a bit. I'm not moving from this spot until nightfall." Sora protested and lay back down on the floor bare-chested.
Riku nodded and flopped back down to his bed, shirtless as well. "First how much does the legend say about the treasure?" Riku asked.
Sora sat up and decided to join Riku on the bed. Pushing Riku to the side Sora sat facing his friend.
"Well…we know it's supposed to be riches beyond belief, its buried somewhere on this island….it's…uhhh…that's all I really know." Sora shook his head.
"Maybe we should go to the library and look it up??" Riku suggested.
Sora vehemently shook his head. He wasn't going anywhere in this heat.
"C'mon it's air-conditioned!" Riku said and rose from his bed. Air conditioned!?! "well why didn't you say so? Let's go!" Sora shouted and sprung from Riku's bed and headed towards the door.
"Hold on I have to put on sunscreen." Riku reached for his ever present bottle of 40spf and slathered it on his face and arms. "Can I have some help with my back Sora?" he asked.
Sora nodded and grabbed the bottle, squirting some lotion into his hands as Riku turned around. Sora started at Riku's shoulders rubbing in the lotion and continued downwards. Riku closed his eyes and sighed softly. It felt so good to have Sora's hands on him.
"You burn too easily. Why do you live here on the islands?" Sora asked as his hands continued to wander over Riku's body even though the lotion was all rubbed in.
"Why do you think I wanna leave so bad? Do you know how many bad sunburns I've had this year alone?? When was the last time you were ever burned?? You just tan…"
Sora shrugged. He'd never really been burned. He didn't know why Riku always burned so easily. "Just genetics I guess." Sora said.
Riku nodded. "As nice as that feels we better get going to the library."
"Err…yeah…" Sora dropped his hands embarrassed. He hadn't even realized that he was continuing to rub Riku's shoulders.
Riku just smiled. "It's alright. Let's go. I want to get started looking for this treasure." Sora nodded and the two boys left for the library to begin their search.
"Aaahhh…This feels so much better." Sora leaned back in the chair and put his feet on the table. Riku nodded in agreement. Getting out of the heat and into the air-conditioned library was a good idea. Even if they didn't find anything. Nobody thought it was odd that there were two shirtless young bishounen there either. Most of the people on destiny islands today were shirtless thanks the heat wave.
Riku was currently reading over an old book that had over eight hundred pages on history of Destiny Islands. It was pretty interesting reading, the island had been settled by ancient warriors about three thousand years ago, and there were many bloody battles before all thirty of the islands were unified to become one sovereign nation.
Riku noted with interest that of all the thirty islands in the Destiny archipelago, only eight were inhabited. Several others were wildlife and nature reserves, but were open to the residents for camping and excursions, while tourists from the mainland had no such provisions. Riku smiled to himself. Thanks to his father, those laws were in place and the outlaying islands and reefs stayed healthy and isolated. Not to mention beautiful and undisturbed. I wonder if dad knows something about the treasure. Perhaps it's on one of the inhabitants?
"Hey did you find something?" Sora asked, and propped his elbows back on the table over his own history book.
Riku just shook his head. "No, nothing but a lot of interesting history about the islands." He sighed.
"See, I'm telling you Riku. It doesn't exist."
"Let's just keep looking, at least it gives us something to do."
Sora sighed, but agreed mentally. Sitting in the air-cooled library was better than sitting back at Riku's house just staring at the wall. Well…I suppose I could stare at Riku…he's much more interesting to look at…Sora focused back on his reading again, just skimming over the pages for something that looked like it might be a clue.
He glanced around in between readings to note that the library was quite busy today. i Or rather I think everyone came in out of the heat! /i Indeed, there were a lot of people in the library, only the richest few on the island could afford air conditioning. But the homes were designed by the people who had lived on the islands for centuries, and as such air conditioning wasn't necessary. After all, they were island folk and used to the heat, but after Hurricane Narui, an incredible heat wave had swept through the islands, leaving them dry and hot like a desert instead of the nice tropical humidity that was always present. Even worse there were no trade winds blowing which normally kept the islands rather cool.
Sora smiled in amusement remembering the last hot spell was right at the height of tourist season, and all the poor hot tourists had to stay cooped up in their hotels. He laughed at the tourists who bought property for a second vacation home, only to stay their whole vacation cooped up in their air-conditioned prisons. What a waste of money! Maybe they should've bought 'how to survive tropical island heat' on tape instead! Sora almost chuckled. But looking around the library today, it seemed to be mostly local residents milling about. Besides tourists would be noisy! And they wouldn't be in the library either!
"What's so funny?" Riku asked, wondering why his friend kept looking around and chuckling.
"I was just thinking about the last heat wave that swept through right at the height of tourist season, and all the tourists were miserable. I'd hate to be them, must've been such a waste of money to come all the way here and then be cooped up in their hotels!" serves them right. They always leave the island such a mess!
Riku chuckled. "I agree. They fly out here in the middle of the winter, like they have no idea about heat at all." Riku shook his head in disdain.
"Hey! I think I may have found something!" Sora shouted softly.
"What is it?" Riku rose and stood over Sora and read over his shoulder.
King Subuyai, last of the great destiny island monarchs is said to have accumulated great treasures and riches and had them buried after his death. King Subuyai is rumored to have passed away sometime in winter of the year 208. [1] He lived on Island Araposo 8 until his death. Only his most trusted royal retainers know the location of King Subuyai's wealth.
"Well that's a start. I can do a search about Araposo 8. That's the albatross reserve, so we'd have to camp out." Sora nodded. He was happy to have found something even if it was an old goose chase. There wasn't much to do on Destiny Islands and while school was on hiatus thanks to the heat and a teacher strike, both boys had a lot of free time.
Riku moved into the computer lab, and Sora scooped up their books and followed after him. Riku began a search through the computer's database for King Subuyai and Araposo 8. "Look at this Sora:" Riku read aloud the search results. "Although King Subuyai died on Araposo 8, it is said that his retainers carried his wealth and his body to another island to be buried to discourage looters." Riku sighed. "Think we're back at square one? Or you still want to go camp out at Araposo 8?" Sora sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, I think it'll be fun to go camp out nevertheless. Let's check out these books and we can take them with us to read over there. Wouldn't that be fun?"
Riku nodded. It would be fun. Even if they found nothing, just to look. If we found any money…It'd be enough to get off these islands… "Well you want to sail out there this afternoon, it's only about 2pm. We have plenty of time."
Sora nodded. "Yeah, let's go. I think I can be packed with some clothes in about thirty minutes. Should we take some food?"
"Yeah, I'll pack some dried goods, make sure you bring your fishing spear. I'll bring mine. And my net. Ooh. And some matches. Oh yeah, and a shovel. And a—"
"Riku! Chill! It's not a major excursion. It's just a little camping trip."
"Right sorry. But I just wanna be prepared ya know? We'll be camping for a few nights. Oh yeah, bring a blanket. One that you don't care if it gets sandy okay?"
Sora just nodded. "Meet me at the docks in about thirty then?" Riku asked. Again Sora nodded. "I'll be there."
The two boys parted ways and went to their respective houses to gather supplies.
[1] I don't know when this is, so just use your imaginations.