Dive into the Horizon
Disclaimer: Owning Kingdom Hearts characters from either Disney or Square-Enix would be nice but there's such a large line and I hate waiting… I also don't want to get in the huge brawl at the start of the line. So… I don't own them.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Let's see… Between crazy school, university applications, more crazy school and a general writer's block when thinking about Sora and Riku, this chapter took a long time to write. I also don't really like it. Maybe I'll revise it later…
Response to Reviews:
Slashy – The hat thing would only work if Sora wore a hat. I believe Sora's lost his mind. But that's just me.
KD Hearts – I've been quite busy okay? Sorry : ( What's gross? Kairi and Leon? Heh. That is kinda weird, but I've got two normal pairings and two crazy couplings in this story. (Just wait until the sequel!)
Ink2 – Tidus and Selphie were running after a character named Aria. She's one of my KH original characters. (Her story is called Divine Symphony, it'll be up soon). She'll have a bit bigger part in the sequel to Dive but right now she's just in the background. She runs the Arts Council at the school (Riku doesn't like the Arts Council because they always win things he wants)
Chibi Atariel Tsukai – Is this continuing enough for you: ) Sorry about the wait.
Anukis-san – I'm glad someone is still reading this! Devious plot? If only. I keep forgetting there IS a plot. I suppose it could be devious, in a Selphie-distorted-psycho way.
Chapter 6: A Brief Reprise
Sora massaged the ache in his leg. He wished could stretch it but that wasn't possible right now. He sighed quietly and leaned back against his hamper, wishing everything would go away. It was a nice day out now; the previous night's storm was all but a dream. The rain that had threatened to drown the island made the foliage sparkle in the new sunlight.
However, Sora couldn't appreciate this island paradise because, currently, he was hiding in his closet from his mother, who had just returned home. Sora had been ready for her homecoming, throwing his blankets on his bed. While doing this, he was caught off guard by his mother's arrival and had to jump in his closet before his mother opened his bedroom door.
Sora fiddled with things in his closet and then tried to get himself comfortable with the strange objects poking into him at odd angles. He sighed, knowing he couldn't go back out to his room until his mother left the house again. He was sure she was going to meet Riku's mother for coffee and Sora just wished she'd hurry up. After waiting for what seemed an eternity, Sora finally heard her car pull away.
"Finally," he muttered, tumbling out of the closet in a twisted pile. Sora pulled himself up to his feet. He looked around, glancing out his window to identify Kohana's car before she went around corner.
Sora was sure she suspected him, but, at this point, there wasn't anything he could do. Well, actually, he could get dressed and hurry to spend the next few hours at school, but Sora didn't think it was worth it. Especially since he'd be just in time for Biology with Riku and repeating yesterday and last night wasn't high on Sora's priority list. He changed into clean clothes quickly after taking a shower, hoping his mom wouldn't come home while he was preoccupied.
After tugging on his shirt,Sora wandered downstairs to eat a little bit of lunch. He hadn't had anything since Riku ruined his sundae the night before. He was a little surprised when he heard someone knocking on his door while he searched the fridge for something to eat.
Sora frowned, wondering if he should answer it. He hadn't known the dangers of opening his door until last night. If it was Riku and things repeated themselves, Sora thought with a blush rising to his cheeks. What if his mom walked in? He shook his head slightly, figuring it couldn't be anyone important. Riku should be in school right now.
He closed the fridge and went to the door at a quick jog; he was getting bad at not opening the door right away. Sora opened the door. If it was humanly possible, his jaw would have hit the ground.
"You! No. Nuh uh. You're supposed to be in school," Sora said, simply staring at Riku on his front step. It was like a reoccurring nightmare; the white haired boy just seemed to be everywhere Sora didn't want him. He was ready to slam the door and lock it when Riku grabbed the door from him.
"No worries. I promise it won't be like last night," Riku stated, smiling slightly.
"What happened last night?" Kairi asked, leaning around Riku to glance at both of them. She was holding a picnic basket. She frowned a bit; Kairi thought the storm made the world stand still. Riku shook his furiously and covered Sora's mouth before the word "molesting" came out of it.
