Wow, sorry this took so long to update. ; But it's here, the brilliantly strange chapter six, which will probably only seem weird and quite out of place but... Hopefully I'll tie all the ends up together in one pretty bow during the following chapters!
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One for the Band - Chapter Six
'Totally Symbolic'
Sora made sure to pay close attention to Riku that evening. Another lesson he'd learned from the guard is to always look, look, and look again to make sure that someone was paying attention. If that someone wasn't paying attention, Sora was told to make them do so. So when he and Riku finally stumbled through the door, soaked to the bone and grinning like idiots, Sora paid very close attention to Riku as the older boy flipped on a light switch and turned to his younger friend. Needless to say, if it were physically possible, Riku's jaw probably would have hit the floor.
Deeming Riku's reaction as not being good enough, Sora stuck his thumbs through the loopholes of the borrowed jeans, the applied pressure tugging the waistband just low enough so that Riku would quite clearly be able to see Yuna's henna artwork. "So, like it, Riku?" Sora hadn't meant to sound teasing at all, but he realized that's probably how he sounded. Oh well, he was getting the reaction he wanted from Riku, what else mattered? Following Riku's eyes as they trailed down to the intricate pattern on Sora's hip, the boy grinned inwardly. I think I need to keep score of this one. And, if I may say so myself, I'm definitely in the lead, one to zip. Hah.
Coming back to his senses, Riku grinned down at Sora. "Looks great." Seeing the younger boy's slight pout at not having gotten more words out of Riku only caused the older boy to laugh inwardly as he began walking past Sora, tracing one finger along the henna design which adorned his hip as he passed him. "And that looks pretty sexy."
Sora's eyes widened as he attempted to keep himself from squeaking at the sudden contact, spinning around only to find Riku pulling off his shoes and leaving them by the door. Oh right, everything on and around them was soaking wet... Sora figured he probably should have taken his shoes off as well, but for something reason his knees weren't quite functioning properly. Hadn't Paine specifically told him not to freeze? Damn. That'd probably make us tied one to one. Rather then taking the time to bother regaining control of his knees, Sora instead just slipped his shoes off standing up, his mind still talking itself in crazed circles about points, henna, and freezing wet clothes.
"Sora?"
Pulled out of his thoughts by Riku's voice, Sora snapped his head up to find that Riku had somehow drifted away from the door and towards the kitchen without the younger boy noticing. "Huh?"
Riku raised an eyebrow and tried to conceal his smirk as he repeated the question for the third time. "I asked if you wanted anything to eat." Stepping over his shoes, Sora jogged over next to Riku, grudgingly continuing to keep score in his mind. Riku probably scored points for showing Sora up in the concentration department... One to two. How could he be losing his own game?
"Nah, I'm fine, Ri-- ...Riku? What is Bruno doing?" Sora blinked stupidly at Riku's dog, who was suddenly gnawing Sora's ankle. Well. Good thing Rikku isn't here to point out that the dog is munching on my "sexy" ankles. It didn't really hurt, but then again, Sora realized the dog wasn't exactly applying much pressure... just mindlessly chewing on Sora. Riku turned around and burst into laughter at the sight of poor Sora's face as Bruno stopped chewing, now intently licking Sora's ankle. Seeing that Riku wasn't exactly going to call off his mentally disturbed basset hound anytime soon, Sora made an attempted escape, only to find himself face down on the floor the next second. Bruno had, of course, tripped up the boy and was now sitting on top of him licking his face intently.
Oddly enough, Riku found he was actually jealous of his dog as he finally moved to pry the heavy animal off Sora's chest, the younger boy gasping for air. Riku continued to chuckle as he pulled his friend to his feet, heading towards the stairs leading up to the second floor. "Sora, you coming?"
"No, I'm not even breathing heavily..." Sora mumbled.
"What?!" Riku's eyes widened, the boy certain he was hearing things.
"I'm right behind you Riku."
