Finally!  Chapter seven!  Why is this significant?  Because once this chapter is finally over and done with, the beginning part of the story will be complete, and I can happily jump right into the middle of things without having to worry about losing you all too much.  So enjoy the color guard tryouts and Riku's very happy birthday!

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One for the Band - Chapter Seven

'Stay Loose'

            "Sora, you've got to be kidding me..." Paine looked up at her friend through exhausted crimson eyes, wanting nothing more then for the boy to call it a night already and just turn in.  They'd been out there since six thirty in the morning that Sunday, spinning flags over and over and over... Paine wouldn't be surprised if both of them could make it through the routine in their sleep... Sleep.  Ugh.  What she wouldn't give for sleep.

            "No, Paine, please!  I just need to do it a couple more times and I'll be ready, I promise!  Really!" 

            "You've been saying that for the past three hours.  It's almost one in the morning.  If you don't go to sleep now, you'll sleep through tryouts and then where will you be?"

            "...Sleeping?"

            "Bed, Sora.  Now."

            With that tone of voice, Sora knew he'd stand no chance arguing against Paine.  Mumbling good night to the older girl, Sora trudged across the backyard separating his house from Paine's, silently slipping through the back door.  Thankfully, his eyes had long ago adjusted to all the darkness, and the boy didn't need any light to see by as he leaned his practice flag against the wall before finding his way upstairs and flopping over onto his bed, suddenly feeling completely and entirely drained.  The prospect of getting five meager hours of sleep might not have seemed like much to anyone else, but Sora's last thoughts before he drifted off were how wonderful it would be to sleep so long...

            'And it looks like another be-autiful day for Destiny Islands!  Temperature hanging around a pleasant seventy two degrees this morning, possibly rising up into the upper seventies by mid-afternoon.  Now back to Nora for today's traff--'

            "Mmf... shuddup..."  Sora whacked his alarm clock halfheartedly, rolling over in his bed and burrowing deeper into the numerous blankets and pillows surrounding him.  Okay, so five hours really didn't seem to drag out quite like Sora had wanted.  Great, another Monday.  Monday... Monday, Monday, Monday... What happens Monday? 

            "Oh, shit."  Sora scrambled out of bed, remembering both Riku's birthday as well as the color guard tryouts that afternoon.  Flying into the bathroom, he took a record three minute shower before rocketing back into his bedroom, sifting through his closet for clothing.  After the entire Riku incident being explained to Rikku the day before, she had just giggled and told Sora to keep the clothes and wear them on his very first date with Riku (which had caused Sora to blush considerably) since she obviously had way too many clothes to begin with.  As much as Sora would have liked to wear the 'interesting' attire, he figured he'd probably be better off... well, not.  So instead he dragged out a pair of dark blue shorts and black t-shirt, shrugging the shirt over his head as he already began walking towards the bedroom door.  Sora did however, decide to wear the silver crown necklace, smiling as he slipped it around his neck.  So the important thing again, don't freeze.  Don't freeze.  Don't freeze... This didn't work too well the last time I tried it... 

            Hopping down the steps, Sora nearly slammed into his mother who was shuffling about the house in her slippers, murmuring to herself.  Slightly caught off guard by this strange behavior, Sora figured he'd be a decent son and ask what was wrong.  It wasn't until Bryna started answering that Sora decided never to ask his mother what was wrong.  Ever again.

            "Oh, Sora, honey!  I was going to tell you last night, but you were out practicing so much and everything... Did I tell you that I used to have a friend on the color guard?  She was such a sweet girl..."

            "Mom, what were you going to tell me last night?"

            "Oh, right!  Well I was going to tell you but you were so busy and everything and I was just so jumpy, not to mention that I figured you probably didn't really want to hear about it, what with all the crazy things going on for you at the moment, so--"

            "Mom, off topic."

            "Well, yes, but this is--"

            "Mom."

