AN: Okey dokey! Third chapter is up NOW! ~.^ Ain't ya proud of me? *fans: -_- no* ;_; fine, just read the chapter.... *mumbles bout... stuff!* =^.^= MEOW! Kawai lil' neko! *fans: o.O that guns looking very friendly right now...* *sweatdrops* ok I'll get to the chapter already...
Disclaimers: Man, I feel like such a loser every time I put this up to say I don't own anything... *fans: that's cuz u ARE a loser!* Hey! I've got Mariha don't I? *hugs Mariha*
Dark Memories
"Ah, so your looking for your friends," said Nala after Sora had told her his situation, "I wish we could help you look, but the hyenas have taken over most of the Pride Lands. They seem to come in endless numbers so we can't fight them off."
"What!" roared Simba in fury; it was plain to see that he had something against the hyenas.
"Yes," continued Nala in a sorrowful voice, "It happened right after out world was 're-born'. Simba, you weren't here to lead us so the hyenas saw the opportunity and too over. They're everywhere; the only place they leave alone is here. We sometimes get lucky and catch a bit of food before they find us..."
Simba paced back and forth in deep though. "Ahh! How could this happen," he said to himself. He stopped pacing to stand right in front of Sora.
"Sora, I know this is a big favour to ask, but I can't get rid of all the hyenas with just me and the lionesses."
"No problem!" replied Sora confidently, "After the hyenas are gone, it'll be easier to look for Riku."
Sora grinned. "It's a two in one!"
Simba nodded, "Thank you so much Sora, you've helped med so much already. When this is all done, I'd be happy to show you around and help you look."
"Then it's settled! We'll leave in the morning," said Nala.
"Wait a second," said Simba sternly, "It's far to dangerous, you have to stay here and protect the others."
"Danger?" said Nala, "I laugh in the face of danger, ha ha ha!"
Simba just looked at her, not showing any sign of giving in.
"Aww come on!" she complained, "I'm tougher that that! Let me help you; this is my home too."
"Someone needs to stay here to make sure the rest of the pack is safe," said Simba, "Sora and I will be fine. I'll call you and the others if we need you."
They gazed into each other's eyes, both trying to stare down the other. Simba was too good. Finally, Nala gave in.
"Ok, you win," she said, "But save us a little bit of action too."
Both Simba and Nala smiled and they nuzzled noses. Then, Simba turned to Sora.
"Be ready to go in the morning," he said, "For now, get rested up. Those hyenas are tougher than they appear to be."
~*~
Riku had no idea how long they sat there, too worn out to move, but it couldn't have been too long because the cut on his arm began to hurt. More of a needles sting at first, then the pain came rushing to his head. He groaned and Mariha turned to see what was the matter.
"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked then noticed blood dripping from Riku's arm, "You're hurt!"
"It's nothing, just a scra -" he flinched as the cut sent another great pang of pain to his head.
"Hold still," she said and pulled out a white handkerchief from her pocket. She tried to wipe away most of the blood with her hand, hoping to keep the cloth as clean as possible before wrapping it around his arm to create a bandage. His gash was deep. It was the length of his hand in between his wrist and elbow, slightly angled so that if another one were opposite it, it would create an X.
Riku gritted his teeth as Mariha carefully tied the handkerchief around his arm. "There, all bandaged up," she said, "I wish I had something to ease the pain though."
Riku raised his arm to examine his bandage more closely. One end of it already was starting to go red from his blood. "Nah, this is fine," he said.
"This is all my fault!" she said in frustration, "If I hadn't -"
"Hey," said Riku to cut her off, "I said don't worry about it. Trust me, I've had worse, and I'll live right?"
Mariha sighed and opened her mouth to say something more but Riku kept talking.
"Come on! No point in fussing over the past. What's happened happened. No one can change that."
Mariha smiled but his own words surprised him. That's defiantly not how he's been thinking or acting lately. Blaming himself for causing so much trouble. Sure it was true, but he needed to let it go and accept it. He then smiled at himself; he had taught himself a good lesson thanks to Mariha.
