A/N: Rejoice, for the chapters are from now on and shall forever be longer than the previous three!! And hopefully more interesting. In this chapter the girl on the driftwood shall meet with Riku, Sora, and Kairi. In later chapters, she shall be named, and fall madly into the abyss known as love with one of the three. Should you desire to find out who, well then, read on, my friend!! Let the winds of my passing, which are few, take you to new lands and bring unto you a life of adventure, cuz who wants to sit here all day reading my fanfics, huh? But anyway, I now bring you, the as yet gloriously untitled fourth chapter, as soon as my keyboard stops arguing with me...

Chapter 4

Riku and Sora ran over to Kairi and Selphie, who had recently been joined by Tidus and Wakka, and whom were also over-reacting at Sephiroth-knows-what. (A/N: Notice I say "Sephiroth" and not "God"...)

Kairi noticed the two boys running straight at her, and decided to point out to the ocean as well, as if they couldn't see Selphie pointing.

"There! Look! See?" Kairi said, as if the affore-mentioned boys were idiots.

Sora and Riku both looked there, and saw, simultaneously fulfilling Kairi's three wishes, as if they were the Genie of the Lamp or something. They saw a person a ways out, clinging desperately to a piece of driftwood. Sora looked thoughtful for a second, then turned to Riku.

"Go after her!" he said. Riku stared at the younger boy as if that boy were slightly insane.

"What?" Riku responded, as it wasn't often that Sora would tell Riku to be the hero.

"You're a lot stronger and faster than me, you can get there and back in less time than the rest of us!" Sora said, showing far more brain power than anyone had reason to suspect he had. Riku couldn't quite believe his ears.

"And you'll have an easier time of it, too," Wakka said, coming out of his mindless (A/N: Though rather normal, tee hee. Sorry...) and slightly panicked state of mind and following Sora's logic.

Riku looked from Sora, to the girl, to Wakka, to the girl, back to Sora, and to the girl again, then nodded. Of course they were right! He was, after all, faster, stronger, and a much better swimmer than anyone else, so it was only logical that it be he who saved the girl and not someone else. So, naturally, he went in after her.

After wading out far enough that he could go under the water without knocking against something, Riku swam with all his might to the girl on the driftwood, whom was loosing consciousness at an incredibly high rate, seeing as she wasn't doing anything but clinging to a hunk of wood and breathing!!

The girl lost her tenuous hold on consciousness, and the wood, and thus slid under, sinking. Riku took a deep breath and dove in after her, and pulled her to the surface with great effort. He was too concerned about her health and safety to try to find out why she weighed so much, and so he began swimming back to shore, which was harder and slower as they were going against the current, and he was using one arm to keep hold of the girl, and the other to swim, and kept stopping to readjust his hold so she wouldn't slip in again.

When he got to shore, he was considerably tired and out of breath, yet triumphant. Sora ran over to help with the girl and getting her to shore, but Riku pushed away the proffered help and insisted rather vehemently that he was fine, dammit! Kairi, Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus backed away, giving room to Riku and the girl to flop onto the thankfully dry land and breathe like a winded rhinoceros. Only problem was, they weren't sure if the girl even was breathing...

When Riku caught his breath, which didn't take long, he rolled over and checked to see if the girl had a pulse. His eyes widened in worry and he said "Someone go get the doctor." When no one went, he snapped "Move it!!" to who ever was closest, which just happened to be Sora.

"Oh, right!" Sora said and started running to wherever the hey-diddle that doctor was. While he was gone, Riku put an ear to the girl's breast, hoping to hear a heart-beat. He then proceeded to check for a pulse again, then listened to her breathing, which was ragged and shallow.

The doctor arrived, with Sora struggling to catch up, sooner than expected. When a person's health was on the line, do not get between them and the doctor, because the doctor was incredibly single-minded when it came to a patient's health. Said doctor began gently but urgently shoving kids out of the way in order to get to the girl but did not shove Riku out of the way because Riku was on the opposite side of her from the doctor and had already gotten out of the way.

"Is there a pulse?" the doctor asked no one in particular.

