Chapter 1

A Broken Memory

Five years later

"Riku! Get you ass out of bed!" Kadaj yelled up the stairs and was answered with complete silence, "damn him…" Kadaj growled as he trudged up the stairs and threw open the door to Riku's room. "RIKU! WAKE UP!" he screamed, to his shock and annoyance Riku was not in his bed, so he'd been screaming at nothing for about fifteen minuets. "grr, RIKUUUU!"

Four miles away Riku was just beginning to wake up "Shit!" He yelped realizing that he'd been out all night, "mmm, what's wrong with you? It's six in the morning" Paine groaned looking at her watch and covering her face with a pillow. "Kadaj is going to murder me!" Riku said looking around the living room for his belongings "Arieth won't mind that you were out practicing, and I don't think Loz or Yazoo care much either, so why does Kadaj?" Paine asked peeking out from under the pillow. "Yeah well, I guess Kadaj thinks that just because he's two years older then me then he's my boss." Riku growled grabbing his guitar,

"See ya at practice tonight, Paine?"

"hmm? Oh yeah for sure, now get out-a here so I can get some sleep." She growled disappearing under the pillow once more. Riku rushed across Twilight Town and when he finally reached his house burst open the front door. He was greeted with the smell of breakfast and a very cheerful Arieth "Good morning Riku." She said with a smile, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered "Kadaj has been looking for you all morning, he's even enlisted the help of Loz and Yazoo so I'd advise you to…run" She then turned back to her cooking, Riku gasped and ran toward the stairs "5, 4, 3, 2-" Arieth looked toward the living room expectantly as there was a loud crash "and 1, never fails." She said shaking her head,

"Ah! Get off of me all of you!" Riku yelled now under the weight of his three foster brothers, though with their appearances being so similar people thought that they were real brothers. "aww look poor little Riku is gonna cry." Loz said in his annoying baby voice "you are more likely to cry then I am, you big over grown baby!" Riku growled "I am not!" Loz said bursting into tears "Yeah I can see that. Ow! Yazoo get off of my legs! And Kadaj get your ass off my back before I kick it!" he added struggling to move, but Yazoo sat calmly on his legs preventing them from moving at all. "oh don't be angry little brother, this is just my way of getting you back for scratching my bike!" Kadaj growled roughly rubbing Riku's hair 'ugh, I knew he'd find out. Stupid Paine I never should have given her the keys.' Riku thought while his face was being pushed deeper into the carpet

"Alright that's enough! Kadaj, get off your brother's back; Riku, you will pay for the scratch on his bike; Loz, stop crying. Riku didn't mean it, and Yazoo, help me serve breakfast." Arieth said gazing down at them with her hands on her hips. Choosing to be the guardian of Kadaj, Loz and Yazzo was hard enough, but then she found Riku unconscious in the rain and with no memory of where he came from; or at least that was the story she told Riku and the others. In truth King Mickey brought him to her because she had a kind heart and would do a good job of taking care of the now homeless boy. Arieth remembered everything about Ansem, Sora, and Kingdom Hearts so she would be best to look after him.

At the breakfast table Riku sipped his tea ignoring the glares of Kadaj while Arieth talked to Yazoo about science and Loz stuffed his face. "So Riku, where were you last night?" Arieth asked smiling "At Paine's isn't it obvious?" Kadaj said with a smirk "oh really? How is she?"

"Umm, she's good I guess."

"aww poor little Riku doesn't want to talk about his blooming romance." Kadaj laughed

"Blooming? What? No way, Paine's not my type. She's too aggressive."

"Aww, Riku and Paine sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g…." Loz laughed as he began to dance around

"Don't make me kill you Loz." Riku growled standing up, Kadaj smiled and leaned back to watch "Oh, do you want to play Riku?"

"Yeah sure I'll play with you Loz, outside now."

"Alright let's play…"

Riku left Loz lying exhausted on the back yard lawn, "I'm going to practice, sorry about the yard Arieth." Riku said grabbing his guitar, the yard was a mess, grass was torn up and there was scorch marks every where, plus all of Arieth's flowers had been torn up. "Riku! Get back here right now!" Arieth yelled, normally she never raised her voice but Riku and Loz had ruined her yard and she wasn't about to let them get away with that.

"Hey Kairi!" Selphie called as she ran up to Kairi, the red haired young woman sat on the dock looking out to the sea. " Hi Seiphie, what's up?" She asked looking to her friend. "I found this while I was helping my mom clean the attic, look" She said as handed Kairi an old yellow book, with gold writing on the front it said 'The Legend of the Paopu Fruit.'