            "Okay!  Okay, okay..." Bryna sighed before giving her son a hopeful smile.  "Well, I was hoping to tell you maybe... later, but since you asked.  I'm going out on a date this afternoon, Sora, so I probably won't be back by the time you're out of school, and before you even start, yes I know you're probably not going to be happy with it, but I've read all these books and I've asked everyone I know what they think I should do, and they all told me this was the right thing to do.  It's just a date, Sweetie..."  Bryna's words came out rushed and hurried as though she were frantically trying as fast as she could to put a band-aid over whatever damage she'd dealt out to her son.

            Quistis was probably go to sabotage his tryouts, Riku would be expecting him to make it onto the guard as well as spend the afternoon with him at his house for Riku's birthday (making it not such a big deal that Bryna wouldn't be home for Sora), and now Bryna had a date.  It wouldn't be such a big deal if she was just going to be out with her friends or something, but a date?  What was wrong with the way things were?  Was Sora's mother getting tired of having to take care of him all by herself?  Coming to the conclusion that he was being rather paranoid, Sora blinked several times to clear his head.  But still, that didn't erase what his mother had just said.

            "You asked everybody?" Sora asked her quietly, not meeting his mother's eyes.

            "Yes, Sora, they all think that--"

            "Well did you ever ask me?" Sora scowled, his bottom lip jutting out into a pout.  Not giving Bryna the chance to answer or consolidate her son, he brushed past her, out the front door.  It was still a little early for him to already be walking to school, and his stomach complained loudly from the lack of breakfast, but Sora was in no mood for walking back into his house any time soon. 

            The sun just beginning to rise over the tops of the palm trees, Sora kicked the sidewalk furiously as he trudged slowly down the street. 

            "What the hell?" Sora hissed to himself, continuing his walk.

            "Augh, what the hell is wrong with everything?!" Sora yelled, tugging at fistfuls of his spiky hair.

            "Hey, Sora.  Maybe you just need to loosen up." 

            Turning around in surprise at the sound of the voice, Sora's eyes came to rest on the silver haired boy approaching him.  What was Riku doing there?  What's more, even if he did have a reason to go to school early, why not just drive his car?  Sora's questions were quickly answered as though Riku had read his thoughts in those few brief seconds of time.

            "I figured I'd walk with you to school, but when I got to your house five minutes ago, your mom said you'd left already.  She seemed pretty worried... You okay, Sora?"  Riku seemed genuinely concerned, which only turned out to make Sora feel guilty about running out on Bryna like that.  The least he could've done was heard his own mother out. 

            "I dunno." 

            "You sound so convincing, too."  Riku smiled as he walked up next to Sora, neither of them in that much of a rush since school wouldn't be starting for another forty-five minutes.  "Hey, don't I even get a 'happy birthday, Riku?'  You're so uptight today, Sora!"

            Sora scrounged up the best smile he could for his friend, though it really wasn't much compared to his standard brilliant grins of real happiness.  The two walked next to each other in silence for a while, eventually coming to a point where the beach was clear in view, not a soul outside, since most people were still indoors getting ready to start the day. 

            "My mom's got a date this afternoon," Sora said, trying to make it sound like he really didn't care all that much.  He certainly didn't like the weird stinging feeling it left him with, like his mom needed someone else in her life besides Sora.  He'd been perfectly happy with just her, why couldn't she be the same way?  All the father-son picnics or activities Sora missed out on when he was little, he never complained about.  Bryna was being selfish, needing another person in her life other then Sora... At least, that's what Sora told himself.  Though inwardly, he knew it really wasn't true, no matter how much he wished it was.

            "Your mom's a cool person... Don't you think she deserves to have a husband, or at least a boyfriend?" Riku asked gently.  That alone seemed out of character for the usual teasing nature of most of the conversations between Sora and Riku.

            "What's wrong with just having me?"