"Nothing happened really, my dear Kairi. Now, let's get Sora into some shoes to drag him out of the house," Riku suggested, clapping his hands together to put everyone into action. This caused two things to happen: Kairi rolled her eyes, planning to figure out what happened and Sora sighed, pulling his sneakers on.
"Riku, shouldn't you be in Biology class?" Sora asked, locking his door without realizing his mother hadn't locked the door when she left.
"So should you," Riku reasoned, grabbing one of Sora's hands. The brunette blushed brightly until Kairi grabbed the other. It was only then he realized that they were preventing escape.
He was forcefully led to a park by the high school, and, after a very unsuccessful and embarrassing escape attempt which ended when Riku grabbed Sora by the waist of his shorts and dragged him back to the picnic, Sora gave up and decided to enjoy the lunch. Kairi, after recovering from a fit of laughter, produced one of her most complicated meals.
"We warned you yesterday, Sora, that you were going to have lunch with us. You can't hide in your house from us," Riku chided, grabbing a drink. He helped himself to the food before leaning back, supporting himself with an arm.
"Yeah, it's time for the avoiding to stop," Kairi giggled, giving Sora double helpings of everything. She thought he looked like he could use it. Sora took it gladly and munched a bit, wondering why they would go to all this trouble for him in the first place. He was the one who was ruining their relationship. Sora finally zoned back into reality to see the topic of conversation had changed.
"So, you think we should do a café?" Riku asked, mostly rhetorically. He glanced up from a notebook Sora identified as Kairi's.
"Yes. No one else is doing a café in the whole school. We'll be very popular," Kairi explained with a wave of her hand.
"What about the Home Ec class?"
"After the fifth fire? The principal won't chance it," Kairi giggled when Riku grinned dangerously. The only café? This could beat the Arts Council.
"Alright, we'll announce the café tomorrow," Riku said, finishing his drink. He waved a hand in front of Sora's confused face.
"What do you think?" Riku asked Sora, who looked very confused about the whole thing.
"A café for what?" he asked, swallowing the last of his sandwich.
Riku almost fell over, wondering how Sora lived day-to-day this cluelessly. Kairi gave Riku a look.
"It's for the fall festival. Every homeroom does something special. Even some of the clubs do something," Kairi explained calmly, ignoring Riku's rolling eyes. Sora nodded in understanding.
"If you hadn't been running away so much, you would have known that," Riku said sharply. He tugged on the bottom of Sora's shirt when the brunette frowned and ignored him. Sora turned to face Riku with a glare but found himself in a kiss. It was light and chaste and though Riku pulled away quickly, Kairi still found it something to giggle about.
"Oh! So that's what happened last night," she said, pretending to be scandalized. She hit Riku on the side of the head. Kairi wagged her finger, "You're not allowed to do that sort of thing with Sora,"
"Why not?" Riku asked, frowning a bit. Kairi was trying to take away his favourite toy.
"Because it leaves me out and I'll get sad and cry," she said firmly, knowing that Riku knew that crying equaled new outfit for Kairi. He rolled his eyes.
"So you want some Riku lovin' too?" he asked chuckling. Riku leaned over and kissed Kairi on the cheek. She grinned and giggled in response.
"Oh, you knave," she teased, pushing him back to his place. Kairi busied herself with the picnic, still giggling to herself.
Sora watched the two and suddenly felt very left out. He had forgotten last night, through Riku's persistence in affection, that the two were most likely a couple. He hit his head on the tree behind him. Idiot, he scolded himself. Sora stopped the mental berating of himself when he almost called himself a home wrecker. Even he knew he was getting carried away. When he tuned back into the conversation, he found himself lost again.
"I think Sora would make a lovely girl. What do you think?" Riku asked slyly, glancing at Sora and noticing the vacant look in Sora's eyes was gone.
Kairi's laughing grew when Sora yelped and tackled Riku for saying such a thing. They tussled for a few minutes, Riku all the while trying to say he was joking, but Sora was finding a few spots where the white haired boy was ticklish. It had been a joke, saying random, insane things to see when Sora would finally return to reality.