Shrugging off his backpack as he entered Riku's bedroom, Sora smiled at the cleanliness of the place. Where there would be mountains of clothes, books, old homework papers, and just random assortments of junk in Sora's own room, Riku's room was calm, orderly, and just clean. Not so clean that it would force one to insanity, but it was clean nonetheless. Sora knelt down next to his bag as Riku appeared in the room, chucking a towel at Sora's turned back. Looking up, Sora smiled as Riku walked past him, toweling off his damp silver hair.
Once Sora was safely down the hall brushing his teeth and getting out of Rikku's soaking wet clothes, Riku grinned to himself, changing into his sweatpants and old blue t-shirt. Finding Sora dressed like that had been one hell of a surprise, and Riku was wondering if he possibly made the right choice in running down to pick up Bruno when he could have been going to the color guard's party. It was definitely a nice spicy change from the cute and innocent Sora, though Riku felt that Sora was Sora, no matter how he looked. Shaking his head, Riku dragged his mind away from his best friend as he finished drying off his hair.
"I'm Talking Tina, and I don't think I like you very much."
"Yagh!" Wheeling around to the small TV set in the corner of his room, Riku blinked in surprise at Sora, who was comfortably sitting on the ground, eyes glued to the screen. "Sora? Wh-- How... Where did you come from?"
Sora blinked at his older friend as though he'd just asked the dumbest question in the world. "Riku... I came from the bathroom."
"Oh." Wow, I must really have been out of it. Turning his attention to the program Sora was so intently watching, Riku rolled his eyes, moving over to sit next to the spiky haired boy. The old episode from The Twilight Zone was Sora's favorite, Talking Tina, the story of a talking doll who grows to hate some poor girl's father, father hates doll too, doll attempts to kill father, yadda, yadda, yadda. Despite the rickety plot line, Sora had grown to love that one particular episode, as well as growing a life-long fear of dolls from it.
Riku watched Sora out of the corner of his eye, constantly amused by the animated reactions the boy gave to the episode. When the father figure on the TV gaped at the empty trash can, where he was sure he had left that hellish doll, Sora would bite his bottom lip and wince as high-pitched laughter filled the room, causing the father to wheel around in panic and confusion. When he had gone upstairs, convinced his mind just needed rest, Sora's eyes were wide, seeing the demented doll in the hallway, even though dearest daddy failed to notice it. And when the mother finally found her poor husband dead at the foot of the stairs and the doll was crumpled up next to his broken body, Sora would mumble, "You idiot! Don't go down there! She'll kill you!"
When the credits finally started rolling, the eerie theme song kicking in, Sora turned off the TV, submerging the bedroom into total darkness. The moment was just too much for Riku to resist.
"Hello, Sora. I'm Talking Tina, and I don't think I-- Oof!" Riku lost his breath as Sora latched onto the older boy as though he were his only anchor to that world. Lose Riku, lose yourself. Whatever it was, it didn't matter, because Riku was having difficulty breathing. "Sora.... It was just a ... joke!" After only getting a muffled whine from Sora, Riku laughed and wrestled the boy off him, invoking the first move of a long play fight between the two in the pitch black of Riku's room. As the two laughed and fought, they rolled over and Sora's back hit the nearby stereo, causing it to burst into song.
"But I would walk five-hundred miles, and ah-I would walk five-hundred more, just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door!" Shoving Riku off him, so he was no longer pinned against the blaring stereo, Sora fell on top of his friend, both of them laughing as the song droned on. By now their eyes had adjusted to the darkness and the small amount of moonlight coming in through Riku's window helped in the whole seeing process a bit.
"Hey! I won!"
"Yeah, yeah, only because I let you."
"Oh no, Riku! Gravity's increasing on me!"
"Wha-- Ouch." Sora stopped supporting his own weight, collapsing down on top of his friend. Although Sora didn't weigh that much at all, it wasn't exactly expected on Riku's part. But whatever discomfort Sora's decent had brought was quickly remedied by the warmth the smaller body on top of him gave off, and Riku grudgingly admitted to himself that if Sora chose never to move again, well, it was alright by him. After several minutes of lying there, in which Sora stopped snickering and the radio had switched songs, Riku heard Sora yawn and looked up at him.
"Tired?"