"Yeah, but not much. I wasn't sure if I felt it or not when I checked," Riku replied.

The doctor obviously wasn't listening and checked for a pulse himself, then listened to her breathing, then started barking out orders. "Get her to my place, but be gentle! The poor girl's half-starved and very weak. You--" the doctor pointed at Wakka, "go prepare a bed for her. You--"the doctor pointed at Tidus, "go help with the bed. Make sure the covers are clean, you know my normal procedure. You, you, and you--" he pointed at Sora, Kairi, and Selphie, "I'll need help gathering my medical supplies and I need a cook so we can get her fed as soon as possible. I hope one of you can cook, because this is crucial. If not, get help from one of the adults. You--" and the doctor finally pointed at Riku, "I want you to get her to the room where my long-term patients stay, which is where I also want the bed made." (A/N: Total duh-ness.) The doctor looked significantly at Wakka and Tidus when he said that about where the bed should be made and so on. "I'll see what I can do for her, and maybe I'll be able to get her up and moving in a few days. Let's look alive, people, I know there aren't any undead around here, now MARCH!!!" Every one then began running to do their respective jobs.

As Riku bent over to pick the girl back up, he noticed something about her. A calm, a peaceful aura or something hung about her even though she was likely battling death. He picked her up, and noticed that she was still heavier than she should be. Ignoring this, Riku got her to the long-term patient room just as Wakka and Tidus had finished making the bed.

Riku gently laid the girl on said bed, when the doctor came in carrying all sorts of jars and boxes and containers holding who-knows-what, followed by Sora, who was also carrying a load of medicines and salves and other medical stuff. The doctor somehow managed to quickly and neatly arrange his jumble of stuff on a table near the bed, and did the same with Sora's load, organizing in a system that only he knew.

After getting everything arranged to his liking, the doctor proceeded to strip the girl down to her bare skin, causing the boys to turn crimson and look away. The doctor then got the girl into a dry night-shirt that came out of nowhere. Actually, it came out of a drawer, but no one saw the doctor get it. After the doctor had covered up the girl and it was safe to look without seeing something that shouldn't be seen, Wakka, Tidus, and Sora left, and Kairi and Selphie came in carrying a tray full of food. There was so much piled on that it was impossible to name it all seeing as most of the food was hidden behind even more food. None of it required cooking.

Riku felt like he should be doing something useful, so he asked.

"How can I help?"

The doctor glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, then went back to whatever he was doing to get the girl better. "You've helped enough as it is, Riku. I can handle it from here."

"There's gotta be something I can do."

"You already did do something. You brought her ashore, you took over when everyone else would have lost their heads, you used your head, for crying out loud! I think you've helped enough. Now, I want you to go outside, and let me handle things from here, got it?"

"But--"

"You can help me best by staying out of my way for now. I will let you know how you can help should the need arise. Now git!!"

"Yessir," Riku said, then left. He went to the island with the Paoupu trees and sat on one, which had grown at an odd angle that was perfect for sitting on. He stared out at nothing in particular, thinking, wondering, and having normal reactions to having a total stranger almost drown in what was essentially his back yard. Sora came up to him after a while, and stood there staring at whatever it was Riku was staring at.

"I wonder who she is?" Sora said, for no better reason than to break the silence. Riku didn't reply. Who knows how long later, Sora spoke again. "She's been in there a while. Think she'll be alright?"

"She should be. The doctor said she would," Riku replied absent-mindedly. Sora looked at him oddly.

"Is something wrong?" the younger boy asked.

"What? No, nothing's wrong. I'm just thinking... about things."

"You've been doing that a lot. Ever since Kairi came. What are you thinking about?"

"Things..."

"Such as...?"

"Just... things."

"Huh... Aren't you the least bit worried about the girl?"

"Of course I am! She's mostly what I've been thinking of. Who she is, where she's from..."

"Why don't you ask her when she wakes up?"

"Oh, I will. But, I can't help but wonder..."

The doctor showed up again right about then. He called up to the boys, as he couldn't find anyone else. Said boys came running to the doctor as fast as possible.

