Forbidden

A Kingdom Hearts Fanfic

Chapter Two

"Riku," Kairi said softly, and Riku's head turned up in her direction. He was sitting on his younger sister's bed, one arm propped on his knee and the other palm pressing firmly into the mattress to keep balance. There was a small light inside of her walk-in closet so she could dress in there, and that was just what she was doing. She just bought a new dress with her friends earlier that day and couldn't wait to show it off. "Are you ready?"

"Anytime, sis," he said, smiling even though he couldn't see her. Kairi opened the door slowly, stepping out and showing off a cherry colored dress which stopped high on her thighs and squeezed her hips and chest. It didn't have any sleeves, but it covered up to her collar bone, completely concealing any cleavage underneath. It glittered with sparkles, and he was stunned at the sight. 'She's beautiful . . .'

"So?" Kairi spun around on the carpet in her bare feet, balancing a little on her tippy toes. Her long, wavy red-brown hair spun with her, almost as if the wind was inher room and lifting her. She almost fell over but caught herself in the twirl and she giggled to cover her mistake. "What do you think?"

"It looks perfect," he replied. To conceal the meaning behind those words he gave her a thumbs up with the hand that was on his knee, settling both of his legs over the side of the bed. "Ten out of ten!"

Kairi smiled and bounced over to hug Riku around the neck, pulling him into the tight, sisterly hug she always gave him when she was happy with him. He hesitated, his chin on her shoulder and his eyes wandering. Though the front concealed much, her dress had no back to it and came as dangerously low as possible. His face flushed and he ached to feel her soft skin underneath his fingers, but gulped lightly and averted his eyes towards the wall. She let go and gave him a quizzical expression, her hands on her hips.

"Riku?" she asked, her curious, baby pout evident. "Is something wrong?"

"N-No," he replied, keeping his face low. He really couldn't stand this feeling; it made him an idiot at the worst times, and only around her. He didn't want to look stupid around Kairi! He looked downwards so his silvery bangs would shuffle into his face and he tried his best to concentrate, waiting for the color on his cheeks to fade. When they did, he was smiling at her confidently. "Nothing's wrong, Kairi! Are you wearing that to the dance?"

"Yup." Kairi winked, turning to walk back into the closet. When she was this chipper she always seemed to have a bounce in her step; then again, she was always this chipper so she always had a bounce in her step. It was part of what made Riku so fond of her in the first place. She walked in the closed the door, and after only a brief second she peeked her head out of a crack. She grinned mischievously. "No peeking, you hear?"

"What?" That did it. His face had gone red again and he looked down, waving a hand at her casually. He disguised his voice as best as he could. "No way! That's gross."

"I was just kidding," she replied with a smile, giggling just a little bit as she closed the door again. Riku kept as quiet as possible. He could hear shuffling, and his heart would beat faster. He tugged on his shirt over where his heart was, feeling the beats thump up and down in a swift rhythm. Listening to her in there, it was as if he couldn't breathe. It was so much.

'I'm sick,' he told himself, hating this feeling. He suddenly wanted to throw up. 'It's disgusting . . .'

It had been two years since he started seeing Kairi in a whole new light, noticing how her body had gained those teenage curves and that foxy glint in her eyes. It wasn't immediate, but a slow, wrenching process of denying and forbidding, trying to convince himself that it wasn't what he thought it was. But it was all a lie; he knew exactly what he was feeling towards his little sister, and it was too late to prevent it.

When she walked out she was dressed in the outfit she wore before; a plain white top and a violet skirt. Nothing fancy, but even then Riku thought she was gorgeous. She had always been one of those girls who could dress in anything she pleased and look like she had just walked out of fashion show. In his eyes, anyway.

His body stiffened as she stepped towards him in her still bare feet, her charming smile evident. She comfortably sat herself on his lap, and as his face became redder her expression became more adorably confused. She pressed a hand on his chest over his own hand that was already there, still holding his heart. Her fingers slipped in between, her nails feeling his rigid palm. She looked concerned.

"Riku, what's wrong?" Kairi asked, completely innocent. Riku's other hand gripped the mattress and he shut his eyes tightly. He didn't want to look at her; he didn't want her to be this close. If she kept doing this, he might . . . "Are you upset because I don't like you back?"

Riku's eyes opened as he gaped down at her in disbelief. 'How did she . . .? I never told her!'

"It's okay." She smiled again and leaned forward, placing a light, soft, dry kiss on his lips. She laid her head on his chest, listening to fast, rapid beats. "I'm sorry I was so mean about it, not talking to you and everything. We can be together if you want. We can do anything you want."