"Riku," said Mariha getting up, "I think we should get out of here. Can you walk?"
"I think so," Riku replied, getting up slowly with a little help from Mariha. They made their way back to where they had first met which they had made into a little camp before. Mickey had brought, or found, Riku couldn't tell which, blankets for sleeping. He had come awfully prepared to spend a long time in this accursed place.
After they had settled down at their camp, Mariha brought over some fragments of that blue glowing stuff Riku had seen earlier. She piled them in a little circle then drew her sword and pointed the tip at it.
"Fire!" she called and a little fire ball shot from her sword and the flame easily caught to the glowing... things.
"Hey, what is that stuff anyways?" asked Riku.
"Really, I have no idea," Mariha replied truthfully, "One day I was practicing my fire magic and I accidentally hit the stuff and it caught easily. It works just like fire wood an that's good with me!"
"I see..."
Riku lay on his blanket to rest as Mariha went skipping away somewhere saying she'd be back soon. Sure enough, five minutes later she came back with an armful of strange looking objects.
"What's all that?" asked Riku, looking at the array of assorted items.
"Something to feed us!" replied Mariha gleefully.
She quickly got to work. She cast a blizzard spell to fill a bowl shaped object that looked kind of like a big upside down mushroom cap then put it over the fire. The ice in the cap melted quickly and it wasn't long until it began to boil. Mariha then continued by tossing the other things she had brought into the boiling water, sometimes breaking something that was too big to fit into several pieces.
Finally, after stirring it around, Mariha poured some of the soup into smaller mushroom cups and handed one to Riku. He couldn't tell if it was really safe to drink or not, for everything floating in the dark broth weren't familiar to him. He took a sip anyway though, after all, Mariha was the one who made it, and she was drinking her own.
He brought the cup to his lips and took a sip. A sweet and tangy flavor filled his mouth. It was so delicious! He took another sip, this one bigger than the first to make sure his taste buds weren't fooling him. It was just as mouth watering as before.
"Wow!" he said, "This is really good! How'd you make it? What's in it?"
"Well," started Mariha with a big smile, "When you're living out here for as long as I have, you figure out a couple things. I don't really remember how I found out they were eatable, maybe I was to hungry at the time to care, but it teased great, and I'm still alive so it can't be bad for you."
She then gulped down the last bit of her soup and turned her back to him as she sat on her blanket; she was fiddling with something in her hands but Riku couldn't see what. He was about to ask but a wave of sleep camp over him. Half dazed, he drank the rest of the broth in his cup and fell over to fall asleep.
Riku awoke to find Mariha asleep and huddled by the dying fire. He'd had another dream. He sat and thought, trying to recall it in his head. It was different from the first two he had.
Riku was with the nameless girl but they were at the cove. He remembered that they were playing hide and seek. He was hiding in the bushes and could see her looking for him through the leaves. She searched and searched but couldn't find him. Finally, he came out and found her by the star marker, a tree with one big yellow star on top, curled up into a ball with her hands around her knees and head between them. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes but wiped them away quickly and ran to Riku.
He remembered her telling him how she thought he had left her for good. He tried to remember what her face looked like. It was so clear in the dream, but now it was a blur.
He sighed, disappointed in himself forgetting then smiled. She was so worried that he'd left her. If his dreams were really a vision of his past, then someone had really cared about him and would never want to leave him. But if that was so, then where were they now? And why was he having so much trouble remembering?
Riku's stream of though was broken by a groan close to him. Mariha was waking up.
"How'd you get up before me?" she said to Riku and yawned, "Better yet, why am I so tired?"
Riku smiled as she yawned again. He guessed that she had stayed up watching over him until she couldn't keep her eyes open. But he didn't mention this to her.
Mariha stretched and crawled over beside Riku. "How are you feeling?" she asked inspecting the bandage that was still on his arm.