"Sorta."
"What'd I miss at the party?"
Thankfully, the darkness around them kept Riku from seeing a slight blush creep up onto Sora's face. Though their current position would suggest that Riku might not mind Sora's feelings towards him, Sora reminded himself that they'd always been able to make such close contact, since the two had been best friends since they were little. It was probably just normal of Riku not to shove Sora off, and nothing was different from all the other time's they'd wrestled together. Nothing was different.
"Not much," Sora finally answered. "Hehe, though they figured it'd be fun to dress me up. It was... interesting. Yuna did the henna design... Rikku picked out the clothes... It was fun as hell, but I wish you'd been there... How was your boring old drive across the island?"
Riku could easily tell that Sora was about to fall asleep any second, but he talked anyway. Sora slowly began to nod off, lulled to sleep by Riku's quiet voice as well as the body heat the older boy gave off.
"It wasn't all that exciting. Passed a bunch of weirdoes on the way down, though. But it wasn't so bad. At the vet there was this family with this ancient old dog, huge monster, but real cute. They must've been putting the dog down, because this little girl was crying and hugging that dog like crazy, burying her face in the old mutt's coat. The dog didn't seem to mind. If he knew what was going to happen to him, he just seemed like he accepted it... Accepted death. But the little kid was crying up a storm and I was sitting there feeling awful, waiting for the assistant to just bring me my dog so I could get the hell outta there because I just felt awful.
"Then the girl's mom sat down on the floor next to her, patting the old dog and talking to the girl. She said... She said not to worry, because Bear, I guess that was the dog's name... because Bear was going to be happy where he was going and he'd stop hurting. So the little girl turns to her mom and whines about not being able to see Bear again, so of course he couldn't be happy... And her mom just looks at her."
Riku, realizing Sora had fallen asleep at that moment, smiled softly. He gently lifted Sora off of him, only causing the younger boy to stir slightly as he was lowered onto Riku's bed, Riku sitting next to him. Sora must've been half asleep, for his slewed words were barely audible as he spoke to Riku.
"Then what?"
"...Her mom said she didn't have all the answers."
"Oh..." Riku felt Sora burrow against his chest and absentmindedly wondered if the younger boy was awake enough to feel Riku's heart flip. Probably not. Thankfully.
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Sora yawned and stretched out across the roof, looking up at the sky. Half of it was night, half of it was day, and it didn't seem at all strange to Sora that the sun and the moon were sharing the same sky at the same time. Just normal, not different. Nothing was different.
Sitting up, Sora looked around for Riku. He was lonely up there on that roof and there weren't even birds up in the sky to watch. There was nothing. But if there was nothing, was there Riku, or what it all just nothing? If Riku was there, then was Riku part of nothing or was Riku nothing itself? No, Riku would never be nothing. Sora giggled at his own foggy logic as sure enough, the familiar silver haired boy appeared on the rooftop, walking towards Sora.
"Mm, hi... Riku..."
"Sora?"
As Riku walked towards him, Sora waved and stood up. Finally! He wouldn't have to be bored out of his mind and totally alone up there.
"Sora, are you awake?"
"..."
"Guess not."
"Riku! I've been looking for y--" Sora's eyes widened in surprise as his friend covered him mouth with his hand. Riku smiled softly at the surprised reaction, nodding towards the sky and removing his hand, though something told Sora to stay quiet.
"Can you believe it? Look, Sora, can you see it?" Sora was looking, but he was frustrated he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. What was Riku talking about? Sun, moon, sky, rooftops, all the same. What was so different? Then Sora saw it. The stars were actually moving! They weren't just normal falling stars, but it looked like they were being pulled closer towards the earth, towards Sora and Riku, standing on that one roof. As they grew closer, Sora smiled, realizing they weren't stars, but people.
"Riku, what are they?" Sora asked in fascination, his eyes riveted on the people who were falling from the sky, one by one.
"They're angels, dummy. Can't you tell?"
Sora squinted, trying to get a better look. "No they're not! They don't have wings! What sort of angel doesn't have wings?"