            Riku seemed to think about this a moment, stopping their slow and steady journey towards the school building to stand by the side of the road, looking out at the shore.  When he finally spoke, the old Riku was back, smirking down at Sora.  "Hey, nothing wrong with that.  Hell, I wouldn't mind just having you."  He tugged a strand of Sora's spikes playfully, laughing.  "But... when you go to college, your mom's gonna be all alone.  Besides... You saying your mom couldn't date just because she's your mom and you don't want to share her, that'd be like... Kairi saying you couldn't go out with m-- With... Mmm...Melissa because you were Kairi's friend and she didn't want to share you."  Riku pretended as if nothing was out of the ordinary with what he'd just said, laughing good-naturedly and turning away from the shore, headed again towards the high school.

            Sora blinked at the beach a moment before jogging to catch up with his friend.  "Oh... Hey, Riku?  Who's Melissa?"

~~~~~~~

            The day seemed to flash by, Sora not being able to tell whether he was looking forward to that afternoon or dreading it.  Color guard tryouts were definitely mind-wracking, and throughout each and every one of his classes, the poor boy struggled to even focus on the words in his textbook, mentally trying to go over what the routine was for tryouts.  At the same time, he was rather looking forward to spending the afternoon with Riku, just palling around like they always did. 

            Lunch had Sora's nerves on end, the boy unable to escape the looks of triumph Quistis kept shooting him, noting the obvious worry on his face.  Despite numerous attempts from both Paine and Rikku, Sora just wouldn't loosen up.  Every time he tried to run the routine by one of the girls verbally, listing the moves he had to do, he was drumming his fingers against the table, stuttering, trying as hard as possible to get it absolutely perfect.  Finally, when Kairi and Selphie were becoming nervous just from being around Sora, Riku showed up and nearly gaped at his friend's poor state.  He'd never thought that Sora would take color guard that seriously. 

            "Riku, you have to do something about the neurotic boy wonder, over there."  Rikku narrowed her eyes at the silver haired boy, tapping her sneaker clad foot against the cafeteria floor irritably.  "I've never seen anyone more totally jittery in my entire life!  What's he living off of, coffee beans?"  Riku wouldn't really be all that surprised if that were the case.  Sora had seemed awfully tired lately, especially with the way he'd just fallen asleep at Riku's house having just seen his favorite disturbing and freaky episode of the Twilight Zone.  Normally, the younger boy would've stayed up for hours afterwards, probably waiting to make sure no killer dolls were going to sneak into the room while he was slumbering peacefully away. 

            Sora sat at his usual table, surrounded by the usual people... only he was sipping a long-empty soda can and wracking his knuckles against the leg of the table, obviously deep in thought.  He didn't notice as Riku cleared his throat behind him, too busy reciting the color guard moves over and over again inside his head.  Around the world, into eight counts of drop-spins, eight counts of double time, followed by an overhead  pass, moving into... ...Into...  After several moments of staring at the wreckage which was now Sora, Riku finally rolled his eyes and dragged the boy away from the table.

            "Come on, Sora, you need some fresh air."

            "But the routine--"

            "Will come back to you as soon as you need to run through it."  Riku led Sora out of one of the many doors of the high school, into the small courtyard area tucked between two wings of the large building.  Not many students were out there, most of them preferring to eat inside the cafeteria.  The several students who were out there were mostly couples, talking quietly with each other, holding hands, and generally violating all and any other 'public display of affection' rules the school had intact, which wasn't really much.  Small island high schools were never really known for any truly heinous crimes, gangs, or assault of any kind, so the order the school held around its students was rather slack.

            Gently but firmly pulling Sora down to sit next to him on one of the unoccupied benches in the courtyard, Riku kept a firm grasp on Sora's wrist as though the younger boy were about ready to bolt at any second and explode in a fiery shower of nervousness.  Which wouldn't exactly be a good thing.

            "Okay, Sora.  First of all, breathe."  Riku thought it was necessary to remind Sora of this, since he'd been sipping from an empty soda can earlier, after all, and the next step may very well have been for Sora to just simply forget to breathe.  Once that was said, Riku continued, slackening his hold on Sora's wrist and sliding his hand down to cover Sora's.  "Second of all, I don't see why you're so worried.  You're doing great at guard, Paine's told you a million times!  Just because you can't memorize the name and order of all the moves doesn't mean you can't do the routine, right?"

            "But what if I don't make it?"

            "It's all right if you don't make it."

            Sora pouted, turning to look at Riku.  "But what about what you said?!"

            "What I..."  Riku paused, remembering his words he'd whispered to Sora all those weeks ago.  "Ohh!  Is that making you nervous, Sora?"  Riku chuckled, trying to keep himself from breaking into all out laughter.  Poor, poor Sora.  "Don't worry about that, Sora.  Just do what you've been doing and you'll be fine.  Even Quistis won't be able to keep you from being on the guard."

            Sora smiled, already feeling more reassured about everything then he had been in quite some time.  "You really think so?"

            "Come on, Sora.  You trust me, right?"

            "Yep.  Always."

            The bell signaling the end of the lunch period rang, Riku standing up and Sora following suit.  Turning to look back at his younger friend, Riku grinned.  "Then don't worry about it.  You're always so happy and carefree... Just stay that way.  Stay loose."

