Reversal: Imminent Change
Standard Disclaimers.... Apply....
- - -
Kairi was puzzled.
She did not know why Sora and Riku could become such close, yet distant friends. Close? Well, Sora is always around Riku. They have been together for so long that they have become synonymous with each other. For example when teams were picked to play blitzball, Sora and Riku would always be on the same team. (This is because everyone knows that if they separated the two, Sora will unwittingly be playing to Riku's advantage.) Another example would be asking Sora where Riku was. Sora always knew where his best friend would be (Which is a reason why Riku dislikes playing hide and seek). But there is a distance between the two. It was not obvious before but recently; Kairi could sense that Riku has been widening the gap between him and his younger friend. And Kairi wanted to know why.
So she decided to ask around.
-...........................................
Selphie was juggling three Popsicles (Strawberry, Lemon and Grape) when Kairi found her along the edge of her favourite deserted pier. The more sensible Tidus, was seated next to the younger girl, and contented with a single vanilla flavoured ice-cream cone. Wakka, on the other hand, had a whole tub of coconut-flavoured ice cream on his lap and was happily having scoops of the dessert.
"Hey Kairi!" exclaimed Selphie as she jumped up from her spot while waving her Popsicles at the same time.
Tidus nimbly ducked the colourful spray of melted ice but Wakka did not move in time and was "blessed" with spots of pink, yellow and purple. Selphie immediately regretted her rash action and struggled to make up for her mistake. But in the process of helping poor Wakka in removing the sticky syrup off his orange hair with a crumpled napkin that Tidus offered, Selphie accidentally dropped a Popsicle (Grape) into his tub of creamy coconut desert. The horror on Wakka's face was hilarious. If there were one thing that Wakka did not like, it would be someone tainting his beloved ice- cream treat.
Kairi could barely stifle her giggles at the exaggerated contortions of Wakka's usually smiley face. And she broke out into full-fledged laughter when the other Popsicle (strawberry), slipped from Selphie's hands and fell with a splat next to the melted pool of purple within Wakka's tub.
Tidus, obviously used to such scenarios, handled the situation perfectly. In the midst of Selphie's high pitched apologies and Wakka's cries of anguish, Tidus calmly finished the last of his waffle cone and caught the yellow Popsicle before it landed with its other two counterparts with the coconut cream. With a sigh of resignation, he lifted the smaller Selphie away from Wakka before the carrot top committed manslaughter to one of his female friends. Tidus decided to play it safe and also move Kairi to a safe spot in case she became a casualty of Wakka's revenge.
Wakka's anguish did not last long but his smile did not return. All he could do was stare at the convoluted pool of syrup and mourn for the pristine whiteness of his lost coconut ice cream. Selphie, for once, remained silent as she hid behind the still tickled Kairi. Tidus rolled his eyes.
"Wakka."
"...."
"Wakka, listen to me," persuaded Tidus gently.
"... ," the chunky teen torn his gaze from his tainted desert and looked into his friend's calm blue eyes.
"Why are you sad?"
"My coconut is gone mon. Gone ya... gone..."
"But," Tidus took the tub away from Wakka, "Doesn't it give you a reason to get a new tub of ice-cream?"
It took quite a while but the light of enlightenment did create a sparkle in Wakka's eyes.
"Ya mon! I can go get another one of them Coconut cream eh?"
"Exactly!"
"Tidi mon! You are a Genius!"
Selphie breathed a sigh of relief to see the smile return onto its familiar place upon Wakka's tanned face.
Tidus also smiled as he turned to Kairi, "Sorry about that, Wakka gets a little bit cranky if he doesn't get to finish a tub of his favourite ice- cream after he had had fish and chips for lunch. I think you should have some reason for coming here?"
Kairi's face was flushed red after the last five minutes of vigorous laughter. She struggled for a breath not peppered with giggles before she replied Tidus who waited patiently for her response. Selphie took this interval to approach Wakka cautiously and offer him her deepest apologies. She promised Wakka that he could charge his desert to her bill. Wakka patted Selphie on the head and forgive her. And Kairi finally managed to gather herself together.
"It's okay." Kairi offered a parable, "I tend to get a bit agitated too when Sora mixes my mango pudding with almond syrup. Well, I wanted to ask you three something serious. It's about Sora and Riku."
For a moment, all thoughts of ice-cream disappeared.
The brunette, the red head and the blond all exchanged knowing glances.
It seems that Kairi was not the only one who noticed the growing rift between Sora and Riku.
