Ok I recently read a fic that pretty much said to taunt the lawyers and say to hell with disclaimers. I couldn't agree more. But to save what little money I have I am going to say I don't own KH or its characters, just the fic, just to be safe. So don't sue me! **cowers**
Sora finished writing his name, the date, and time on the sheet of paper and smiled at the nurse. He turned from the high counter and walked through the long white sterile hallway. He rubbed his nose idly and tuned the corner, the route being so familiar to him he didn't have to think about where he was going. Sora walked through the maze of bright corridors to a room passed a barred gate. There were six rooms in the sealed hall but Sora only cared about the one at the end. He looked at the clipboard in a pocket next to the door to see if there had been changes in the patient inside. Sora laughed softly, the doctor had left him another little note telling him not to give up. Sora put the clip board back where it belonged and slowly opened the door. At the first clicking of the handle Sora heard sudden movements inside. The brunette slipped in and quickly closed the door.
There was only a single window in the room to shed light into the painfully white room but at mid day they were shuttered against the bright light. The far corner to the left harbored a plain bed with blue coverings and a matching pillow and a small wooden table sat next to it. Other than that the room was sparse, and from the smell freshly painted. Sora sat down in the corner to the right of the door and waited.
Slowly a figure began to come from under the bed, a sliver of light catching on his silvery hair. He pulled himself up onto the bed and sat there cross-legged staring at Sora.
"Hey Riku."
The figure on the bed smiled slightly and went back to staring. Sora had gotten used to the staring long ago, but at first it had unnerved him quite a bit. It was like his gaze wasn't on you but your soul, searching it for all its defects and scars. But Sora had gotten passed that and found that it was his way of making sure you were friendly, and he did it every time Sora came, which he had been three times a week for the past four months. Riku nodded and Sora stood and walked over to the bed and sat down next to his friend. He began to talk about what had happened on the island since his last visit. Sora got to talking about Kairi and Riku let out a sound that sounded much like a growl. Sora remembered him doing that the last time he had come as well so he changed the subject to Tidus's latest find: a shiny red marble which he claimed was a ruby. Talking about Tidus and Selphie always seemed to brighten Riku's mood, they could do that for any one with all that energy. Sora had brought the two once but they were so energetic they couldn't sit still long enough and Riku tried to attack them. Thankfully though Sora had intercepted the raging teen and the two young ones were able to escape. Kairi had been coming to visit the days Sora didn't, primarily Tuesdays and Thursdays and some times Saturdays if she was free. Riku's parents hadn't visited him once. Sora had asked them why once and they simply stated they had no son and to get off their property. Sora had known Riku and his parents had never gotten along too well but this was ridiculous.
The door to the room opened suddenly and Riku rolled head first off the bed and flung himself under it. An auburn haired girl poked her head around the door and smiled.
"Oh hey Sora, I thought you had already left," she said.
"No, I'm still here."
A growl came from under the bed.
"Oh right," whispered the girl and sat down so Riku could see her better. However Riku never came out, it had never taken more than ten minutes before for Riku to come out when she was there yet the thirteenth and fourteenth minute ticked by. Sora and the girl exchanged glances every now and then and after fifteen minutes Sora got off the bed and knelt down.
"Hey Riku, it's alright. It's only Kairi. You remember Kairi don't you?" Sora asked.
Riku didn't move and continued to stare at the girl in the corner.
Sora climbed back up on the bed to wait. A few minutes later a clawed hand peeked out followed by its partner. Then in a flash the hands' owner sprung out at Kairi. Sora dove forward and caught Riku around the legs before he reached his target. Kairi screamed and pulled her knees to her chest. Riku kicked at his captor, right foot striking Sora's jaw. Four doctors rushed in and held Riku down and sedated him. Sora rolled on his back to rest and clear the stars from his vision while a doctor put Riku in his bed.
"Are you alright?" one of the doctors asked when he noticed the small line of blood coming from the corner of Sora's mouth.
"Yeah, just give me a moment," Sora replied.