~~~~~~~

            "Hey, Sora!"  Yuffie pranced over to the younger boy, already having his practice flag at the ready and handing it over to him perkily.  "You ready?"

            Sora smiled weakly, thanking Yuffie as he twirled the flag several times, just to try and, well, loosen up again.  Having kept Riku's words in his mind all day after lunch, Sora had recovered a good deal from the nervous wreck he'd been during lunch and was now almost fully back to normal.  Once tryouts were over and he was back at Riku's house, having a good time like they always did, then everything was sure to fall back into place, regardless of the outcome of tryouts... at least, Sora had been telling himself that all day, so surely it had to be true.

            Paine and Rikku appeared next, Selphie and Kairi not long after as well as the rest of the guard.  None of the older girls showed any sign of being nervous at all, joking and laughing as though it were any other practice.  Selphie and Kairi weren't quite as out of it as Sora was, and eventually joined in along with the older girls, all of them waiting for Quistis and Cid to show up so that tryouts could get started. 

            Rikku preoccupied in a rock-paper-scissors showdown with Yuffie, Paine walked over to Sora, smirking and crossing her arms.  "Still just a bundle of nerves, huh?"

            "Hey, I'm trying!  You have to give me some credit," Sora mumbled, scuffing the sole of his shoe against the rough surface of the blacktop.

            "Don't worry, Sora.  You make the guard, you'll be the first one on the island's history.  There's some credit for you," Paine said grinning.  "But seriously, you know how tryouts work and all, right?"

            "Oh, yeah... no."  Sora blinked numbly up at Paine, the back of his mind wandering completely off topic and wondering whether or not Riku would show up.  Sora hoped so.  He really, really hoped so.

            "The captain and band director, Quistis and Cid, are the only ones who'll be judging.  Cid's judgment usually overrides the captain's, so there's definitely some hope for you there, even if Quistis does decide to try and screw you over.  But he does take everything the captain says pretty seriously, so it's still a little risky.  If you drop the flag, don't flinch or even let on that you made a mistake.  Just hold still until you can jump back in the routine along with everyone else.  We all drop the flag sometimes, it's really normal for first-year guard members too.  Also, if you forget what you're doing or fall behind, don't try and catch up.  Again, just hold still and get back in the routine when you feel you can.  It's really nothing to worry so much over." 

            No sooner had Paine drawn her walkthrough of the tryouts to a close did the door to the school bang shut, Cid and Quistis appearing on the blacktop.  As the band director and color guard captain drew closer, Sora gulped as Quistis shot him a wicked grin, causing him to tighten his grip on the pole of the flag in his hand.  This was not good... This was very not good.  Just as Sora felt he was about to fall back into his earlier frenzied state, he noticed Riku leaning up against the chain link fence of the blacktop, waving at Sora as he noticed him looking.  Riku grinned and nodded at Sora, radiating with the confidence he had in the younger boy.  It almost made Sora want to crumble to pieces right there... How could Riku have so much faith in him?