............................................... Selphie was at the counter of Destiny's Café and using her innocent charms to distract Ms Destiny while the others sat down at a table situated at a secluded corner of the small café. (Refer to "Mr Destiny Island chapter 3" for the background of Destiny's Café)
Kairi decided to dive straight into the issue, "Riku has been avoiding Sora."
Both Tidus and Wakka nodded.
"It's strange isn't it? Hasn't Riku always been reluctant to separate himself from Sora? Why is he avoiding his best friend now? And I think Sora is feeling down because he thinks Riku too busy with other things. He does not realize that Riku is purposely getting himself involved in things just to avoid poor Sora."
"I was quite surprised when Riku volunteered to join the Blitzball committee. You know and I know that Riku rarely wants to take up troublesome responsibilities. So when he asked Wakka and I whether he could take up the post as committee sectary, I was so shocked that I said yes."
"Ya mon. Tidi told me and I was stoned eh. Riku was the least likely person I would have thought wanted the job. I did ask the mon why he wanted the post but he just said he wanted to do something for the Blitzball team. Everymon knows that Riku doesn't do anything without Sora. So I offered to give Sora a post too. Ya know, maybe the little spike can be assistant secretary or something ya? But Riku just frowned and said that it was not necessary. Wakka thinks that there is something wrong with what Riku feels for Sora. Riku gets that torn look on his face when we mention Sora ya?"
Tidus nodded in agreement. The two blitzballers have noticed that Riku wouldn't look Sora in the eye or talk to Sora either. Usually, it would just be Sora chattering away to Riku who would be silently listening. However, things have changed and Sora will still be chattering away but Riku would not be listening. Riku just was not around Sora anymore.
Selphie returned from the counter with a tray laden with freshly made confectionaries.
"How did Riku and Sora met?" Kairi asked.
She figured that to get to the root of the problem, she should have to know everything about the two. Starting from the beginning was a good idea.
"mwell, Tora m Fiku fett fan duay meforre duh adurift...."Selphie muttered through a mouth full of eggtarts.
"Slowly Selphie, don't talk while you are eating. You don't want to choke do you?" mothered Kairi as she pat the younger girl's head.
"I think what Selphie is trying to say is that you are probably curious why Riku and Sora would end up together. They are practically polar opposites. I think... it was three, four years before you arrived on the island. Am I right? "Tidus asked
Both Wakka and Selphie nodded.
"We don't know how they met exactly. What we know is derived from bits and pieces of gossip. Well, it seem to have started when Riku was sneaked out of his house..."
"... you know, that huge mansion on the offside of the island..."
"... with them dogs..."
"... Sora happened to be in the area..."
"... he was about to go fishing, I remember..."
"....Ya mon... bad mon came and wanted to take Riku away..."
........................................... Tidus, Selphie and Wakka took their turns at retelling the their tale.
And it left Kairi quite confused by the multiple narrations.
It took a while but Kairi did manage to grasp the history behind her two male friends.
It all started when the clueless Sora was happily making his way to the edge of the island to do a bit of fishing on his own. It was the first time his parents had allowed the young Sora to go catch fish by himself. Sora wanted to catch a really big fish so that he could impress his parents. He had heard before from his friends (namely Wakka) that a good sport for fishing was along the pier beside Riku's house/mansion. However, the place was quite deserted due to fact that the islanders did not dare to wander near Riku's house. They were quite afraid of the strangers within the property's walls because they were of a different class. They were rich and influential. The simple island folk could not handle this kind of high- society people thus did their best to avoid them. Sora had no qualms of venturing to the deserted corner of the island in hopes of returning home with a big catch. To Sora, making his parents proud (he thought he could do so by catching a big fish, preferably a shark) was more important than caring about whether Riku's family was rich or not.
Now, it so happened that as Sora was walking along the tall walls that surrounded the mansion's compound, he stumbled across Riku being kidnapped. (This was before the twelve guards and security cameras were put in place. And also why they were employed.)
Although Sora is offten described as obliviously innocent or just outright blur, he was no idiot. When he saw Riku kicking and struggling to be released, Sora knew there was something odd with the scenario. He also thought that the two man manhandling Riku looked like bad guys.
Without much thought, Sora's little fist rammed itself into one of the bad men and his fishing pole found it's way into the other kidnapper's gut. Though the five-year old's punch didn't hurt much, it did cause the two captors to remain shell shock for a few split seconds.