"I think you two will be glad to know that our patient is doing fine. She should be conscious again sometime today. She should be up and moving by next week." The doctor was looking slightly smug, which was excusable seeing as the worst he'd had to work with as far as any of the kids knew was a few scraped knees and maybe a broken bone or two from the kids getting a little too rowdy.

Sora and Riku exchanged grins, then went off in two different directions. Sora went to tell Wakka, Tidus, Selphie, and Kairi, and Riku went to check on the girl.

Riku was soon at the place where the girl was (A/N: I have yet to figure out where exactly that is) and pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. The girl was sleeping soundly, her chest gently rising and falling as she breathed. Riku took a moment to study her.

She was kind of pretty, in a half-starved sort of way. Strands of her damp blonde hair clung to her face where it had come out of the braid she wore. Her bangs reached down to slightly past her bottom eyelid, just barely touching her cheekbones. Her skin was a light tan color from being exposed to the sun often, and because of said sun, her hair was slightly bleached. Her mouth hung partly open, showing the tips of white, straight teeth. The shape of her mouth suggested that she laughed a lot, but had recently been subjected to a not-so-pleasant situation.

Around her neck she wore a pendant in the shape of the Kingdom Hearts logo (A/N: Not that Riku knows what that is, but I'm too lazy to describe it in detail) with a stone of rose quartz set in the center. It's chain was an odd sort of blue-ish metal that also made up the heart.

Moving a little lower than her face and neck, as boys so often do when looking at a female, Riku tried his best not to stare at her chest. Seeing as it was covered, that was easy to do (A/N: You don't care about the size of her breasts, do you?). A hand lay across her stomach. That hand was calloused from use of some sort of weapon. Yet, it was slender, almost graceful, and looked as though it did a lot of needle-work as well as wielding weapons. So, she must be multi-talented, or that's what logic would suggest. Her arm was well muscled, as if it had seen a lot of fighting. Same with the muscles in her upper chest and shoulders. They were well-honed from hard labor or workouts of some kind.

She looked to be no older than Riku was, perhaps fourteen or fifteen. And she was skinny except for the muscles. She must have been on that driftwood long enough for her body to start burning fat in order to stay alive. How long that could have been, Riku had no way of knowing.

Sora opened the door, having snuck up on Riku while Riku was studying the girl, and stuck his head in.

"How is she?" the younger boy asked. Riku looked up at Sora and smiled.

"Sleeping like a baby," he replied. Kairi poked her head in as well.

"Then she'll wake up when it's least convenient for her care-takers. Babies always do!" she said jokingly. Riku laughed then returned his gaze to the sleeping girl.

"Doesn't look like that's gonna be any time soon," he said quietly. Sora and Kairi looked at each other. It wasn't often Riku used such a gentle voice. In fact, it was likely the first time anyone on the island had heard it.

"Okay..." Sora said, then looked back at Riku. "We're gonna go tell our parents what happened. You cummin'?"

"No, I think I'll stay here. I wanna be here when she wakes up," Riku said. Sora and Kairi exchanged confused glances again, and shrugged.

"Okay, then," Kairi said, then ran off to her place. Sora stepped in and shut the door behind him.

"You sure?" the younger boy asked. "It's just barely past noon, we got the whole day ahead of us. Besides, we don't know when she'll wake up and--"

"Are you saying you can't handle the rest of the day without me?" Riku said, sounding more like himself, and cutting Sora off.

"No! I just--"

"Sora, just go outside. Tell your parents what happened today. You said you were going to. If I wanna stay here, that's my business. You can stay too, if you want, it really doesn't matter to me either way, but I know you'd rather be off playing with the other kids, so just go."

"I'm gonna be worrying about her all day, y'know," Sora said, looking slightly put down and a little hurt.

"Me too, that's why I want to stay here."

"Okay, fine! I'll go! But I want you to tell us as soon as there's any change, got it?"

"Really? I was gonna keep you guys in suspense for a while, just to see what you'd do."