"Ha ha ha ha… Stop! Oh! Ha ha ha ha! Not there! Not there!" Riku clutched his stomach, trying to hide it from Sora, who had just found out that it was a very effective place to tickle the white haired boy into submission. He was straddling Riku and trying to grab his stomach when he looked up at a deep cough coming from behind him.
Leon. The new student teacher was staring at them in surprise and confusion. It seemed he had already started chatting with Kairi, since she was offering him some food.
Sora looked down at Riku, who was struggling to see who was there. It was then Sora realized he was sitting on Riku and promptly flew off him, sitting very, very close the tree, away from the white haired boy. He was sure that two boys all over each other was the most disturbing thing Leon had seen all day.
"Uh… Shouldn't you be in school?" Leon asked, accepting a plate of food and a drink from Kairi. He knew she had a spare from two days ago but he was sure the other two hadn't been with her. In fact, he was sure she had been complaining about Riku not having a spare.
"Shouldn't you?" Riku retorted, folding his arms. He wasn't all that impressed with the young man. Leon was a little taken back by the comment and stared at Riku again before looking away to thank Kairi.
"Do you do this often? Play truant for a picnic? Isn't that… a little lame?" Leon asked in between complimenting Kairi on the food.
"No to both questions. This was a special occasion, just for the three of us," Riku decided then and there he disliked Leon. He was too nosy for Riku, who was used to getting his way without any questioning.
"Riku! There's more than enough food for Leon," Kairi turned red at her friend's rudeness. Did he have to embarrass her in front of Leon? Especially when it was Riku who told her to go for it. Now he was being extremely unhelpful.
"It's okay. I'm sure he's just grouchy" Leon said, a faint smile showing in his eyes. He didn't react when Riku glared at him or when Kairi glared back at Riku, daring him to speak.
They all ate in silence for a while, Riku shooting Leon glares almost as much as he watched Sora candidly who was minding his own business eating his lunch.
Finished with his food at last, Sora leaned over to put his plate in the pile. However, to do this, he had to stretch over Riku, which was a dangerous idea. Sora had weighed it out in his mind and decided it had to be done. He tried to limit the risk of molestation by waiting until Riku was shooting a nasty glare at Leon to lean over.
However, Riku noticed in time and grabbed Sora's sides with a smirk, causing the boy to fall on his lap.
Sora groaned a bit, annoyed that the pile of used plates and containers had fallen over. He looked up and was met by Riku's ever-growing grin. Rolling his eyes, Sora sat up and glared at the white haired boy. He was a little confused about why Riku had done that. It wasn't as if they were alone and it certainly wasn't very amusing. Sora didn't think doing such a thing was very appropriate, especially in front of Kairi and Leon.
"You're blushing," Riku whispered so only Sora could hear. Sora narrowed his eyes.
"Whatever happened to 'red with rage'?" he asked slyly, noting Riku's hand running along his back. Sora tried his best to keep both his heart rate and breathing normal. It wasn't working out so well and Riku could tell.
"I'm certain that's not the case here," Riku smiled and touched Sora's forehead with his own. He willed Sora to look him in the eyes.
Sora obliged Riku and met his gaze, feeling like he was falling into those deep eyes. He forgot about everything else and searched Riku's eyes. Sora swore he could see and feel every emotion running through Riku's mind: attraction, curiosity, desire, and there was also something softer that Sora couldn't place.
Lost, Sora didn't react right away when Riku kissed him softly. It was a few long moments before Sora shyly returned it, forgetting where he was or the fact that both Kairi and Leon were staring awkwardly at them.
Riku smiled into the kiss, pleased that he had just gotten Sora to kiss in public. Especially with Kairi in front of them. Sora always seemed so nervous around the girl. He wondered, however, if Sora had had a lapse in judgment and just forgotten that the two were there. Not that Riku was going to remind him, nor was he phased by the presence of his friend and a student teacher. He'd do just about anything he wanted anywhere he wanted.
That was just how he worked.
Riku wrapped one of his arms tightly around Sora's small waist while the other wandered over the brunette's back, searching for, and finding, certain spots to make the boy shiver in delight. Parting to take a breath, he kissed Sora again, a little deeper this time, and repeated this over and over again, filling each kiss with a little more desire than the one before.