Riku was also surprised to find himself being rescued by another young boy who was probably not much younger than himself. But he recovered from his shock much faster than his two kidnappers. Using this golden opportunity, Riku wriggled himself from the their hold on him and tried to run. However, his kidnappers did recover from their surprise and immediately recaptured Riku.
Sora grabbed hold onto one of the burly man's arm and sank his teeth into the hairy skin. Riku followed his lead and bit into another guy's dark skin. It must have hurt really badly because the two screams of pain could be heard by Sora's father who was on his way to spy on his son's fishing expedition. Sensing that there was something wrong, Sora's father ran towards the sound of wretched cursing that sounded like, "GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!"
The two kidnappers tried shaking to two "rabid" children from their arms but to no avail. And when Sora's father found them, the kidnappers got to find out that the minor bites from the two children paled in comparison to the trashing they received from Sora's buff father.
And that was how Sora met Riku. ........................................
"So, what you all are saying is that since the kidnap incident, Sora has been having this notion that he is Riku's protector? You have got to be kidding. Our Sora? Riku can take care of himself. In fact, he should be the one keeping Sora out of trouble..." Kairi's voice trailed off as she felt the hot stares from the other three people seated around the table.
"... is this why Riku is starting to feel so disturbed? Oh gosh, why didn't I notice it before?! Sora is always going on and on about how he wants to make sure whether Riku is safe or whether he is getting stronger.... Damn it, how could I have been so dense?!"
Tidus sighed and explained the situation further; "We think that Riku is started to feel uncomfortable with Sora because Sora still sees himself as the five year old rescuing him. Sora doesn't realizing that the dynamics have changed since then. And you should know how Riku deals with what he cannot handle. Riku is avoiding Sora because he does not know how to treat Sora."
Selphie smiled sadly as she continued, "I cannot stand to see them this way, Kairi..."
"Ya. Riku and Sora are both not happy no longer...."
"We have to do something."
"We should talk to them."
"Wakka and I can handle Sora."
"Then Selphie and I will deal with Riku."
All four nodded and prayed in their hearts.
They hope that they endeavor would work out and they will have two of their friends back again. ................................................
Dcal's note: I really promise that the next chapter will push the story forward instead of digging deeper and deeper into the past. Hoped you liked this chapter though, made it longer than what I usually post.
Edit: Made some changes to the grammar and stuff... I realize how careless I was... urgh...
Standard Disclaimers.... Apply....
- - -
Kairi was puzzled.
She did not know why Sora and Riku could become such close, yet distant friends. Close? Well, Sora is always around Riku. They have been together for so long that they have become synonymous with each other. For example when teams were picked to play blitzball, Sora and Riku would always be on the same team. (This is because everyone knows that if they separated the two, Sora will unwittingly be playing to Riku's advantage.) Another example would be asking Sora where Riku was. Sora always knew where his best friend would be (Which is a reason why Riku dislikes playing hide and seek). But there is a distance between the two. It was not obvious before but recently; Kairi could sense that Riku has been widening the gap between him and his younger friend. And Kairi wanted to know why.
So she decided to ask around.
-...........................................
Selphie was juggling three Popsicles (Strawberry, Lemon and Grape) when Kairi found her along the edge of her favourite deserted pier. The more sensible Tidus, was seated next to the younger girl, and contented with a single vanilla flavoured ice-cream cone. Wakka, on the other hand, had a whole tub of coconut-flavoured ice cream on his lap and was happily having scoops of the dessert.
"Hey Kairi!" exclaimed Selphie as she jumped up from her spot while waving her Popsicles at the same time.
Tidus nimbly ducked the colourful spray of melted ice but Wakka did not move in time and was "blessed" with spots of pink, yellow and purple. Selphie immediately regretted her rash action and struggled to make up for her mistake. But in the process of helping poor Wakka in removing the sticky syrup off his orange hair with a crumpled napkin that Tidus offered, Selphie accidentally dropped a Popsicle (Grape) into his tub of creamy coconut desert. The horror on Wakka's face was hilarious. If there were one thing that Wakka did not like, it would be someone tainting his beloved ice- cream treat.
Kairi could barely stifle her giggles at the exaggerated contortions of Wakka's usually smiley face. And she broke out into full-fledged laughter when the other Popsicle (strawberry), slipped from Selphie's hands and fell with a splat next to the melted pool of purple within Wakka's tub.
