-The Light of a Feather-
Authors Notes: Welcome, to the second chapter of my fic. My first chapter,
after reading back on it now, was nothing short of mediocre. I hope to
remedy that in this chapter, where Sora and Riku meet yet again, Sora remembers some things (finally), and a new evil arises. Read, review, and
enjoy!
Chapter 2- Long Since Departed
The bus ride to Sora's school was always nothing short of dangerous. Half the people on his bus, it seemed, ran on caffeine, and as such, was very dangerous in the morning to other groggy persons. Sora ducked as a pen flew by his head, grazing through his brown locks. Sora stood and glared at the offender, who turned out to be Selphie, a maniacal glint in her eye.
The driver of the bus, the poor soul, hastily ducked as a shoe flew past his head and smacked into his mirror. He glared into its shattered remains and roared, "CUT IT OUT!"
Of course, no one listened.
---
Sora jumped off the bus hastily, chancing a glance back at the bus, which was now smoking at the front. Shaking his head, he walked up the pavement to his school, along with Kairi, Selphie, Tidus and Wakka. All were talking animatedly and Sora was unusually quiet, lost in deep thought about what had happened that morning. As they reached the giant staircase in the main hallway, Sora could have sworn that he'd seen a head of silver hair up ahead. But when he glanced again, no one was there.
---
Sora's first period class, Biology, was just starting. Sora, from his seat in the back of the row looked about bored. Mr. Auron was a nice enough guy, but he was just plain boring. He slowly spoke in his monotonous voice, sometimes glancing up at the class. Then there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Mr. Auron said without any real emotion.
And that was when it allllll changed.
---
Sora was playing with his pencil, trying to balance it on the tips of his fingers, when he heard Mr. Auron say, "Come in."
Sora looked up to see who dared enter his teacher's for fear of boredom class and was greeting with the sight of a boy. No, not just a boy, a gorgeous boy. He has shoulder-length silver hair and the most amazing ocean blue eye-
Wait.
Gorgeous? Amazing? Silver-hair?!
'What am I thinking?!' he silently reprimanded himself. 'Aghhh...!' He slowly hit his head with his textbook, as if to knock the intruding thought out. He blamed it on Selphie, 'The crazy romanticist...she's finally getting to me...'
The mysterious youth handed over a small piece of paper to Mr. Auron. He glanced at it, and said, "Students, please welcome-" at that moment; Sora's book dropped from his hands. He desperately made an attempt to grab it, and missed the name Mr. Auron was saying. Curses! Sora thought. He came back up to hear "...he's just moved here from Klopon Island.
The class, who were not very bothered with this new arrival, muttered "Hey" and "Hello" half-heartedly.
"You can take a seat next to Sora, in the back." Mr. Auron said, monotonously.
Sora gulped, eyes wide, as the silver-haired wonder slowly walked down the isle towards his seat. Their eyes met briefly. And what Sora saw in it made him happier then anything else...
He saw warm recognition there. The boy smiled at him and took his seat, and turned his head to look at the teacher, who was now droning onwards.
But Sora was dumbfounded. Who was this person, and how did they know him?! For it seemed that way... with the look he had just gotten.
"Sora!" Mr. Auron barked, "Would you kindly come up here and write the cell structure of a plant?"
"Wha?!" said Sora, mouth agape.
It was going to be a long, long day.
---
Sora continued through his next three periods, Japanese, World History, and Math, without too much trouble. Unless trouble counted the silver-haired bishounen who was also in all of those classes, and seemed to have Sora's replica schedule. However, due to the strictness of his teachers, he hadn't even been able to utter a single syllable to the mystery. Their eyes met many more times, however, and each time ended up with the silver haired boy smiling knowingly, and Sora still looking dumbfounded.
'Who is he?!' Sora said into his mind angrily. 'I should know who he is!'
But as Sora slowly walked into the cafeteria for lunch, he was still pulling up nothing. However, he had soon remembered the silver-haired child whom he had played with so many years ago. Could it be him? Well...how many other people had silver hair like that... 'Wonderful silver hair...' said his brain.
"Ahh!" Sora shouted.
"Sora?"
He whipped around, embarrassed, to find Kairi looked at him concernedly.
He smiled, "Oh, yeah I'm great! I just...uh...saw a spider crawling up my arm!"
"Oh...okay."
An awkward silence broke between them. Kairi began,
"Do you wanna go to lunc-"
But Sora cut her off. "No, I don't really feel so well, actually now that I think about it...I'm gonna go to the nurse. You go on without me, tell the others." He smiled.
"Okay...get better, Sora!" said Kairi. She frowned, but then gave a little smile and pecked him on the cheek. She turned and walked away, towards the cafeteria.
Sora then turned resolutely and walked out to the doors that led into the grounds outside. It was accessible to all students during their lunch period, and was a nice place to think.