"Great," he replied, "How are you feeling?"
Mariha looked up and smiled, "Never been better!" she yawned again, "Ok, so maybe I've been a bit better before, but other than that, I'm good to go!"
Mariha stuffed her hand in her pocket and pulled something out. She then held it out blushing.
"I made this for you," she said shyly, referring to the bracelet in her hands. Riku took it from her hand and looked at it closer.
The band was woven out of what looked like dry grass. There was a small gem of some sort on it that was a pure lush green.
"This is amazing," he said studying the intricate waving design, "You made this?"
Mariha nodded, "Do you like it?"
"Of course," he replied. He gave it to Mariha so she could tie it around his wrist.
After finishing what was left of the mysterious soup, Riku persuaded Mariha that he was perfectly fine so he could take a little walk. He strolled along, making sure he'd remember the way back to their camp. Mariha went off into that strange forest clearing to power up her magic but the rock.
During Riku's walk, he thought about Sora. He remembered all the things they used to compete for and how much fun they had together. Eventually, his memories drifted to when Sora had defeated Ansem, the evil that had tried to use the heartless for his own dark ways so he could rule all worlds. He remembered Sora as he tried to close the doors to this place, Kingdom Hearts. Then it hit him.
Didn't Sora say that Kingdom Hearts was light? Didn't he say there was a light somewhere in here that would defeat the darkness for good? He thought, He did! So if we find the light, we'll be able to get out of here!
He stopped his rejoice and realized the flaw in this plan. To get out, he'd have to release the light, but then also open the door. It was Sora's destiny to open the door to light since he wielded the Keyblade, and he had no way of contacting Sora from here.
"So much for that," he said aloud. He was so close; after all, it was he that was really the true Keyblade master. It was really his destiny to wield it, but he chose the darkness instead so it gave itself to Sora instead.
With a last disappointing thought of the destiny he could've taken, Riku trudged back to the camp. Mariha still wasn't back so Riku decided to practice his fighting skills. He started out great, but his attention drifted back to Sora. The last thing he had said to him had been: "Take care of her." He had referred to Kairi, a girl that he had fallen in love with back on his home of Destiny Islands. The only thing was, that Sora had loved her too.
Now he couldn't help but think about Kairi. He had loved her, but Sora and her were destined to be together. Riku didn't really like the idea of that, but he didn't was to mess with destiny. Not this time.
He gave up practicing and sat down by the burnt out fire. He stared at the smoldering ashes, his thoughts now on his strange dreams. He needed to find out who that girl was. He wanted so badly to remember a friend that had always been a part of him. Sure, Sora and Kairi were good friends of his, but in the dreams, this person made him feel, well, different. There was a stronger bond of friendship between them, one that he had never experienced before, or didn't remember experiencing anyway. He just wished that he could remember her face when he woke. He decided to try and sleep again, hoping that he could get more information if he dreamt of her again.
Three days passed. Every day, Mariha would go out and strengthen her magic, and every night Riku would dream about the girl. He dreamt all sorts of things that they had done together. Hunting for treasure, exploring the cove and just having a good old fun time together. But every time he woke, he'd never remember her face. And to make the matter even more frustrating, he kept forgetting to ask her name too. One thing he did notice though, that no one else seemed to be in his dreams.
Then, on the third night, Riku asked, out loud while Mariha wasn't there: Why is this person not with me any longer? That night, he got his answer.
This time, Riku was in the cabin by the seashore with the girl and Sora. He smiled at the memory of his now 6-year-old buddy. It was raining outside.
"I'm going to go up and see how bad it is," said the girl and she ran up the stairs that lead up to the door that opened up to the small wooden bridge connecting to the mini island. Riku was left with Sora.
"Hey Sora, where's Kairi?" he asked.
"Kairi?" he replied in confusion, "Who are you talking about? I don't know anyone named Kairi."
Then Riku remembered that Kairi had moved to their island when she was six years old, same age as Riku now, and she was a year younger. She must not have moved to Destiny Islands yet.