Sora returned each kiss, moaning and tangling his fingers in Riku's hair. Every time he opened his eyes, all he saw were Riku's bright eyes and it comforted Sora deep down and made him ignore everything but Riku and his persistent lips on Sora's mouth.
While all this was going on, Kairi and Leon went from staring at the boys' antics to looking at each other, trying to start an awkward conversation.
"Er… Does this happen… a lot?" Leon asked, shielding his eyes casually with a hand.
"Luckily for my well being, no," Kairi gave a small smile, also trying to shield herself from the embarrassing sight — and now sounds. She sighed, wondering if they could have picked a worse time to explore their feelings for each other.
"As long as it doesn't happen in class," Leon rolled his eyes, wondering how any teacher could put up with that. Kairi smiled wirily, wondering how Leon would feel if he had to teach Riku's biology class.
"Hey, you want to go get some ice cream or something?" Leon asked, remembering that he had passed a stand in his wanderings that led him to the picnic.
"Sure. I don't think they'll notice we're gone," Kairi laughed a bit and stood up with Leon. They walked off to get away from the awkward ending to a strange picnic. They meandered through the park while Kairi pointed out places and people Leon should know. Leon, it turned out, had just moved to the small island from the 'mainland'.
"How long have you lived here?" he asked Kairi, handing her the strawberry ice cream she had hesitantly agreed to. Leon had worked on her for a while before she allowed him to spend money on her.
"Oh, always? Well, at least as long as I can remember. I moved here when I was really small," she explained, eating her ice cream. Leon nodded in understanding and sat down on a bench close by. Kairi, still unsure, sat beside him though not very close.
"It's nice to live in one place most of your life. I was always moving when I was little. It… sucked," Leon said after a long silence. He wasn't one to use the slang, but it fit. He ate his own ice cream cone, plain vanilla, glancing over at Kairi every so often. He wondered if she was embarrassed to be seen with a teacher.
They talked for a while. It would have been a quicker conversation if there hadn't been so many awkward pauses, but then Leon noticed two teens walking in the opposite direction of the picnic. The brunette girl picked a few leaves out of the blonde's hair. They were grinning. Leon pointed them out to Kairi as if to ask if she knew them.
"Huh? Tidus? Selphie? What are you doing here?" Kairi called to them, standing up. The two looked over, masking guilty faces quickly.
"We're… skipping?" Selphie suggested, staring past Kairi to the young man she had been sitting with. She swore she should know him.
"Didn't you know the park was the place to go when skipping?" Tidus said, not meaning to hint about what the two had been doing. Selphie narrowed her eyes at the boy and hit him on the arm, a universal signal for 'shut up, moron'.
"Oh really? I've never been here during school until today," Kairi said, raising an eyebrow. She wondered if the two had seen Riku and Sora. She was nervous; Selphie was known to have a huge mouth.
"I see you have a good reason not to be in school," Selphie said, glancing at Leon again and wondering who he was. She pouted slightly, "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" she asked Kairi.
Kairi stared at her for a moment. Didn't she recognize her own student teacher? "Selphie, that's Leon," she said nervously. Kairi swore that both of them were in her English class.
"And I was supposed to know that?" Selphie asked, a bit huffy. She still didn't remember him.
"C'mon Selph. We've got stuff to do," Tidus said through clenched teeth, dragging Selphie away to explain the situation without embarrassing her completely.
"Aren't they both in m English class?" Leon asked uncertainly after the two had scampered off. Kairi nodded.
"I think Tidus recognized you. Sometimes, I wonder what is actually in Selphie's head," Kairi said with a small laugh. Well, maybe, what's in there that she doesn't automatically say, she added in her mind.
WHACK!
"Ow!" Sora cried out in sudden pain. Someone just hit him over the head, which was not only painful but just ruined the kiss he had managed to get out of Riku. The white haired boy had been occupied with his neck and taking his shirt off, so Sora wasn't all that pleased. He looked up, about to be mad, but he stopped mid-breath.
It was the scary woman from the movie theatre where Sora had stalked Riku and Kairi.