"You're right, Sora." Riku turned to look down at his friend, a soft, sad smile on his face. But Riku wasn't there anymore, Sora realized. He was... fading. Sora could see right through him to the night sky on the other side, his best friend hardly visible anymore.
"Riku..."
"What?"
"Riku! Hey! You can't run away, that's cheating!... You're cheating..." Sora sat down on the rooftop, not knowing what to do now that Riku had disappeared. The "angels" stopped moving, as though frozen in time, and they no longer looked like people. They had changed back to stars, rooted forever on the night side of the sky, while the sun continued to cast its warm light on the other. Sora opened his eyes and looked around. Riku was there, nothing was different. Delighted that he hadn't lost his friend, Sora grinned and hugged the silver haired boy, happily finding that he wasn't transparent, that he wasn't going to disappear.
"Mm... don't leave again, Ri...ku..."
"Huh?" Riku looked down at Sora again. But the boy was still asleep, all the talking obviously stemmed from some sort of dream of his. Part of Riku wished Sora was actually conscious when asking him not to leave. All the same, Riku smiled and eventually drifted off to sleep, no longer aware of the sleeping body next to him.
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Sora's eyes cracked open as he looked around the room. The first thing he noticed was that he was alone. This instantly brought panic from last night's dream back, Sora's half-asleep mind snapping back into its full awareness. Untangling himself from the sheets of Riku's bed, Sora flew out the bedroom door and looked around the hallway. No Riku there. The second thing Sora noticed drew out a sigh of relief from the boy as he plodded down the stairs. With the smell of pancakes lingering in the air, Sora couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't noticed it earlier.
"Oh, hey, Sora. Finally decide to wake up?"
Sora was so happy to find Riku there, flipping pancakes as though it were second nature to him, he could hardly keep himself from tackling the older boy in a delighted bear hug. Surprised, though not exactly upset by the sudden burst of affection, Riku looked down at Sora, then back up at the pancakes. Down at Sora... back at pancakes. Oh, the pancakes could just burn.
"Riku! Gooood morning!" Sora grinned and released his friend after several moments and proceeded to swipe a pancake off the plate next to the stove, shoving it happily into his mouth. Riku rolled his eyes as he turned off the stove and opened the refrigerator door, fishing out some grapes and strawberries, placing them on the counter next to the plate of pancakes. Standing up and closing the door, Riku blinked at the now empty counter space. "Huh? Hey, wha-- Sora!"
The younger boy sat at the kitchen table fruit and pancakes set up in front of him, happily eating away without an apparent care in the world. How very Sora-like.
Sighing and pulling a banana out of the fruit basket in the middle of the table, Riku peeled the long fruit and bit into it, munching mindlessly before looking over at Sora. No sooner had Sora seen Riku reach for a banana did he himself reach for some grapes, a fruit showdown in the making. Raising an eyebrow, Sora twirled his tongue lazily around the grape held between his fingertips before finally popping the small fruit into his mouth, chewing slowly. And that's two to two! Hah! Beat that, Riku. As though reading the smaller boy's mind, Riku smirked and ran the tip of his own tongue roughly along the banana's surface before nibbling at the tip of the fruit. Sora stopped eating grapes then and didn't feel like eating much thereafter. Apparently the younger boy didn't deal well with distractions at the breakfast table, Riku discovered with triumph. But that didn't stop him from finishing the banana.
After three more slow and sensual bites from the cursed fruit, Sora was near pulling out his hair. He'd given up keeping score. Humph, he always lost anyway. When Sora felt about ready to explode, he finally blurted out, "Riku! What are you doing?"
"Well, this is a banana." Riku waved the half-eaten banana in his hand back and forth in front of Sora's face slowly before continuing. "This is my mouth..." With his free hand, the silver haired boy pointed lazily to his smirking mouth. "And I'm--"
Riku didn't finish before Sora's forehead his the table, the younger boy moaning in distress.