"Oh," he said, "I meant... um..."
"Naomi?" finished Sora.
Naomi! That's what her name is!
"Geez," said Sora, "What's with you today? You're forgetting a lot of thing,"
"Oh, I'm ok," said Riku, feeling rather stupid.
"You can't tell me that you forgot that it's her birthday today too!" Sora added.
Riku opened his mouth to reply but just then, Naomi came bounding down the stairs.
"It's still pouring!" she exclaimed, "I don't think we'll be able to get back to the main island, we might have to spend the night here."
Sora groaned.
"Hey! We've done it before!" she said in reply to his groan.
"Yeah, but - are you sure we can't just..."
"No way!" Naomi cut off, "Last time this happened we barely made it home because our boats half sunk from all the rain filling them. Besides, the waves are rougher than before."
"Aww," Sora complained, "But I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry," snapped Naomi, "But here are some coconuts that the wind blew off the trees."
She tossed a coconut to Sora, then Riku, before cracking open her own. This was too weird. Somehow, Riku felt like this had all happened before a long time ago. But his memory was always a faded picture in his mind.
He shrugged and ate his coconut. Sometime after, all three friends were laughing and joking as the storm raged on out side when Riku's dream suddenly changed. The three of them were on the dock, untying their little fishing boats. The wind was howling and she waves crashed into the shore violently. The rain was coming down in buckets and after only two seconds of standing in it, Riku was soaked thoroughly from head to toe.
What am I doing! He kept thinking to himself: This is insane!
But for some reason, he couldn't stop himself or the others from going out on to the rough waters. There were only two boat so Sora went in one and Riku and Naomi in the other. They all fought against the strong current in an effort to reach their home island of the many making up the Destiny Islands. Riku tried yelling over to Sora and even to Naomi, but the wind carried his voice away.
All of a sudden, a huge wave reared and came crashing down, just missing the two tiny boats. But then, a second came and its mark was true, it completely destroyed Riku's boat and he and Naomi were flung into the water. When he came to the surface, Riku quickly spotted a piece of his boat beside him and hang on to it for dear life.
"Sora! Naomi!" he shouted. At first he didn't hear anything but the howling wind and crashing waves. But then a faint call reached his ears.
"Riku!" called Sora.
"Over here!" Riku yelled back.
Sora's boat was still in tact but it had a lot of water in it. Somehow it made its way over to Riku and Sora helped him in.
"Where's Naomi?" said Riku, panting and coughing from all the water he had swallowed.
"I don't know, I though she was with you!" replied Sora. Even though they were only a few inches away from each other, the wind made it hard to hear there own shouting voices. "Wait... over there!"
Sora pointed out on the water. There, clinging to a piece of Riku's trashed boat was Naomi. Riku and Sora paddled frantically toward her.
"Hold on! We're coming!" Riku yelled to her.
"Riku!" he heard her call back.
The waves began to toss the boat away from Naomi, wanting to claim her for itself, but they kept on paddling. Finally, when they were close enough, Riku held out his hand for Naomi to grab. She caught it.
"Hold on, I've got you!" he said to her.
"Don't let go!" she cried.
"I won't," he said but he could feel his hand slipping.
"Riku!"
Their hands broke apart from each other's grasp.
"No!" cried Riku. He tried reaching for her hand again but she began to sink under the water. I need to dive in, he though but something stopped him. He gazed into her terror filled eyes like he had done so many times before. He was too afraid. He couldn't do it.
The moment of hesitation he took was to long. Naomi sank under water completely, never to re-surface. He was too late. He had let her down. He had killed her. He was frozen in shock, mind blank. A single tear ran down his cheek as a mocking voice laughed: 'There, you wanted to know why she'd not with you now.'
But it was right, he had wanted to know, and now he did.
"I did it..." he said in a whisper, "I left her to die. I killed her."