Kairi… Sora groaned again and not because the woman hit him with her handbag. He just remembered what he had been doing. Home wrecker, he called himself before getting hit by the heavy purse again.
"Insolent, disgusting, perverted boy!" the woman cried, hitting him again and causing Sora to fall off Riku and land on his butt.
"The park is not a place to canoodle with your girlfriend! Disgusting!" She shouted, hitting him again. She had recognized him from the theatre and had had enough of Sora's antics by now. She walked away after wagging her finger at him and threatening him with her purse.
"I'll find out who your mother is and inform her of your indecent behaviour!" she warned before walking out of sight.
Sora rubbed his head and looked over at Riku for some pity or at least moral support. It was all his fault anyway. He was surprised that Riku was gaping.
"Did… Did she just call me a girl?" Riku asked, his mind blown. He twitched slightly, unable to believe it. Sora stared blankly at Riku. Hello, bashed on the head, he thought.
"Well at least you won't have a goose egg on your head!" Sora said indigently, finally looking around. Apparently Kairi and Leon had left them to clean up, which Sora promptly did without help since the romantic mood was long gone and Riku was still muttering about being called a girl.
Sora stood up and stretched. The picnic was put away. Even the blanket was folded and Sora had had to yank that from under Riku to get it. Sora gently hit Riku on the side of the head with the now mostly empty basket.
Riku looked up, a little dazed. He frowned at Sora, annoyed that the brunette wasn't as concerned with him being called a girl.
"I'm sure you're all man Riku. Let's go," Sora said with a playful grin. He gestured around the area, showing Riku that indeed there was no reason for them to stay there.
"Want to find out for yourself?" Riku asked slyly, standing up. Sora rolled his eyes.
"No," he said firmly, "I think Kairi and Leon left. What do you want to do?" Sora asked, trying to ignore what had just happened. Home wrecker, he echoed in his mind.
"Oh well. I'm sure they're having fun with each other," Riku mused, hoping Kairi had taken his advice and gone for it. Now that he thought about it, he did think they could be a good couple despite the age difference.
"What do you want to do?" Sora repeated, swinging the basket around in boredom. He glanced at Riku uncertainly when the white haired boy encircled his waist with an arm.
"We'll drop that off at the lunatic house. Do you want to go over to my house after?" Riku asked. The lunatic house, of course, referred to Kairi's house. It was the home of the psycho small children. He wondered if they would be at home or not. He hoped not.
"Lu-na-tic? Uh, okay," Sora agreed, surprised to find he didn't mind walking with Riku's arm around him.
Riku lead Sora through the park and down the streets to Kairi's house. He pointed out the white house with blue trim.
"That's Kairi'shouse. She has two little brothers. They're nuts," he explained. Riku took the basket and was about to walk in the door unannounced when he heard two voices, quite alike, yelling and screaming throughout the house. He cringed. The brats were home. He put a finger to Sora's lips before the brunette said anything. Riku shooed him away and placed the basket in front of the door. He rang the doorbell and then ran like mad, grabbing Sora on the way.
"That was rude!" Sora cried as he was pulled past another block. Riku turned and smirked.
"No, it was safe. The brats were home. We could have died on their porch, Sora," he said in all seriousness. Taking a few more turns, he finally showed Sora his own house. It was much larger than Sora's. Riku smiled slightly; now it was only his mother and himself occupied the house. It was lonely some nights.
"Your house is freakin' huge," Sora said, admiring it before Riku dragged him inside and up the stairs to his room. Riku's room was twice the size of Sora's.
"My parents worked hard for it," Riku commented, breathing a sigh of relief. His mother wasn't home to notice he was skipping school again.
"Oh, well you're lucky," Sora commented, sitting down on Riku's bed, which was covered in crisp clean white sheets. He watched Riku log onto his computer. Sora idly wished he had his own computer.
"I wonder where my mom is. Usually she's home," Riku commented, noticing he had a new e-mail. Sora wandered over after a moment.
"She's out having coffee with my mom," Sora explained, looking over Riku's shoulder at the computer screen and watching him log-in to check the new message.