Tidus, obviously used to such scenarios, handled the situation perfectly. In the midst of Selphie's high pitched apologies and Wakka's cries of anguish, Tidus calmly finished the last of his waffle cone and caught the yellow Popsicle before it landed with its other two counterparts with the coconut cream. With a sigh of resignation, he lifted the smaller Selphie away from Wakka before the carrot top committed manslaughter to one of his female friends. Tidus decided to play it safe and also move Kairi to a safe spot in case she became a casualty of Wakka's revenge.
Wakka's anguish did not last long but his smile did not return. All he could do was stare at the convoluted pool of syrup and mourn for the pristine whiteness of his lost coconut ice cream. Selphie, for once, remained silent as she hid behind the still tickled Kairi. Tidus rolled his eyes.
"Wakka."
"...."
"Wakka, listen to me," persuaded Tidus gently.
"... ," the chunky teen torn his gaze from his tainted desert and looked into his friend's calm blue eyes.
"Why are you sad?"
"My coconut is gone mon. Gone ya... gone..."
"But," Tidus took the tub away from Wakka, "Doesn't it give you a reason to get a new tub of ice-cream?"
It took quite a while but the light of enlightenment did create a sparkle in Wakka's eyes.
"Ya mon! I can go get another one of them Coconut cream eh?"
"Exactly!"
"Tidi mon! You are a Genius!"
Selphie breathed a sigh of relief to see the smile return onto its familiar place upon Wakka's tanned face.
Tidus also smiled as he turned to Kairi, "Sorry about that, Wakka gets a little bit cranky if he doesn't get to finish a tub of his favourite ice- cream after he had had fish and chips for lunch. I think you should have some reason for coming here?"
Kairi's face was flushed red after the last five minutes of vigorous laughter. She struggled for a breath not peppered with giggles before she replied Tidus who waited patiently for her response. Selphie took this interval to approach Wakka cautiously and offer him her deepest apologies. She promised Wakka that he could charge his desert to her bill. Wakka patted Selphie on the head and forgive her. And Kairi finally managed to gather herself together.
"It's okay." Kairi offered a parable, "I tend to get a bit agitated too when Sora mixes my mango pudding with almond syrup. Well, I wanted to ask you three something serious. It's about Sora and Riku."
For a moment, all thoughts of ice-cream disappeared.
The brunette, the red head and the blond all exchanged knowing glances.
It seems that Kairi was not the only one who noticed the growing rift between Sora and Riku.
............................................... Selphie was at the counter of Destiny's Café and using her innocent charms to distract Ms Destiny while the others sat down at a table situated at a secluded corner of the small café. (Refer to "Mr Destiny Island chapter 3" for the background of Destiny's Café)
Kairi decided to dive straight into the issue, "Riku has been avoiding Sora."
Both Tidus and Wakka nodded.
"It's strange isn't it? Hasn't Riku always been reluctant to separate himself from Sora? Why is he avoiding his best friend now? And I think Sora is feeling down because he thinks Riku too busy with other things. He does not realize that Riku is purposely getting himself involved in things just to avoid poor Sora."
"I was quite surprised when Riku volunteered to join the Blitzball committee. You know and I know that Riku rarely wants to take up troublesome responsibilities. So when he asked Wakka and I whether he could take up the post as committee sectary, I was so shocked that I said yes."
"Ya mon. Tidi told me and I was stoned eh. Riku was the least likely person I would have thought wanted the job. I did ask the mon why he wanted the post but he just said he wanted to do something for the Blitzball team. Everymon knows that Riku doesn't do anything without Sora. So I offered to give Sora a post too. Ya know, maybe the little spike can be assistant secretary or something ya? But Riku just frowned and said that it was not necessary. Wakka thinks that there is something wrong with what Riku feels for Sora. Riku gets that torn look on his face when we mention Sora ya?"
Tidus nodded in agreement. The two blitzballers have noticed that Riku wouldn't look Sora in the eye or talk to Sora either. Usually, it would just be Sora chattering away to Riku who would be silently listening. However, things have changed and Sora will still be chattering away but Riku would not be listening. Riku just was not around Sora anymore.
Selphie returned from the counter with a tray laden with freshly made confectionaries.
"How did Riku and Sora met?" Kairi asked.
She figured that to get to the root of the problem, she should have to know everything about the two. Starting from the beginning was a good idea.
"mwell, Tora m Fiku fett fan duay meforre duh adurift...."Selphie muttered through a mouth full of eggtarts.
"Slowly Selphie, don't talk while you are eating. You don't want to choke do you?" mothered Kairi as she pat the younger girl's head.
"I think what Selphie is trying to say is that you are probably curious why Riku and Sora would end up together. They are practically polar opposites. I think... it was three, four years before you arrived on the island. Am I right? "Tidus asked
Both Wakka and Selphie nodded.