AN: Dundundunduh! OoOo!! Scary! Well, that's the end of this chapter, I'll let my annoying Authors Notes stop here for now ~.^ you're lucky! *fans: yea, WuTeVa!* hey that's what I say! WuTeVa! There, ok please R&R!
Disclaimers: Man, I feel like such a loser every time I put this up to say I don't own anything... *fans: that's cuz u ARE a loser!* Hey! I've got Mariha don't I? *hugs Mariha*
Dark Memories
"Ah, so your looking for your friends," said Nala after Sora had told her his situation, "I wish we could help you look, but the hyenas have taken over most of the Pride Lands. They seem to come in endless numbers so we can't fight them off."
"What!" roared Simba in fury; it was plain to see that he had something against the hyenas.
"Yes," continued Nala in a sorrowful voice, "It happened right after out world was 're-born'. Simba, you weren't here to lead us so the hyenas saw the opportunity and too over. They're everywhere; the only place they leave alone is here. We sometimes get lucky and catch a bit of food before they find us..."
Simba paced back and forth in deep though. "Ahh! How could this happen," he said to himself. He stopped pacing to stand right in front of Sora.
"Sora, I know this is a big favour to ask, but I can't get rid of all the hyenas with just me and the lionesses."
"No problem!" replied Sora confidently, "After the hyenas are gone, it'll be easier to look for Riku."
Sora grinned. "It's a two in one!"
Simba nodded, "Thank you so much Sora, you've helped med so much already. When this is all done, I'd be happy to show you around and help you look."
"Then it's settled! We'll leave in the morning," said Nala.
"Wait a second," said Simba sternly, "It's far to dangerous, you have to stay here and protect the others."
"Danger?" said Nala, "I laugh in the face of danger, ha ha ha!"
Simba just looked at her, not showing any sign of giving in.
"Aww come on!" she complained, "I'm tougher that that! Let me help you; this is my home too."
"Someone needs to stay here to make sure the rest of the pack is safe," said Simba, "Sora and I will be fine. I'll call you and the others if we need you."
They gazed into each other's eyes, both trying to stare down the other. Simba was too good. Finally, Nala gave in.
"Ok, you win," she said, "But save us a little bit of action too."
Both Simba and Nala smiled and they nuzzled noses. Then, Simba turned to Sora.
"Be ready to go in the morning," he said, "For now, get rested up. Those hyenas are tougher than they appear to be."
~*~
Riku had no idea how long they sat there, too worn out to move, but it couldn't have been too long because the cut on his arm began to hurt. More of a needles sting at first, then the pain came rushing to his head. He groaned and Mariha turned to see what was the matter.
"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked then noticed blood dripping from Riku's arm, "You're hurt!"
"It's nothing, just a scra -" he flinched as the cut sent another great pang of pain to his head.
"Hold still," she said and pulled out a white handkerchief from her pocket. She tried to wipe away most of the blood with her hand, hoping to keep the cloth as clean as possible before wrapping it around his arm to create a bandage. His gash was deep. It was the length of his hand in between his wrist and elbow, slightly angled so that if another one were opposite it, it would create an X.
Riku gritted his teeth as Mariha carefully tied the handkerchief around his arm. "There, all bandaged up," she said, "I wish I had something to ease the pain though."
Riku raised his arm to examine his bandage more closely. One end of it already was starting to go red from his blood. "Nah, this is fine," he said.
"This is all my fault!" she said in frustration, "If I hadn't -"
"Hey," said Riku to cut her off, "I said don't worry about it. Trust me, I've had worse, and I'll live right?"
Mariha sighed and opened her mouth to say something more but Riku kept talking.
"Come on! No point in fussing over the past. What's happened happened. No one can change that."
Mariha smiled but his own words surprised him. That's defiantly not how he's been thinking or acting lately. Blaming himself for causing so much trouble. Sure it was true, but he needed to let it go and accept it. He then smiled at himself; he had taught himself a good lesson thanks to Mariha.
"Riku," said Mariha getting up, "I think we should get out of here. Can you walk?"