---
He walked out across the open soccer field, lost in thought. A few of his friends were playing soccer and motioned for him to come join them. However, he just shook his head and continued walking.
He eventually led himself to a small gazebo, where students could eat outside if they wanted. With the coming of fall, however, more and more students decided to stay inside, where it was warmer. Sora, however, seemed to always be immune to any sort of weather. He loved being outside, and it just calmed him. He let his gaze fall to the ground and he leaned back against the table.
That was until...
"Why, hello there Sora."
Sky blue eyes widened and Sora whipped around to face the silver-haired youth that intruded so upon his thoughts. For about the seventh time that day sky blue met ocean blue.
But this time, everything clicked.
His name was Riku.
Images fled into his thoughts, images of a silver haired boy, running around with himself and Kairi. A silver haired boy, getting ice cream happily. A silver haired boy, fishing, swimming, laughing...
Smiling.
"R-riku?!" Sora was able to utter.
Riku gave his widest smile yet and said, "Nice to see that you didn't forget me, Sora"
"RIKU!" Sora yelled and he latched onto the older boy.
"Surprised, I see," Riku chuckled, "I thought I'd never see you again..."
---
Flashback
A seven-year-old Sora was happily playing with his best friends, Kairi and Riku. They were on the beach making sandcastles and swimming.
Eight-year-old Riku gazed, with his ocean blue-green eyes, at Sora, whom was jumping up and down, pointing at an approaching truck, with a rather annoying song playing.
"ICE CREEEEEAM!" the young boy cried.
Riku and Kairi smiled to each other; Sora could get so worked up over something so little. They watched as their best friend bounced over to the ice cream truck and bought them all ice cream.
While over there, the seven-year-old Kairi turned back to Riku, happiness dancing in her eyes. However, Riku was currently frowning at a man who was slowly approaching. His silver hair was apparent as the sunlight brightly shined off of it.
"Hi, Uncle Ansem." Riku said, a bit confused. His uncle was crying and he didn't know why.
"Riku..." Ansem said, the tears apparent in his eyes, "I'm so sorry!" And with that, he hugged a very confused Riku.
"W-why are you crying, Uncle Ansem?"
Ansem looked into his nephews' eyes, full of a confused innocence. He took his hand and said, "Come with me."
Riku looked back over his shoulder at Kairi, who looked just as confused and scared.
Sora came back with three ice cream cones a few minutes later, oblivious to what had happened. He asked, "Where's Riku?"
Little did Kairi and Sora know that that was the last time they would see their friend for a long time.
---
It turned out that Riku's parents, Sephiroth and Aeris, had died in a terrible accident. A great storm had swept through the city, Malacross, where they had been staying to see Aeris' sick mother, Tifa. Malacross was located directly across from the suburbs where Riku and his family lived. The only thing connecting the two was a massive bridge, called The Bridge of Hope. It was named so from a massive war some hundreds of years earlier. The families of Malacross had escaped an invading army by building a hasty bridge, escaping over to the other side, and when the army had tried to pursue, collapsed it, destroying the entire army.
However, the bridge had been rebuilt and labeled a national monument to all of Destiny Isles. When the storm came through, though, the bridge was destroyed. Riku's parents were on the bridge at that time, trying to get home.
Riku had been placed under the care of his Uncle, Ansem, and moved away to Klopon Island. Kairi and Sora were oblivious to this, however, and just wondered why their friend had gone away. When they asked their parents, they were just answered with silent, sad shakes of heads.
After all, it was better to forget about those kinds of things, was it not?
---
The Riku before him now, however, looked much happier. He had grown a ton, of course. His silver hair was the same as always, right at shoulder length. His ocean blue eyes glittered with intelligence and cunning. He was currently smirking at Sora, and said, "You know, you're gonna suffocate me if you squeeze any tighter."
Sora took his arms away, slightly blushing. He was so happy to see his friend again! He just wondered why he hadn't recognized him sooner...I mean, how many people do you meet with shoulder-length, silver hair? Sora frowned, slightly pouting, now completely lost in his thoughts.
Riku, however, didn't mind one bit. He gazed at Sora, and silently thought about how beautiful the other boy was. His brown locks, seemingly defying the laws of gravity, were up and about, spiky as ever. His bright, round, sky blue eyes innocent as ever. His hands were slender, and pointed. And of course, there were his lips. Those shockingly pink lips, which formed so many faces. Riku was fascinated, and could watch them for hours on end, one time being stretched into a toothy grin, while at others, closed, with the lower lip slightly out in a pout. And adorable pout, at that.
Yeah, Riku was gay, and he knew from experience that many of the soon-to-be fan-girls would be horribly surprised. Riku smirked, remembering the last time such an encounter had occurred. But he had to wonder: Was Sora? Riku was impressed at how attracted he was to Sora, already. True, they had been friends once before, but Riku had never in his entire lifetime felt something like this. Had he loved Sora for years without knowing?