"Well, good thing we didn't go out for coffee then, eh?" Riku chuckled, a little surprised that Sora was now resting his chin gently on his shoulder. It was rather comforting. He glanced at the e-mail's sender and the subject. He hastily opened it and read through the first few lines, then groaned.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked reading through the e-mail. Whoever had sent the email was coming to visit Riku for two weeks. He blinked, not seeing the problem. Riku rose and grabbed Sora around the waist, pressing him up against his body.
"It's my older sister. My scary, lame sister," Riku muttered into Sora's messy hair. He didn't need this; not now.
Sora sighed slightly at having Riku against him; he didn't know what to think about the situation. It was like Riku wanted to be comforted.
"Oh, it can't be that bad. Don't you want to see her? Don't you miss her?" he asked quietly. He didn't have siblings, but he was sure, if he did, he'd miss them terribly if they were away.
"She's such a dork though. Yuffie will ruin any social standing I have," Riku muttered, thinking about his hyper sister and her self proclaimed ninja skills. She claimed that those 'skills' was how she got her boyfriend of two years, Cloud. Riku swore it had to be pity on Cloud's part.
"I'm sure you're just over-reacting," Sora mumbled, still being crushed by Riku. He wished for a tiny bit more breathing room, maybe just enough to allow his lungs to expand normally. Sora smiled slightly into Riku's shirt and gently grabbed Riku's sides, trying to tickle him in the stomach.
Riku flinched and jumped away from Sora, grinning and trying to hold back his chuckles. He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the boy.
"That was rude," he commented, still preoccupied with the horrendous thoughts of his sister visiting.
"I couldn't breathe; it was totally self preservation," Sora argued, sticking out his tongue.
Riku smirked and hooked a leg around Sora's legs, causing the brunette to fall on him. He smiled and ran a hand through Sora's hair.
"You don't want to live in a world that Yuffie is visiting," Riku maintained firmly. His sister was so immature. To Riku, she was the let down of the family.
"I want to meet her. She's probably really nice," Sora argued, figuring Riku was over-reacting again. He had to face the facts; Riku had been the one to run away from Kairi's brothers.
"No, she knows too much," Riku argued, strumming his fingers along Sora's spine.
"What do you mean? Knows too much?" Sora asked, confused on whether or not Yuffie was a complete know-it-all.
"Yuffie likes to tell stories. I'm safe with Kairi; she's heard them all. But you… you're a fresh pair of ears. A pair of ears I'd rather not hear any of those embarrassing things," Riku explained after a moment, fiddling with Sora's clothes.
"Oh," Sora said softly after a moment. He was curious about what kind of things Yuffie could know about Riku, but he decided not to disturb Riku and just give up for now.
After a while, Sora was almost enjoying himself, but he made sure to keep in mind that, one, he was a home wrecker, two, Riku was probably teasing him and, three, they were just friends.
Sort of.
"Fine then. If I can't meet your sister because she has a big mouth, you can't ever meet my friends because of their mouths," Sora grinned, getting the feeling Riku didn't like his sister because he was embarrassed.
"Sounds like a deal," came the reply. Riku sighed softly. He was feeling rather tired because, unlike Sora, he hadn't slept all night and most of the morning. Wrapping his arms tightly around Sora, Riku half-turned on his side.
"Mpprf. Riku, let go," Sora whined quietly, muffled by Riku's chest. It was more out of surprise and sudden discomfort than anything. Riku was half-crushing him in his arms. He sighed, exasperated.
Riku ignored Sora's protests and closed his eyes, hoping the brunette would settle down so he could rest a little. Even a nap would do. He held Sora tightly and finally Sora gave up on not only his verbal protests but he also stopped his constant wiggling and fidgeting.
Sora realized, looking up after a moment of silence, that Riku was trying to sleep and apparently decided to use him as a pillow. He stared forward at Riku's shirt, realizing that Riku had probably stayed awake long after he had gone to sleep. He felt a little bad. Riku would have been sleep deprived and he went to school. Sora, on the other hand, got an extra long sleep and avoided school. He resolved, with a feeling of sympathy in his heart, that, at least this time, he wouldn't complain, or leave, no matter how long Riku slept and/or crushed him.