Sora took a deep breath and stood. He glanced down at Riku for a moment before leaving and letting the doctors do their thing. He signed out on the sheet at the front desk and noticed that Kairi's name wasn't on the sheet anywhere. He set the paper down and left the mental institution.
"Hey Kairi wait up!"
The girl stopped near the street and turned.
"Oh hey," she smiled weakly.
"Are you alright?"
"Oh I'm fine, you saved me remember?" Kairi laughed.
"You know I'd never let anything happen to you," Sora planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Yeah, I know."
"So why were you here today anyway?" asked Sora as they crossed the street.
"Well I got caught up in some school work and didn't get to make it over here yesterday so I thought I could see him today after you left."
"Why after I left? We could have gone together," said Sora.
"Riku seems to do better when there's only one of us there," Kairi commented. "Well I better be heading home, my mom gets worried when I'm not home by six. See ya around Sora."
"See ya."
Kairi pecked him on the cheek and ran off for the docks. Sora smiled after her and turned the other way to go to port on the other side of the business district to catch a boat to Play Island where Tidus and the others were undoubtedly still playing. The small ferry dropped him off and Wakka waved him over to Riku's Island, the small island with the paopu tree.
"Hey guys," Sora rubbed Tidus's head who was sitting on the edge swinging his legs.
"So how's Riku?" asked Selphie.
"He's like he always is," Sora replied. "No changes yet."
"Oh," the hyper girl sighed.
"Have you guys talked to Kairi lately by any chance?" Sora asked casually.
"I talked to her yesterday when she got back from visiting Riku," answered Selphie.
"She visited Riku yesterday?"
"Well ya man, she does every Tuesday," said Wakka.
"Oooo, shiny," awed Tidus randomly holding up a sea shell to the sun.
Selphie giggled.
"Did she say anything about her visit?" Sora prodded.
"Not really, she just told us the usual nothings different," replied Selphie. "She did seem a little off though, like she was too happy about something."
Sora mulled this over in his mind for a moment before bidding the three balls of energy good day. He got in his boat and rowed himself home.
"Is that you Sora? Dinner's ready," his mom called.
Sora deposited his shoes by the front door and walked into the kitchen. He sat down and ate his meal of spaghetti and meatballs and then retreated to his room. He kicked a few wooden models out of his way to the bathroom. He turned on the water for the shower and stripped. Sora stepped into the still warming water and let it soothe the bruises that were starting to form on his shoulders.
He thought back to when he had gotten word from Leon that they had found Riku. The new leader of Hollow Bastion had sent a letter with a couple photos inside. On one of the photos was Mickey. He had tubes and wires coming out of all sorts of places on his body, and his face was horribly mutilated. In the note it had said that Mickey had died later the night they found him. Riku had been in a similar state but his body hadn't been marred as badly. He had his share of incisions on his torso but nothing nearly as bad as Mickey. Donald and Goofy had brought Riku back to Destiny Islands a few days later and told them Riku hadn't woken up yet and maybe a familiar atmosphere would help. With the rejection from his own parents the silver haired teen had stayed at Sora's house in the spare bedroom. When the boy had awoken he had flipped back off the bad with a feline grace and cowered in the corner. Sora had been sitting there and had attempted to approach him but Riku tried to push back more so Sora stopped advancing. Then suddenly Riku had lashed out at him, claw like nails catching on Sora's delicate skin time after time. Being the weaker of the two there had been nothing Sora could do, seemingly nothing anyone could do, but never underestimate a mother with a wooden stirring spoon. She had been terrified when she saw her son all bloody on the floor and Riku crouched over him. Riku looked up and leapt at her but she batted his head like a base ball and sent him back into the realm of unconsciousness. Both teens had then been taken to the hospital, only one of them destined to go home. Sora tried to remember the name of the world they had found Riku on. Then with ringing clarity the name resounded in his head: Earth.
Sora finished washing up and pulled on his sleep pants and crawled into bed. Tomorrow he would ask Kairi what exactly she had been doing sneaking into Riku's room.
Ok you guys, please review. I wanna know if I should keep going with this one or give it up. And sry in advance if I ever use medical terms wrong. Now submit your review!