Forbidden

A Kingdom Hearts Fanfic

Chapter Fourteen

Sora quickly slipped the picture he had taken into his back pocket and shut the photo album as he heard the door creak open. He looked over to see Riku with a rare but sweet charismatic grin, two cups of finished ramen and a couple of forks in his hands. He held one up as if to say, 'Do you want it?' and Sora stood.

"Thanks," Sora said, taking what was offered. His voice sounded a little hesitant, a bit nervous. He wasn't even sure why, but as he remembered the pictures he had seen with Riku and the real thing smiling before him he frowned. He observed the older boy, then before he could even think about it the words flowed from him mouth. "It looks fake . . ."

"What?" Riku asked, not even bothering to ask Sora why he had been in his room or what he was doing in there. He seemed to be much more lenient on his friend than he usually was (And perhaps more awake than he was a moment ago), and instead of barraging him with questions he stepped out of the way to let him through. "What are you talking about?

Sora paused for just a second, trying himself to figure out just what he had meant. He didn't mean to say anything at all, but it just happened. Before he could come up with anything smart to say, he walked past and out into the living room/kitchen, muttering a small "Nothing," before sitting himself on the couch.

"Ow!" he said, feeling his back with one hand as the cup was in the other. The moment he sat down the cushion he was on sank, and he could almost swear he felt a spring poking his bottom. Riku assembled himself next to Sora, but unlike the boy who was currently pouting he didn't say anything at all. "God, how could you possibly sleep on this? I'm on it for two seconds and my back already hurts.

Riku smirked. "So sorry if I can't afford shit on my salary."

"No kidding."

Both of them seemed to find that fit to end their conversation, but for once there was nothing awkward about it. They were both now comfortable within each other's personal space, never finding it too necessary to keep things going or hasten their talks. Sometimes they spoke of the most pointless things, and when they were done neither Sora or Riku would wonder if that was a normal conversation.

Riku slurped some of the thin, tasty noodles in his cup before reaching for the remote and turning on the television. It was still loud, since for whatever reason he had it turned up so much the night before, and when it was finally barely audible for background noise he flipped through it until they were on the news. Neither one found it too interesting.

Sora seemed to finish their little breakfast faster than Riku, and when he did he read the tiny orange letter engraved in the cup. "Maruchan . . . that's Japanese, right?"

Riku was in the middle of eating and his answered was muffled. "Dunno."

"I'm Japanese but I've never learned how to read it. Not totally Japanese though. I'm Indian too, and Caucasian. Mom's from England." When he didn't get an immediate reply Sora turned. "What about you?"

It seemed Riku had finally finished too, and he dropped the cup on the ground among other pieces of trash. He thought about it for a moment, then he answered. "French and Irish. My Dad's the one who's French."

"You look French to me."

"Yeah, I don't look a thing like my mom."

When Sora thought of an Irish person, his mind instantly wandered back to the girl he was in the photographs, Kairi. She was so pale her skin glowed, and then she had that long red hair. Then things started to make sense, or at least in his mind it helped put a few more pieces together. 'That girl could be his sister . . . they do have the same smile, or they did.'

Instead of keeping quiet like he had planned, he decided that it couldn't hurt to know. It would probably mean getting kicked out of the apartment for the rest of the day, not being able to talk to Riku until he cooled down from invading his privacy, but at the same time it might not be such a big deal. It might even be a fun thing to talk about. "Say, Riku. Who's Kairi?"

An emptiness filled the room the moment he said that, and Sora immediately regretted thinking that it was something carefree. How could he have been so stupid? Of course Riku wasn't going to let him know about himself; why would he tell him about other people, like family or friends? Sora averted his eyes, waiting for the yelling he was sure to come, but was surprised when instead he heard a small voice.

"I . . . I don't want to talk about that."

More than anything, Sora was surprised as he looked at his friend. Riku's head was turned away in the other direction, staring dead-on at a blank wall in the room. As he dropped the cup in his hand on the ground and brought his knees to his chest, he lightly smirked. Something about this felt ironic, though there was no irony to it. "I guess you trust me more or something."

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, still in that same, moping sort of tone. He hadn't looked back yet.