"Anything?" Riku asked. She felt her nod on his torso. Her fingers stroked and pulled at the collar of his shirt, as if she couldn't wait to get it off. He gulped deep. He couldn't do this . . . Not with his own sister . . . This wasn't normal. This wasn't right. This wasn't Kairi.

Riku woke up with a start, his harsh breathing heavy. He felt his warm face, sticky and plastered with sweat. He sat up in his bed, a long white mattress in an apartment room that wasn't even set up with the rest of the bed yet. He wiped the wetness off of his face with his bed covers. Feeling the flush from his dream still on his face, he scrubbed even harder. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to steady his breaths.

'Thinking of Kairi,' Riku thought, dropping the covers and running his hands through his hair, trying his best to get the bangs out of his face. They flopped back in their feathery place. 'It hurts . . .'

He slid off of the bed and put his feet on the ground, walking out of his brand new room. It was a small residence, with two bedrooms and a bathroom, plus the kitchen and the living room all together. As soon as he stepped out of his room he could see the stove and empty cabinets. The floor wasn't visible, completely was covered by an ocean of boxes.

Glancing at the clock over the stove wearily, Riku realized that it was almost time to get up anyway. The sun was getting ready to rise as he could see through the windows right by the home entrance, and he kicked a few packages to get to one of the casements. He looked out and down, seeing already many cars whiz by on the busy, crowded looking street.

He scowled as he looked down on it, then turned around. He missed his old home in the suburban. It wasn't too country-like or too city-like, just the way he liked things. Granted, he always liked the idea of visiting new places, but . . . This was different.

'It's not some temporary getaway,' Riku thought, pushing down more boxes to get on the couch in the center of the room. It really hadn't been placed in its final spot yet, but it would probably stay there. 'This is forever. Forever without family, without real friends . . . without Kairi.'

Riku was abruptly stirred out of his thoughts when he heard a loud slam on the door. He decided to ignore it, assuming that it was a tree branch banging against the side of the apartment, even if there were no tree branches. That's what happened back at his real home on windy nights. It happened again for a second time, and after a few moments a third time. Instead of a fourth time, he heard a voice.

"What?" it said. It sounded like a young school boy. Riku wondered what someone would be doing with their room, unless they were trying to break it open to raid it. Too bad for them; the door was locked. "I could've sworn the new people were coming today . . . hey! Open up!"

More furious knocks sounded this time, a loud rapping that Riku couldn't overlook. He stood and stomped to the door, jerking it wide open and shouting angrily so loud that it echoed, "What the hell is it!"

"Ah, sorry . . . Did I wake you up?" Before him was a short, baby faced boy with prickly, all-over-the-place hair and profound sea blue eyes. They were large and childish, and when he saw Riku he smiled sheepishly using a dollish expression as the ultimate weapon. Who could get angry after seeing them?

"No," Riku bluntly said, putting on an annoyed face. He didn't want to be mean, but he also just wasn't in the mood to be bothered by anyone at the moment. Especially children. "Why are you here?"

The boy smiled and reached into his deep parachute pants pocket, shuffling through until he handed Riku a wrinkled and curled newspaper with a wide, tacky smile. "You're the new neighbors, right? I'm Sora. I deliver the morning paper."

Sora kept his hand held out as if waiting for Riku to shake it, but instead Riku looked down at like it was foreign object. He really, really didn't feel like establishing any new bonds of friendship right now. He just wanted to go home, to see Kairi, to see if there was any way possible way she would love him back. When it came to her, shaking some little paper boy's hand just didn't compare.

"I'm busy, okay?" Riku said, slowly shutting the door. Sora let his hand drop to his side and he pouted. "My dad and I have a lot of unpacking to do."

Sora shrugged, as if it were no big deal. "Let me help you then."

"No, we're fine, thanks."

Before Sora could get another word in Riku had shut the door firmly behind him. Sora kicked the door with the toe of his shoes, sticking his tongue out for good measure before he pouted some more and turned around. He hadn't expected that at all. Usually new tenants absolutely adored his sweet smile and would do anything to feel welcome. But no, not this new guy.

X x x x x

Author's Notes: Chapter two is edited. Yeay! Added more details and a little bit more to the Kairi x Riku scene, but not much. :D I'm improving it! Alright!

Many thanks to: endling, zhakeena, Chimichan, Sky-Pirate-Tat, tasuku-sempai, epitaphpleasewriteme, Will's Girl, Kia Saphia, LiLi-Sama, to lazy to log in..., Kage-chan, AlexX and carbuncle021!