            "Alright, everybody!  I've got a list of name here, so at the end I'll be calling out the names of those who made the guard, in no specific order, thank you.  I was never any good at spelling...  Anyway!  Let's get this show on the road!" Cid nodded to Quistis, who walked up in front of the assembly of girls (and Sora) who had formed a two-by-five rectangle, all set and ready to go. 

            Quistis' last look at him said, "Try all you want, little boy, but you'll never make it here," while the last glimpse Sora got of Riku was just a smile and a nod.  Sora was probably as ready as he would ever be as Quistis barked out the beginning counts.

            "Five, six, seven, eight!"

            And they launched off into the routine, flags moving roughly as one body, though not absolutely perfect.  No two week practice, no matter how rigorous, could wrap nine people together so tightly that each and every one of them would stay in sync with the others one hundred percent of the time, but for a two week practice session having been what led them all together, the guard was really showing potential.  Cid remained passive and kept an expressionless face on as he walked slowly around the flag-spinning mass, but couldn't help but pause as he came to Sora.  He hadn't really thought the kid was actually serious about trying out for the color guard!  Yet at the same time, the director had to remind himself to remain passive and keep the grin off his face.  Huh, pretty brave kid.

            Sora couldn't tell whether he wanted the earth to open up and just swallow him right there, or if he wanted to fly up into the air, yelling in triumph, "Hah!  I'm not messing up!  Not!  Messing!  Up!  Take that, Quistis!" Riku had been right when he'd said it would all just come back to him.  It was as though Sora's muscles had been so trained in running through the drill that whatever his brain's instructions may have been, they were completely overruled by the route memorization of his muscles.  ...Though the thought in itself was somewhat unnerving. 

            Hearing a flag hit the ground somewhere to the left of him, Sora was about ready to wince before he caught himself and smothered the emotion.  If the noise was somewhere to the left, it may have been Selphie.  But the girl had no reason to worry about one little mistake like that.  Everyone agreed that Selphie's bubbly personality and happy nature would get her anywhere, and even Quistis couldn't hold a grudge against the sophomore girl. 

            Before he knew it, Sora found himself rapidly approaching the finishing move, trying as calmly as possible to run through Paine's advice to him as far as the last move was concerned.  Bring the flag closer... Sora's arms pulled the spinning flag slightly closer to his body, though still wary of getting it too close.  And... Uh oh.  What was the thing I always forgot?  Trying not to panic, Sora, as well as the rest of the color guard around him, spun the flag once to the left of his body, once to the right, turned, reversing the spin of the flag, bringing the end to land gently on the ground and-- The girls brought their left hand up and out as Sora blinked stupidly.  Shit. 

            Every voice in his head chimed in at once, yelling at him to put his damn left hand in the air along with everyone else, but he kept it glued to his side.  No point in making his stupid mistake more obvious then it already was.  But Sora couldn't help but cast a small glance over in Cid's direction, only to find the band director looking right at him.  Oh no!  He noticed!   Crap!  But surely just one little mistake like that wasn't enough to keep him from making it on the guard, that'd just be stupid.  He'd done everything else right, for Pete's sake!  But another cautious glance in Quistis' direction was enough to tell Sora that she'd caught the mistake too and was hell-bent on using it against him for all it was worth.

            "All right, great job, great job!  Relax and just give us five minutes here, gir-- everybody!" Cid announced as he walked over towards Quistis, clipboard in hand.  The two of them immediately jumped into talking, though all of it was exchanged in such quiet voices that Sora couldn't even hope to find out what it was they were saying.  Part of him felt that it was probably a good thing.

            "Sora!  Great job!"  Sora snapped out of him dazed stupor as he felt Riku embrace him in a warm hug.  As much as Sora felt like melting into the older boy and staying there forever, he was now more jittery then before, the minutes until Cid and Quistis announced the guard members seeming to drag out forever.

            "Great job?  Great job?  I forgot the hand... flingy... thing..." Sora rambled in protest.