Sora, on the other hand, was now trying to get Riku's attention.
"Hellllooooooooooo...Earth to Riku!"
Startled, Riku gazed about warily, only to find his spiky-haired friend looking at him with wide blue eyes.
Riku could have melted at that spot.
But he quickly pulled on his mask and smirked saying, "What is it? No wait! Let me guess...you want something to eat."
As if on cue, Sora's stomach made a huge grumbling noise. Sora slightly pouted. "How did you know?"
"Sora, you're never gonna change." Riku smiled and shook his head, causing his hair to twirl about his shoulders. Sora stared in admiration for a moment, but then shook it off. He was suddenly excited. He grabbed Riku's hand (who immediately blushed), and pulled him forward.
"Where...are...we...going?!" Riku shouted between breaths as he was forcefully pulled back towards the school.
"We're going to the cafeteria! I can't wait for you to meet everyone! Kairi's still here too! She's my girlfriend."
At those words, Riku's heart fell. 'So he has a girlfriend...'
"...I'm trying to avoid her now, y'know. Sometimes girls can be way to overbearing...not like-" he immediately stopped and finished, "...some people..."
Riku's heart swelled right back up. 'Avoiding his girlfriend, hm?'
---
Back in the cafeteria, Sora's friends were trying to decide what was wrong with him.
"...And he didn't even want any food!" Kairi exclaimed.
Tidus shook his head, and Wakka replied, "True, that's not like Sora, ya? He's been acting weird all day!"
Selphie was lost in deep thought, something very frightening. It was common knowledge to most of the student body that when Selphie was thinking, either she was thinking up something very devious, or something very far fetched. The former was the answer here.
"Maybe, we should spy on Sora!" she happily exclaimed. Yes, that made perfect sense! Spy on Sora, and when he's not looking...Attack! Selphie's inner-self cackled with glee. Her other friends just stared on warily, afraid and knowing of all that she was capable of.
"Okay, here's the plan!" Selphie happily proclaimed, and everyone leaned in conspiratorially.
---
Sora and Riku finally reached the cafeteria to find all of their friends sitting at a table, conversing with one another in hushed tones. Suddenly, Tidus saw him and waved him over.
"Sora! Come 'ere! And...oh..." his eyes had come to rest on Riku, who was currently smiling at the group "Ahem..." Sora cleared his throat once he got to the table, which was unnecessary considering they had all stopped talking the minute he had gotten close, looking away guiltily.
"Guys, this is Riku! He was one of my best friends back when I was really young. Kairi should remember him!"
As if on cue Kairi's eyes brightened with recognition and she said, "RIKU!" She dashed over and hugged him tightly. Riku smiled and patted her back slightly. "Nice to see you again, Kairi."
"Ohh...we never ever saw you again, after your uncle brought you away, and we were so worried, and..." She stopped, staring Riku over. There was no doubt about it, he was hot.
"Riku..." her eyes suddenly became filled with admiration. Riku was all too used to this look, but he frowned slightly. Wasn't she with Sora? So why was she looking at him that way?
Sora, on the other hand, was happily introducing all of his friends.
"And the blonde is Tidus (Tidus gave a little wave), the red-head is Wakka (he nodded), and the brunette is Selphie!" (She drooled and then came to her senses and latched herself onto Riku's arm.)
"You're really pretty..." she said dreamily, staring into Riku's ocean blue depths. Riku looked away uncomfortably to Sora, who was grinning. "She likes you Riku!" He snickered.
"Uhm...hi." Riku said weakly. Selphie was currently drooling a river down Riku's arm. He slowly pulled it away, not to disturb her. She didn't even notice.
"Anyways," Sora said, "Riku just came back, so why not throw him a welcome- back party?!"
Selphie jumped up and down in glee, "Parrrrrrrrtyyyyyyyyy!"
Kairi smiled, "Sounds good to me..." she was still gazing at Riku. He frowned at this...something was off...
---
From the other side of the cafeteria, hiding in the shadows was a cloaked figure. He was gazing interestedly at the pair, Sora and Riku.
"Hmm..." he said to himself, "So that's who carries the fate of his friends," he said slowly, looking at Sora. "We'll see how long you last, Sora."
He vanished.
---
And from high on a hill, where an ancient tree spread its great branches into the Sun, a goddess waited patiently. Watching, always watching.
The time was almost upon them.
---
And end Chapter 2! Hopefully, it's gotten better. I've decided on a RxS pairing cause they're just so awesome. Any and all flames will be ignored/laughed at. All otherwise comments/constructive criticism is completely welcome!
---
Here's a preview for Chapter 3- The Forgotten Destiny
Sora shook his head in confusedly. This couldn't be...
Riku slowly turned around, eyes wide, gazing at Sora in a new light.
A new light indeed, for Sora seemed to be bathing in it.
---