"I thought you were gonna kill me and bury my body in the woods somewhere near the church. 'Cause I asked a question and stuff."

"Then why'd you even bother?"

"I don't know . . . just felt like it I guess."

Riku finally looked over to Sora, chuckling a bit, letting Sora's small smile widen. He felt like it was okay, perhaps. When he saw Sora, he felt he could trust him, but he wasn't sure to what extent. But just then, when Sora asked and actually knew the name of someone in his past, a heavy pit hit his stomach. For once it wasn't because he heard the name Kairi.

'Maybe . . .' Riku thought, opening his mouth a small bit then closing it, still trying to figure out the words he wanted to say. He didn't know. Was it right to say anything, or was it wrong? Would Sora understand? But still, right now for some reason he just wanted that pit in his stomach to go away. And he had a feeling he knew just how to do it.

"Sora . . . can I tell you something?

Kairi opened the door to her room slowly and peeked out the moment she heard her parents leave the house. Ever since her father had come her mother was nothing but smiles, always so happy with the way things were going and acting like they had such a perfect life. The odd thing was that she really was happy. Having her problem child out and her wonderful husband back in brought her more bliss than she could have possibly ever wished for.

'I guess,' she thought, her fingers lightly tracing against the wall as she walked towards the stairs to go down, 'She really has given up on me. Everyone has given up on me . . .'

She didn't blame a single person. Not even Riku had anything to do with her problems anymore. Things between them, no matter what small part of her wanted things to change, were done and over with then and forever. And with no friends, no brother, and now no parents who were in their own fantasy world, things were going to stay that way.

Slowly she walked down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen in her house, which was small but one of her favorite places to be at when her mother and father went out. Since she never ate dinner with anyone, she would slip in and eat whatever she wanted on her own, then go back to her room when she could see the car lights coming up the driveway.

She just didn't feel like seeing anyone anymore.

This time she let herself sit on top of the counter, her hand reaching up to one of the cabinets above her. A memory came to mind in the past and she smiled.

'I remember when I was really little,' she thought, taking a bag of chips and opening them. She started chewing away at them hastily, as if they were nothing. She didn't have an appetite at all, but eating became more of an automatic thing than a want. 'I would climb on the counter and watch Mom cook. She'd get angry, but then she'd laugh it off and let me help her . . .'

The smile she had became more genuine, feeling the happiness she used to have when everything was all right. She licked the salt from her fingers, the tiny crystals getting into the cuts around her fingernails from where the skin had been chewed apart. "I've always been better at cooking then Riku . . . he hated doing it."

Her moment was interrupted when she heard the doorbell of the house and she jumped. It was nearly nine o'clock at night, and the last thing she expected was anyone at the door. Still, she refused to move, and even more so she crossed her arms over her chest and froze. 'There weren't any car lights . . . it's not Mom and Dad . . . it could be a stranger . . . it . . .'

After a moment a few knocks were against the door and she shut her eyes, her heartbeat pounding in her chest. But at the same time, while her body was reacting to the trauma, the fear, the pain, her mind was speaking so differently. 'Just go! Get up and do it! What can possibly be worse than what's already happened? Nothing! You've got nothing to fear anymore!'

But whoever was at the door decided no to wait and opened it slowly, making Kairi bite down on her lip so hard it started to bleed. Her fingers squeezed at her shoulders, reddening her pasty white skin and her eyes were starting to water. 'No, I can't do this . . . I'm scared! I don't want anyone coming in! Just go away! Just go away!'

" . . . Kairi?"

All at once things seemed to stop; her body was no longer shaking, her lip was no longer bleeding, the tears she wanted to cry were refusing to come out. She opened her eyes to see if the voice she had heard speak her name was really who she thought it was. And it was.

"S-S-S-" she said slowly, her voice incredibly unstable as she tried to string the name together. The young girl her age was standing before her with a small, bright colored sun dress, pink and light green patterned flowers pressed among the white cloth. While her outfit was smiling and her hair was in the bouncy curls Kairi always remembered, her face looked just as upset as her own. "Selphie . . ."