"We don't know how they met exactly. What we know is derived from bits and pieces of gossip. Well, it seem to have started when Riku was sneaked out of his house..."
"... you know, that huge mansion on the offside of the island..."
"... with them dogs..."
"... Sora happened to be in the area..."
"... he was about to go fishing, I remember..."
"....Ya mon... bad mon came and wanted to take Riku away..."
........................................... Tidus, Selphie and Wakka took their turns at retelling the their tale.
And it left Kairi quite confused by the multiple narrations.
It took a while but Kairi did manage to grasp the history behind her two male friends.
It all started when the clueless Sora was happily making his way to the edge of the island to do a bit of fishing on his own. It was the first time his parents had allowed the young Sora to go catch fish by himself. Sora wanted to catch a really big fish so that he could impress his parents. He had heard before from his friends (namely Wakka) that a good sport for fishing was along the pier beside Riku's house/mansion. However, the place was quite deserted due to fact that the islanders did not dare to wander near Riku's house. They were quite afraid of the strangers within the property's walls because they were of a different class. They were rich and influential. The simple island folk could not handle this kind of high- society people thus did their best to avoid them. Sora had no qualms of venturing to the deserted corner of the island in hopes of returning home with a big catch. To Sora, making his parents proud (he thought he could do so by catching a big fish, preferably a shark) was more important than caring about whether Riku's family was rich or not.
Now, it so happened that as Sora was walking along the tall walls that surrounded the mansion's compound, he stumbled across Riku being kidnapped. (This was before the twelve guards and security cameras were put in place. And also why they were employed.)
Although Sora is offten described as obliviously innocent or just outright blur, he was no idiot. When he saw Riku kicking and struggling to be released, Sora knew there was something odd with the scenario. He also thought that the two man manhandling Riku looked like bad guys.
Without much thought, Sora's little fist rammed itself into one of the bad men and his fishing pole found it's way into the other kidnapper's gut. Though the five-year old's punch didn't hurt much, it did cause the two captors to remain shell shock for a few split seconds.
Riku was also surprised to find himself being rescued by another young boy who was probably not much younger than himself. But he recovered from his shock much faster than his two kidnappers. Using this golden opportunity, Riku wriggled himself from the their hold on him and tried to run. However, his kidnappers did recover from their surprise and immediately recaptured Riku.
Sora grabbed hold onto one of the burly man's arm and sank his teeth into the hairy skin. Riku followed his lead and bit into another guy's dark skin. It must have hurt really badly because the two screams of pain could be heard by Sora's father who was on his way to spy on his son's fishing expedition. Sensing that there was something wrong, Sora's father ran towards the sound of wretched cursing that sounded like, "GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!"
The two kidnappers tried shaking to two "rabid" children from their arms but to no avail. And when Sora's father found them, the kidnappers got to find out that the minor bites from the two children paled in comparison to the trashing they received from Sora's buff father.
And that was how Sora met Riku. ........................................
"So, what you all are saying is that since the kidnap incident, Sora has been having this notion that he is Riku's protector? You have got to be kidding. Our Sora? Riku can take care of himself. In fact, he should be the one keeping Sora out of trouble..." Kairi's voice trailed off as she felt the hot stares from the other three people seated around the table.
"... is this why Riku is starting to feel so disturbed? Oh gosh, why didn't I notice it before?! Sora is always going on and on about how he wants to make sure whether Riku is safe or whether he is getting stronger.... Damn it, how could I have been so dense?!"
Tidus sighed and explained the situation further; "We think that Riku is started to feel uncomfortable with Sora because Sora still sees himself as the five year old rescuing him. Sora doesn't realizing that the dynamics have changed since then. And you should know how Riku deals with what he cannot handle. Riku is avoiding Sora because he does not know how to treat Sora."
Selphie smiled sadly as she continued, "I cannot stand to see them this way, Kairi..."
"Ya. Riku and Sora are both not happy no longer...."
"We have to do something."
"We should talk to them."
"Wakka and I can handle Sora."
"Then Selphie and I will deal with Riku."
All four nodded and prayed in their hearts.
They hope that they endeavor would work out and they will have two of their friends back again. ................................................
Dcal's note: I really promise that the next chapter will push the story forward instead of digging deeper and deeper into the past. Hoped you liked this chapter though, made it longer than what I usually post.
Edit: Made some changes to the grammar and stuff... I realize how careless I was... urgh...