"I think so," Riku replied, getting up slowly with a little help from Mariha. They made their way back to where they had first met which they had made into a little camp before. Mickey had brought, or found, Riku couldn't tell which, blankets for sleeping. He had come awfully prepared to spend a long time in this accursed place.
After they had settled down at their camp, Mariha brought over some fragments of that blue glowing stuff Riku had seen earlier. She piled them in a little circle then drew her sword and pointed the tip at it.
"Fire!" she called and a little fire ball shot from her sword and the flame easily caught to the glowing... things.
"Hey, what is that stuff anyways?" asked Riku.
"Really, I have no idea," Mariha replied truthfully, "One day I was practicing my fire magic and I accidentally hit the stuff and it caught easily. It works just like fire wood an that's good with me!"
"I see..."
Riku lay on his blanket to rest as Mariha went skipping away somewhere saying she'd be back soon. Sure enough, five minutes later she came back with an armful of strange looking objects.
"What's all that?" asked Riku, looking at the array of assorted items.
"Something to feed us!" replied Mariha gleefully.
She quickly got to work. She cast a blizzard spell to fill a bowl shaped object that looked kind of like a big upside down mushroom cap then put it over the fire. The ice in the cap melted quickly and it wasn't long until it began to boil. Mariha then continued by tossing the other things she had brought into the boiling water, sometimes breaking something that was too big to fit into several pieces.
Finally, after stirring it around, Mariha poured some of the soup into smaller mushroom cups and handed one to Riku. He couldn't tell if it was really safe to drink or not, for everything floating in the dark broth weren't familiar to him. He took a sip anyway though, after all, Mariha was the one who made it, and she was drinking her own.
He brought the cup to his lips and took a sip. A sweet and tangy flavor filled his mouth. It was so delicious! He took another sip, this one bigger than the first to make sure his taste buds weren't fooling him. It was just as mouth watering as before.
"Wow!" he said, "This is really good! How'd you make it? What's in it?"
"Well," started Mariha with a big smile, "When you're living out here for as long as I have, you figure out a couple things. I don't really remember how I found out they were eatable, maybe I was to hungry at the time to care, but it teased great, and I'm still alive so it can't be bad for you."
She then gulped down the last bit of her soup and turned her back to him as she sat on her blanket; she was fiddling with something in her hands but Riku couldn't see what. He was about to ask but a wave of sleep camp over him. Half dazed, he drank the rest of the broth in his cup and fell over to fall asleep.
Riku awoke to find Mariha asleep and huddled by the dying fire. He'd had another dream. He sat and thought, trying to recall it in his head. It was different from the first two he had.
Riku was with the nameless girl but they were at the cove. He remembered that they were playing hide and seek. He was hiding in the bushes and could see her looking for him through the leaves. She searched and searched but couldn't find him. Finally, he came out and found her by the star marker, a tree with one big yellow star on top, curled up into a ball with her hands around her knees and head between them. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes but wiped them away quickly and ran to Riku.
He remembered her telling him how she thought he had left her for good. He tried to remember what her face looked like. It was so clear in the dream, but now it was a blur.
He sighed, disappointed in himself forgetting then smiled. She was so worried that he'd left her. If his dreams were really a vision of his past, then someone had really cared about him and would never want to leave him. But if that was so, then where were they now? And why was he having so much trouble remembering?
Riku's stream of though was broken by a groan close to him. Mariha was waking up.
"How'd you get up before me?" she said to Riku and yawned, "Better yet, why am I so tired?"
Riku smiled as she yawned again. He guessed that she had stayed up watching over him until she couldn't keep her eyes open. But he didn't mention this to her.
Mariha stretched and crawled over beside Riku. "How are you feeling?" she asked inspecting the bandage that was still on his arm.
"Great," he replied, "How are you feeling?"
Mariha looked up and smiled, "Never been better!" she yawned again, "Ok, so maybe I've been a bit better before, but other than that, I'm good to go!"