            Riku rolled his eyes, playfully shoving Sora.  "Aw, come on, it's one stupid little thing!  The rest of it was great!"  Sora smiled, trying to convince himself of that.  Riku is right, Riku is always right, trust Riku, Riku is always totally right.

            Paine and Rikku appeared several moments later, both of the older girls sharing the same opinion as Riku and all three of them trying to assure Sora that everything was still perfectly fine.  Even Selphie didn't seem to worry about her own little mess up, having followed the older girls' instructions and waited to jump back into the routine after having retrieved her dropped flag.  As Cid nodded to Quistis several minutes later, he turned to face the handful of girls, some of them sitting on the ground, others, like Sora and company, standing and waiting. 

            Cid scanned over the group of students in front of him, nodding slowly.  Much to Sora's surprise, the band director then burst into a grin.  "Okay, everyone, see y'all at practice!"

            Sora's eyes widened and he couldn't keep himself from blurting out, "You mean we all made it?"

            Cid blinked at the boy and laughed.  "Haha!  'Course everyone made it!  Hell, havin' had only two weeks practice before now, it's pretty good what you guys can do.  Welcome on the guard, Sora!"

            Sora hit the ground with a thud, not even realizing he'd just sat down suddenly.  Rikku was squealing and hopping up and down delightedly, Paine grinning down at him, the rest of the guard clapping and cheering as well.  Then he felt Riku slide his arms around his waist, pulling the younger boy back up and spinning him around, laughing happily.

            "You did it, Sora!  Haha!  You did it!"

            Sora grinned, wrapping his arms around Riku's neck and hugging the silver haired boy.  He'd actually done it!  Haha!  Take that, Quistis!  The laughter and excitement continued for some time afterwards, the guard joking around and making eager plans as to what to do in the way of get-togethers, practices, and everything else they could possibly come up with.  Quistis didn't look at Sora throughout the half-hour everyone spent on the blacktop after tryouts.  Sora didn't need any eye contact to see Quistis' frustration.  And for the first time in what seemed like ages, Sora was relaxed, happy, and just plain satisfied.

            When the guard members finally decided to call it quits, giving each other one last wave of congratulations, they all split up to head home.  Sora had calmed down a bit since the initial shock of finding out that he'd made the guard and was now simply reveling in being able to spend the rest of his perfect afternoon with Riku.  As much as he was practically falling over himself to get to Riku's promised award, Sora decided to act like he expected nothing.  It was, after all, Riku's birthday, so Sora decided it was up to Riku to call the shots.  At least for that day. 

            Hopping out of Riku's car once they'd reached the boy's house, Sora took notice of the fact that once again, Riku's parents weren't home.  The boy pouted slightly at this, thinking that the least his parents could do was make it home for their son's birthday.  Couldn't business trips wait?  But Riku didn't seem too put off by his parents' absence.  If anything, Riku was just impatient and aggravated during the rare occasions when his parents actually were home, usually spending most of his time at Sora's house then.  No, Riku was definitely grinning as he locked the door to his car and walked up to the front door with Sora.

            "So, what'd ya get for your birthday, Riku?" Sora asked, pulling his shoes off as he stepped through the front door. 

            "Oh!  That's right, I didn't tell you!  You know what a Stradivarius is?"

            Well that was definitely a new word.  "Erm, noooo?"

            Riku led Sora upstairs to his room, pointing over at his trumpet case, which was carefully tucked away under his desk.  Raising an eyebrow at his friend, Sora gently pulled the trumpet case out, unzipping it and opening it up, blue eyes widening as he looked inside.  In place of Riku's old gold-colored trumpet was a beautiful gleaming silver one, merrily reflecting Sora's astonished expression on its glistening surface.  Sora was just plain gawking, there was no other word for it.

            "Wow."

            "That's a Stradivarius, or a Strad for short.  They're really well-crafted trumpets and not everybody has 'em.  I've always wanted one..."  Riku smiled, running his fingertips over the keys caringly.  Sora giggled, still admiring the beautiful instrument.  It's beauty however, couldn't keep him from making a joke. 