"I . . ." her old friend started to say quietly, her voice choking up as she averted her eyes. "I was sure you'd be home, so I let myself in . . . It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Kairi didn't answer to the fake smile that Selphie was suddenly trying to pull; she didn't even fake one of her own. Instead she turned her face in the other direction and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Go away, bitch."

"Oh," she heard her mutter. "I guess . . . I guess I deserve that, don't I? A lot more than that . . ."

Kairi's voice was muffled by the thick sleeves of her shirt that covered her arms, but Selphie made sure to listen to every word intently. "Pretty much. I left school, so why are you coming here to bother me?"

"School's last day was on friday," Selphie replied informatively, though there was still that sadness to her voice. When Kairi didn't answer, she took a deep breath. "Listen, I . . . I know what happened was bad. Everyone knows you didn't want things to happen the way it did, or at least most people believe that . . . No one ever listened to your side of the story, and . . ."

Before she could finish what she wanted to say she paused, and out of a small shred of curiosity Kairi looked over to see what the problem was. More than anything, it surprised her to see that Selphie's eyes were watering and already there were tears along her cheeks. She took no attempt in hiding them or wiping them away; she didn't even try to smile as if things were better than what they seemed.

"I-I'm sorry," she said. More than the crying, more than the shock of her Selphie after so long, those words pinned against her. They were best friends at one time, her and Selphie and Yuffie, but that all changed. It was supposed to stay that way, but . . . "I'm really, really, sorry . . ."

Kairi could already feel a strong emotion stirring up in her that made her want to cry just as much. But before she allowed herself to, she had to know one thing for sure. "Will you listen to me? If I tell you what happened?"

Without hesitation Selphie nodded, and finally she started to dry and wipe away the tears. "Just tell me everything . . ."

X x x x x

Okay:D It took a while, but I'm actually very happy with this chapter. The next chapter will be telling Kairi's view of what actually happened to make everything go down, though it's pretty obvious and stuffs. XD

I love Riku and Sora's relationship! They have an odd one, but one that shows they're close. And Riku is French in this story of mine too! He's all French in my One-Shot Merci though . . . XD Has anyone ever wondered where this story takes place? I realized just this past chapter that I never said, and I always just mentioned Riku being a country boy going to the city sort of thing.

Well, here it is! Riku used to live in good ol' Pennsylvania, and now he lives in New York. Not New York City though- Gosh, that place is crazy! Have you all been there? It's a lot of fun. Anyways, so yes! This story has actually been taking place in America. And I don't really know New York outside of NYC or Pennsylvania pretty well, but I did visit my Great Grandfather in Pennsylvania once . . . boy, was that in the middle of nowhere. Lol!

So, okay:D I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to Kairi's story.

Kage-chan- lol! I used to be so incredibly lazy in the mornings myself . . . XD I used to get up at one in the afternoon! But now I often get up at seven or seven-thirty, and it makes the day seem so nice and long! I love it. XD Except on weekends, where I usually get up at ten and stuff. XD But then I take naps during the day too!

Kia Saphia- Hmmm . . . I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that. I don't really see cutting as a cliché at all. There are many methods of self-mutilation that are terrible, but the way you write makes it seem like cutting is the 'spotlight' of self-mutilation, as well as a popular subject (And only a subject, not a problem to be solved) for the media to portray teenagers in. You're making it sound like a game and a regular thing almost.

No offense, but it's just the way I see you making it out to be by the way you said it. Really, though! I don't want to make you angry. I'm happy you've read my story and you have things to say about it:D It makes me very happy.

SimpleNClean92- Thanks so much! I really did like your One-Shot; it was nice!

Lili-sama- lol! Perverted/Horny Sora does sound funny . . . There's this story I've been reading by Slashapalooza, and there's this one chapter where Sora drinks too much Red Bull and starts stripping . . . O.o It's too funny! OOC Sora is awsome. XD

Sky-Pirate-Tat- Thank you! And as for that call . . . You're on the right track:D

MeiHikari- Yes, lol! XD Especially-Especially for a Sunday . . . crazy Riku! Crazy Sora too, for being able to be all awake and stuff at that time. Lol!