Mariha stuffed her hand in her pocket and pulled something out. She then held it out blushing.
"I made this for you," she said shyly, referring to the bracelet in her hands. Riku took it from her hand and looked at it closer.
The band was woven out of what looked like dry grass. There was a small gem of some sort on it that was a pure lush green.
"This is amazing," he said studying the intricate waving design, "You made this?"
Mariha nodded, "Do you like it?"
"Of course," he replied. He gave it to Mariha so she could tie it around his wrist.
After finishing what was left of the mysterious soup, Riku persuaded Mariha that he was perfectly fine so he could take a little walk. He strolled along, making sure he'd remember the way back to their camp. Mariha went off into that strange forest clearing to power up her magic but the rock.
During Riku's walk, he thought about Sora. He remembered all the things they used to compete for and how much fun they had together. Eventually, his memories drifted to when Sora had defeated Ansem, the evil that had tried to use the heartless for his own dark ways so he could rule all worlds. He remembered Sora as he tried to close the doors to this place, Kingdom Hearts. Then it hit him.
Didn't Sora say that Kingdom Hearts was light? Didn't he say there was a light somewhere in here that would defeat the darkness for good? He thought, He did! So if we find the light, we'll be able to get out of here!
He stopped his rejoice and realized the flaw in this plan. To get out, he'd have to release the light, but then also open the door. It was Sora's destiny to open the door to light since he wielded the Keyblade, and he had no way of contacting Sora from here.
"So much for that," he said aloud. He was so close; after all, it was he that was really the true Keyblade master. It was really his destiny to wield it, but he chose the darkness instead so it gave itself to Sora instead.
With a last disappointing thought of the destiny he could've taken, Riku trudged back to the camp. Mariha still wasn't back so Riku decided to practice his fighting skills. He started out great, but his attention drifted back to Sora. The last thing he had said to him had been: "Take care of her." He had referred to Kairi, a girl that he had fallen in love with back on his home of Destiny Islands. The only thing was, that Sora had loved her too.
Now he couldn't help but think about Kairi. He had loved her, but Sora and her were destined to be together. Riku didn't really like the idea of that, but he didn't was to mess with destiny. Not this time.
He gave up practicing and sat down by the burnt out fire. He stared at the smoldering ashes, his thoughts now on his strange dreams. He needed to find out who that girl was. He wanted so badly to remember a friend that had always been a part of him. Sure, Sora and Kairi were good friends of his, but in the dreams, this person made him feel, well, different. There was a stronger bond of friendship between them, one that he had never experienced before, or didn't remember experiencing anyway. He just wished that he could remember her face when he woke. He decided to try and sleep again, hoping that he could get more information if he dreamt of her again.
Three days passed. Every day, Mariha would go out and strengthen her magic, and every night Riku would dream about the girl. He dreamt all sorts of things that they had done together. Hunting for treasure, exploring the cove and just having a good old fun time together. But every time he woke, he'd never remember her face. And to make the matter even more frustrating, he kept forgetting to ask her name too. One thing he did notice though, that no one else seemed to be in his dreams.
Then, on the third night, Riku asked, out loud while Mariha wasn't there: Why is this person not with me any longer? That night, he got his answer.
This time, Riku was in the cabin by the seashore with the girl and Sora. He smiled at the memory of his now 6-year-old buddy. It was raining outside.
"I'm going to go up and see how bad it is," said the girl and she ran up the stairs that lead up to the door that opened up to the small wooden bridge connecting to the mini island. Riku was left with Sora.
"Hey Sora, where's Kairi?" he asked.
"Kairi?" he replied in confusion, "Who are you talking about? I don't know anyone named Kairi."
Then Riku remembered that Kairi had moved to their island when she was six years old, same age as Riku now, and she was a year younger. She must not have moved to Destiny Islands yet.
"Oh," he said, "I meant... um..."
"Naomi?" finished Sora.
Naomi! That's what her name is!