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"Sora! SoraSoraSora! Tell us everything that happened! Come on, spill it!" Rikku exclaimed in excitement, jumping up and down. It was late afternoon, Sora having just gotten home from Riku's. Paine and Rikku had been inside Paine's house, but no sooner had Riku's car pulled out of Sora's driveway, leaving the spiky haired youth open to assault, did the blonde girl charge out of the doorway, pouncing on poor Sora. Yep, Rikku's Sora-sensor was a new and frightening edition to the already sharp girl. Paine smirked as she walked over, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at the disgruntled boy.
"Didn't go as expected, huh?" Why was it that Paine seemed to have absolutely no trouble at all reading Sora? He made a mental note to practice a poker face... or something.
"It wasn't just that! Riku was the one practically flirting with me!" Sora groaned and dropped his backpack onto the concrete beneath him, raking a hand through his messy hair halfheartedly.
"Umm... Isn't that a good thing?" Rikku asked, cocking her head to the side inquisitively.
"But it's not fair... Riku didn't seem nervous at all while I totally froze up," Sora scowled at Paine's soft cough, not having forgotten her earlier advice. "And on top of that, it wasn't anything more then flirting. He just flirted. A lot." Sora still hadn't been able to figure out what exactly Riku had planned, but the older boy was blatantly flirting, there was no other word for it. Rikku blinked back owlishly at Sora.
"What'd you expect?"
"I... I don't know! I don't even know what I really want."
Rikku grinned, turning back to look at her girlfriend. "Hey, Dr. P! What's your analysis?"
Paine smirked, and walked forward, ruffling Sora's hair and laughing. "The hardest person to know is yourself, Sora."
It figures she'd say something like that. "Well then why does no one else seem to have a problem?" Sora pouted, following both girls who were walking into the backyard, picking up his backpack along the way. Already the sun was rather low in the sky and the entire horizon burned brilliantly, red and orange streaks cutting into the cool sky. But no sign of stars yet... Sora was briefly reminded of his 'more then just a little weird' dream, though he shook his head, putting the thoughts out of his mind and attempting to concentrate on Paine's response as the older girl opened her mouth.
"We've all got that problem Sora. No one has time to just sit and think anymore. No time to sit and figure yourself out, so you're not alone when it comes to not knowing yourself. I bet most people today will die not knowing half of who they are. But we can always try and do better then that."
Rikku beamed and hugged Paine gleefully as the three reached the intersection of Sora and Paine's backyards, two practice flags already laid out on the ground. "Dr. P wins again! You should write a self-help book!"
Paine chuckled as Rikku bounced off to scoop up one of the flags, tossing the other one to Sora. He didn't need either Paine or Rikku to remind him why it was so important that he practiced. Tryouts were Monday, as well as Riku's birthday... And it didn't take a genius to figure out that Sora would probably need a lot of luck and skill to make it onto the guard with Quistis as part of the selection committee. As small as the color guard was, he knew that one slip up would be enough for Quistis to hold against him, keeping him off the color guard. Surprisingly, it wasn't just Riku's promise of making it worth his while that was driving Sora to do well at tryouts. It was the fact that Quistis was going to try and stop him that made it all the more fun.
Monday seemed both very near and very far away at the same time as Rikku and Sora began warming up and running through the routine time and time again, well into the night. Paine sat on her same old chair, notebook open on her lap, porch lamp lit, and pen in hand, though she spent most of her time trying to reassure Sora that yes, the move he was doing was being done correctly.
"Don't worry, Sora, it's fine."
"Sora! You're fine, it's good!"
"Yes, Sora! You're doing it right, already!"
"Sora. Go to bed. Please."
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Wow, I'm almost at fifty pages with this fic. *sniff* It's the most I've ever written... This chapter seems a little odd, but note the title. It is totally symbolic and will be completely necessary to the fragile little plot line I've got going! As it is, I had to go outside and practice guard in order to get inspiration for the upcoming chapters. Keep reading, because it only goes uphill from here! Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Oh yes, and the quick splash of music is '500 Miles' by The Proclaimers. Ah, the days when geeks were rock stars... And remember those grapes. They'll be important later on... Ehehe.
Preview for the next chapter: The long awaited tryouts as well as Riku's birthday! Of course Sora will make the guard!... Right?
~Ori