Both boys began laughing. The reason hasn't been figured out yet, but they did. Sora turned to go and told Riku he'd see the older boy later. Riku said the same thing to Sora, and turned back to the girl, wondering why he wanted to stay.

Sometime around dusk, the girl had shown no signs of movement save for the breathing, and the few times the doctor decided to poke his nose in and somehow get her to take some sort of concoction by some means that only the doctor knew because Riku couldn't see through people to know what was going on on the other side of said person. Other than that, nothing exciting happened.

When the sun started to sink below the ocean, the girl started to show signs of life. She moved a little, and let out a little moan, then began coughing, then opened her eyes. Riku stared into those intense, beautiful, sea-green eyes, and saw a number of emotions flash through them, though none crossed her face. Confusion, fear, wonder, gratitude, slight panic, and back to confusion.

"Wha...?" She managed. "Where am I?"

"Shh," Riku said, gently stroking her bangs back from her face, and acting completely out of character, obviously. "You should rest. You're lucky you're alive." Wait a minute, rest?! She'd been sleeping all day!!

"You... you saved me. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. By the way, I'm Riku. What's your name?"

The girl stared up at the ceiling and looked as though she were trying to remember, and failing. "I... I don't remember. I don't remember anything..."

Oh, crap, passed through Riku's mind right then. "Well, don't worry about it," Riku said, trying to sound reassuring. "Um, listen, the doctor will be coming in soon and my mother is probably wondering where the heck I am right now so I should go and... uh..." At seeing the slight smile on the girl's face, he completely forgot what he was going to say as he couldn't figure out what there was to smile about.

"I didn't expect you to stay, you know. Go ahead, I'll be fine," the girl said, still with that half-smile on her face.

"Okay, so then... I guess I'll go," Riku said, and got up. When he got to the door, the girl spoke again.

"Oh, and... Riku? Thanks for your concern."

Riku turned to look at her and grinned. "What did you expect me to do, laugh at you? You don't need to thank me. Anyone else would have helped you, you know."

The girl looked out the window, an odd look on her face. "Somehow," she said, "I think not..."

Riku grew confused at this, then shrugged and said good-bye to the girl, and left. He went to find Sora and Kairi. But first, he went to find the doctor to tell him that the girl was up and it was a miracle her stomach wasn't growling yet.

Riku found Sora and Kairi at the cove, both looking bored and concerned. Sora spotted Riku running towards them and waved.

"Hey, Riku!!"

"Is she up yet?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah, she's up," Riku told them.

"And...?" Sora and Kairi said in unison.

"She's fine. Well, she's talking at any rate."

Sora got the strangest look on his face, apparently thinking something went on that wasn't supposed to. "And...?" he asked.

"She has amnesia," Riku told them, looking serious. Kairi automatically started to look concerned.

"Oh, that poor girl," Kairi said. "I know what it's like to forget something, but not being able to remember anything?! That has to be horrifying!"

"It probably is, though she seemed more confused than horrified," Riku said, thinking back to the brief conversation he'd had with her. "She doesn't even remember her own name."

"I wish there was something we could do to help her," Sora said.

They looked depressedly thoughtful for a minute. Then, Riku got an idea.

"Maybe we can..." he said, causing Sora and Kairi to respond with an intelligent "Huh?"

"What do you mean, Riku?" Sora asked.

"Well, I know we can't help her get her memories back, but we could help her get some of the best memories she's ever had."

"Enlighten us, Buddha," Kairi said. (A/N: Sorry, had to put it in... We were talking about Hinduism and Judaism in World History today.)

"Well, we could see to it that every waking moment she has is fun, and maybe she won't mind so much that she has no memory. She could start a new life, leave her old one behind. Like a do-over or something, and maybe she could become a part of our lives as well."

"I think she already is a part of our lives, Riku," Kairi said. She was looking at Riku with a slightly concerned look on her face.

Riku looked up at her and saw the look. "What?"

Sora and Kairi once again exchanged concerned glances. "Well, you've been acting odd, ever since we saw her out there, you know," Sora said.

"No, I don't know," Riku replied. "Spill it."

"Well, first you started barking orders--" Sora said, but was cut off.