"Geez," said Sora, "What's with you today? You're forgetting a lot of thing,"
"Oh, I'm ok," said Riku, feeling rather stupid.
"You can't tell me that you forgot that it's her birthday today too!" Sora added.
Riku opened his mouth to reply but just then, Naomi came bounding down the stairs.
"It's still pouring!" she exclaimed, "I don't think we'll be able to get back to the main island, we might have to spend the night here."
Sora groaned.
"Hey! We've done it before!" she said in reply to his groan.
"Yeah, but - are you sure we can't just..."
"No way!" Naomi cut off, "Last time this happened we barely made it home because our boats half sunk from all the rain filling them. Besides, the waves are rougher than before."
"Aww," Sora complained, "But I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry," snapped Naomi, "But here are some coconuts that the wind blew off the trees."
She tossed a coconut to Sora, then Riku, before cracking open her own. This was too weird. Somehow, Riku felt like this had all happened before a long time ago. But his memory was always a faded picture in his mind.
He shrugged and ate his coconut. Sometime after, all three friends were laughing and joking as the storm raged on out side when Riku's dream suddenly changed. The three of them were on the dock, untying their little fishing boats. The wind was howling and she waves crashed into the shore violently. The rain was coming down in buckets and after only two seconds of standing in it, Riku was soaked thoroughly from head to toe.
What am I doing! He kept thinking to himself: This is insane!
But for some reason, he couldn't stop himself or the others from going out on to the rough waters. There were only two boat so Sora went in one and Riku and Naomi in the other. They all fought against the strong current in an effort to reach their home island of the many making up the Destiny Islands. Riku tried yelling over to Sora and even to Naomi, but the wind carried his voice away.
All of a sudden, a huge wave reared and came crashing down, just missing the two tiny boats. But then, a second came and its mark was true, it completely destroyed Riku's boat and he and Naomi were flung into the water. When he came to the surface, Riku quickly spotted a piece of his boat beside him and hang on to it for dear life.
"Sora! Naomi!" he shouted. At first he didn't hear anything but the howling wind and crashing waves. But then a faint call reached his ears.
"Riku!" called Sora.
"Over here!" Riku yelled back.
Sora's boat was still in tact but it had a lot of water in it. Somehow it made its way over to Riku and Sora helped him in.
"Where's Naomi?" said Riku, panting and coughing from all the water he had swallowed.
"I don't know, I though she was with you!" replied Sora. Even though they were only a few inches away from each other, the wind made it hard to hear there own shouting voices. "Wait... over there!"
Sora pointed out on the water. There, clinging to a piece of Riku's trashed boat was Naomi. Riku and Sora paddled frantically toward her.
"Hold on! We're coming!" Riku yelled to her.
"Riku!" he heard her call back.
The waves began to toss the boat away from Naomi, wanting to claim her for itself, but they kept on paddling. Finally, when they were close enough, Riku held out his hand for Naomi to grab. She caught it.
"Hold on, I've got you!" he said to her.
"Don't let go!" she cried.
"I won't," he said but he could feel his hand slipping.
"Riku!"
Their hands broke apart from each other's grasp.
"No!" cried Riku. He tried reaching for her hand again but she began to sink under the water. I need to dive in, he though but something stopped him. He gazed into her terror filled eyes like he had done so many times before. He was too afraid. He couldn't do it.
The moment of hesitation he took was to long. Naomi sank under water completely, never to re-surface. He was too late. He had let her down. He had killed her. He was frozen in shock, mind blank. A single tear ran down his cheek as a mocking voice laughed: 'There, you wanted to know why she'd not with you now.'
But it was right, he had wanted to know, and now he did.
"I did it..." he said in a whisper, "I left her to die. I killed her."
AN: Dundundunduh! OoOo!! Scary! Well, that's the end of this chapter, I'll let my annoying Authors Notes stop here for now ~.^ you're lucky! *fans: yea, WuTeVa!* hey that's what I say! WuTeVa! There, ok please R&R!