            "A Strad huh?  Like... straddle?  Wow, Riku, your parents buy you some kinky toys for your birthday!  You're so lucky!" Sora exclaimed, bursting into a fit of laughter as Riku mock-glared, pelting his younger friend with a nearby pillow.

            "Augh!  Sora!  It's not a sex toy!  Jeeze!"

            "Kidding!  Kidding!  Spare me!" Sora pleaded, cowering from a pillow onslaught.

             Sora suddenly found himself being pulled to his feet, Riku having zipped up the Strad's case, tucking it back under his desk. 

            "Come on, let's go get some food.  I'm starving."

            As Sora fished out two bowls and a set of spoons, Riku rummaged around in the kitchen's freezer, finally pulling out some ice cream.  Setting the container down on the counter, Riku took one last look in the freezer and closed the door, turning around to start scooping out ice cream.  Sora peered at the label on the container, cocking his head to the side.

            Riku blinked down at his friend.  "I thought rum raisin was your favorite?" 

            Sora nodded his head, smiling brightly.  "It is.  I mean, the artificially flavored rum ice cream part is really good."  Sora paused as Riku snickered softly, the older boy dipping his spoon into his bowl.

            "But you don't like raisins?" Riku asked.  Now that he thought about it, he did realize that Sora never ate raisins.  Grapes, yes, but not raisins.  He'd never seen Sora touch a raisin in all the long years he'd known the boy.
            "No, not really."  Sora paused a moment, seeming to think before he continued.  Rather then just eating everything like Riku was doing, Sora carefully pried the raisins free of the ice cream, shoving them off away from it.  "I mean... When you think about it, aren't raisins really just humiliated grapes?  They used to be these great, big, sweet and juicy grapes... But... Now they're all shriveled and just look so... lifeless.  It's like everything that used to make them full and happy was just taken away from them."

            Riku blinked, his spoon of rum raisin ice cream still only halfway to his mouth.  Looking down at the raisins nestled in the ice cream, Riku winced, placing the spoon back in the bowl and nudging the raisins out of the ice cream.  "Wow.  Never thought about it like that, Sora."

            Sora sighed sadly.  "Yeah, it's a shame about raisins."

            "Yeah."

            The two boys exchanged glances after several moments of silence before bursting into laughter.  Both Sora and Riku set their bowls on the counter, slumping to the kitchen floor in laughter.  Sora, mainly because after all the stress he'd dealt with that day, he just needed to be happy and laugh so hard he felt his lungs would break, while Riku laughed merely because Sora was laughing and it is simply a cold, hard fact of nature that laughing is contagious. 

..............................................

            Well this was one heck of a long chapter to write.  o_O  Yes, yes, I know.  Riku and Sora need to at least kiss already.  The next chapter!  That will be your chapter, I promise!  Now, the important thing to make note of is that the grapes/raisins symbolism is derived from the grapes/raisins symbolism used in the old movie 'Benny and Joon.'  Love that movie.  Expect more movie-hintage throughout the rest of this fic, or at least one.  ^^;;  But now you can see that yes, grapes are starting to play a bigger role in this story.  As well as stars, Stradivarius, and... well, that's all I've gotten to.  XP 

            Some of you will be pleased to know that now that the bulk of the beginning chunk of the story is done, I'll be spending the next chapter on fun.  We're talking slurpie shop, dirty dancing, and a boatload of Rikku-scheming fun.  Definitely something to look forward to writing on my part!  Though with school now resuming, I can't make any promises as to when the next update will be.  Friday at the very, very latest, I'm guessing.  My art teacher is having me stay after Wednesdays and Thursdays for a month or so to work on some one-on-one extra-fun teaching project... thing.  If I hated art, I'd be complaining right about now.  Anyway, thanks once again for all your kind reviews.  ^____^  Much love to you all!  Oh yes, and the Stradivarius is the most freaking beautiful instrument I've ever seen.  How fitting that Riku should end up with one.  *grins*

~Ori