"That was the doctor," Riku told him.

"Just listen to us, Riku," Kairi said, still looking concerned. "First you told us to go get the doctor, which I'm sure is a normal reaction, but still not entirely like you, then you bit our heads off when no one moved right that second. Then you didn't leave her until the doctor came, and even then didn't go more than three paces away. And while we were in the room and the doctor started trying to help her, you wanted to know what else you could do. Then, you couldn't think of anything but her for a while. Yes, Sora told me. And then, when the doctor said she should be alright, the first thing you did was go to see her. After that, you didn't leave her side until she woke up. This isn't like you! Is something wrong? I mean, frankly you're starting to scare us."

"It's not every day some stranger shows up half starved and drowning, you know," Riku said, as if that was all the answer they needed.

"I know, but this still isn't like you!"

"So?"

"So I want to know what's wrong! Are you sick or something? I mean, come on! This is totally out of character for you! It's only natural we'd be concerned!"

"Really, Riku," Sora said. "Even Wakka and Tidus noticed something wasn't normal with you. Besides, you can't blame us for worrying about you when you're not acting normal. We're just worried and want to know what's up, that's all."

"Nothing's up!" Riku said rather testily. "Geese, guys, stop acting like my nannies, would ya?"

Kairi looked happier. "That's better," she said.

"You two are impossible!!" Riku said, getting annoyed. "I'm going home already."

"Alright," Sora said. "Meet us here again tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, what ever..."

So, Riku went home told his mother what happened that day. Said mother felt sympathy for the girl and decided to give the girl some clothes as she obviously didn't have any extras. So, Riku and his mother spent a while preparing some clothes for the girl, then wrapped them in a neat little package. Riku's mom told him to go take the clothes to the doctor's place and leave them for the girl. So, Riku did, and explained to the doctor what he was doing there so late and the doctor suggested Riku write the girl a note as she was asleep again.

Riku got a pen and paper and wrote his letter, which was short, and to the point.

Hey, new girl.

My mother sent some clothes for you, since I told her you didn't have any extras. You were asleep again when I got here with them, and I didn't want to wake you up, so here they are. Anyway, we hope they fit and that you like them!

Riku

He almost wrote "Love, Riku" for some dumb reason he couldn't explain. Luckily, he caught himself, and scratched it out (A/N: because the "strikeout" effect or whatever it's called doesn't transfer, I had to cut the word "love." And you can't change the text either! I had a really cool font that looked like handwriting and it's gone!!!). How embarrassing that would have been had Selphie found out! Selphie was quite the romanticist. So, he put the package on the chair next to the girl's bed, then turned to look at the girl.

Yup, she was sleeping. Soundly. Again. Oh, well, Riku thought, as he looked at her again. It'll help her get better sooner. Riku gently reached over and stroked a strand of her hair back from her face. Sora and Kairi were wrong. He wasn't acting out of character. He just never saw a reason to show anyone the more caring side of him before. Until now, that is. He leaned over, as if to kiss her, then seemed to think better of it and quietly whispered in her ear "Get well soon," then left.

As soon as he got home, Riku went to bed. He had a hard time getting to sleep, however. He couldn't get the girl out of his mind. And he kept seeing that half-smile she gave him. He found himself wishing he could have heard her laugh, or seen a full smile. His heart gave a small flutter when he caught himself thinking that, then scolded himself for being an idiot. She had a life, and it didn't include him. When she got her memory back, she would surely go back to that life, and never think about him again. Then he found himself thinking that if it were true, he didn't want her to get her memory back, then kicked himself for that as well. He eventually fell asleep, still thinking about that girl...

A/N: Awww, so coooooot!! I was a little hyper at the beginning of typing this, then it got serious towards the end. I do that a lot, get mood swings in the middle of typing up a fic, so one sentence could sound like I've had waaaaaaaay too much caffeine, and the next could sound all serious and dark and stoof. Yes, Sidra, or Semira, or whoever the hyper one was because I forgot, I'm stealing your word!! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!! Sorry, got in a rut there... So any-who, next chapter. READ ON PERSONS!!!!!