Sora had mentally told himself all the fairy tales he knew and went over his English homework in his head when he started to get bored with being Riku's pillow. However, he stood firm in his silent oath and just stared at the gentle rising and falling of Riku's chest.
He then started to think about what it would be like if they were together. He wondered if he could ever like this, being half crushed beneath the sleeping Riku. Probably not, Sora thought wryly as Riku's arms tightened around him. He hastily stopped himself from uttering an unhappy sound.
He heard the door downstairs shut quietly. Sora would have panicked if he could move enough to do so. He looked up at Riku who was still very much asleep. Sora swallowed nervously when he heard someone coming up the stairs. He couldn't move. He started fidgeting, forgetting his promise to himself. Getting desperate, Sora stretched up and tried to kiss Riku, hoping it would wake him up. However, he couldn't stretch all the way so he gave up on that idea and licked Riku on neck instead. Riku made a low noise, wrapping his arms even more tightly around Sora and crushing the boy even more.
Sora gave a muffled whine when he heard the footsteps in the upstairs hall stop in front of the door to Riku's bedroom. He then froze in horror, his breath held half in his lungs, half exhaled.
Harumi had opened the door.
Her eyes searched her son's room before she found the origin of the strange noise – on the bed. She stepped into the room and gave a sly smile.
"Riku mentioned a lunch date. I didn't know people went all the way on lunch dates," Harumi commented, walking over slowly and causing Sora to squirm in embarrassment.
She laughed softly at Sora, "Pinned? Well, when Riku puts his mind to something there's no stopping him," She was amused by the brunette's unease and embarrassment. She was thoroughly enjoying this painfully slow pace. Harumi put a finger on her lips, telling Sora not to speak.
"I think he stayed up all night, even after he left you asleep," She looked around. It wasn't usual that she was in Riku's room without being pushed out, "Oh! What's this?" She noticed the e-mail open on the computer. Harumi read it and then grinned at Sora.
"You know, he wouldn't have told me until the last minute," she said, trying to relieve herself of the imaginary guilt of reading her son's personal things. Harumi winked at Sora and then grabbed Riku's sides and pinched.
"Time to get up!" she said loudly in Riku's ear, dodging the arm swatted at her as if it was second nature.
Riku opened an eye and then finally stared at his mother evenly very well aware of just how close he was holding Sora. He even held him more tightly, like a toy he anticipated was about to be taken away. He went so far to ignore the squeal that came out of Sora's mouth.
"What do you want?" Riku asked, rather grumpy.
"Well for one, I'd like to know why you're not in school," Harumi said, more than ready to play the question game with her son.
"I only missed biology," he responded, sitting up and dragging Sora with him.
"Fine. I don't care, but you'll have to let go of Sora," she said exasperated, "His mother expects him to be home to explain himself," Harumi's words caused Sora to blink in surprise.
"She knew I was home?" he cried out, indignant. Sora wrenched free of Riku's iron grip and pouted at Harumi's giggles.
"Of course she knew!"
"She let me suffer in that closet for nothing!" Sora whined, shaking a fist. He had started to plot against her when Harumi put her hands up in a placatory gesture.
"Calm down. She said it was your punishment for being irresponsible," Harumi said, pointing to the door, "Go apologize to your mother, you bad boy."
Sora nodded and jogged out of the room, relieved to be out of Riku's grip. He was also relieved not to have any broken ribs from the experience. Sora was pulling his sneakers on when he found himself back in said grip. Riku was hugging him from behind.
"See you tomorrow," Riku mumbled, kissing Sora on the cheek.
Sora blushed, "Yeah," he said just as softly.
Kairi thanked Leon profusely for the ride back to her house from the park. He insisted on it after they wandered back to the picnic spot to find it completely devoid of Sora, Riku and the picnic. He felt bad, afraid the basket had been stolen.
She gave him a gracious smile, and, with a wave, ran up to her house, sensing, with her sister-sense, that something was up.
Her eyes shot upward to the second floor as she walked into the home. She could hear foot steps and what sounded like war-cries.
"We're holding the basket hostage!"
Kairi sighed. The basket kidnappers were her little brothers. She ran up the stairs, getting ready for a battle.