"Do you remember when we all used to wonder about that fruit, no one would admit to it but we all tried it." Selphie laughed "I never did." Kairi said truthfully "Really? Well you didn't miss anything, it was gross, really bitter and the seeds were all covered in this really slimy, stringy…"

"ahhh, okay I get it. But that wassix years ago… hey look it's the whole legend, we only knew the first part." Kairi said pointing with shock to the long poem like legend on the page,

'If two people share a Paopu fruit their destiny's become intertwined, they will remain a part of each other's lives forever, however if one of the two has no desire to really be with that person forever the Paopu with become bitter and sting the tongues of both. But if both truly desire in their hearts to remain together and never be separated the fruit will become sweet and fill the two with warmth…' Selphie frowned "that information would have been more useful five years ago! Hey you and Sora should eat one!" She smiled at Kairi "Hey, we're already going steady isn't that enough?"

"No, well I mean you've been dating for two years now, and you are both twenty! Why don't you both just get married?" Selphie asked, her eyes blank as she fantasized

"Well I don't know, there's something about Sora that feels like he doesn't put all of his heart in every thing that does, like he used to. It's almost as if a part were missing." Kairi spoke slowly, Selphie could see that she was hiding something but didn't ask. After all Kairi had always had a good head on her shoulders "So, you excited for the trip tomorrow?"
"You bet! We finally get to go to a new place, a competition concert in Twilight Town…it'll be great!" Kairi said with a smile "Yeah, speaking of which, where is our lead singer?"

"Oh, he's practicing. I think music is the only thing he puts his whole entire heart into. Which is probably why we got invited to this competition in the first place." Kairi said with a sigh. Sora sat on the roof of his house playing his guitar and thinking of new songs, he could hardly wait "This trip is going to change my life…I can feel it." He said out loud to himself.

The next day Sora and his band, Kokoro, left on an air ship that had been sent for them. They arrived in Twilight Town, set their stuff down in their hotel and went down to the nearest club. Incidentally one of the bands they were going to be competing against was playing. "Let's hear a warm welcome for Haiyaku!" The announcer screamed gesturing to the left side of the stage. The band ran on shouting, throwing their hands in the air as the crowd roared with excitement. The lead singer stepped up to the microphone "Are you ready for us!" Riku yelled his voice smooth and rich. "YEAH!" the crowd screamed in response, among the multitude of rambunctious and loud teenagers was a particular man with spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes "Sora, where are we going?" Kairi said pouting as he pulled her through the mass of jumping bodies "we're getting a closer look. I want to see who the lead singer of this band is." He said smiling carelessly "but why? I thought we just came to scope out the competition. We can do that just fine from back there." She whined glancing with longing to the less crowded part of the club. "Oh don't be such a spoiled sport. We need to check out everythi-" He stopped short when he spotted the lead singer "Are you sure?" Riku asked placing a hand on his hip and smirking "YEAH!" The crowd screamed louder causing Kairi to clutch her ears as she shrunk down.

"Well alright then, with such great fans how can we refuse?" He chuckled "We love you RIKU!" a few girls screamed lifting up their shirts, on their stomachs they had written separate letters and standing all together it spelled his name. He laughed, looked forward and moved a few strands of his silver hair out of his eyes. "I believe you all know this song it is called Dearly Beloved." He said closing his eyes, the guitar started low and they began to play the tragic yet strangely happy melody.

When the song finished the crowd was silent a few minuets before it roared with praise. A few of the girl's held tears in their eyes "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's rock!" Riku yelled smiling, another song went by and Sora stared with wonder at the singer, he looked absolutely wonderful up there his black pants and dark shirt making his eyes and hair stand out even more. He just seemed to glow. When the concert neared it's climax Sora and his group left to get something to eat. They wandered the shopping district for a while before they found a fancy restaurant, but as Sora was walking in, he crashed into some one. It turned out to be Riku and the rest of his band; they stared at each other for a few moments 'he looks so familiar, I know him from somewhere…' Riku thought as he looked at the messy haired man in front of him "Hi there! My name is Sora, the lead singer of Kokoro. We saw you guys in action tonight, you rock!" Sora said giving him a thumbs up sign and wink " heh, Thanks. My name's Riku, the lead singer of Haiyaku. It's nice to meet you, Sora." Riku chuckled holding out his hand; Kairi looked at him with shock as Sora took his hand. The moment they touched, a burst of incoherent memories flashed through their brains. "umm, l-like wise Riku…" Sora said looking dazed "Hi Riku, My name is Kairi, I'm the bass player of Kokoro and Sora's girlfriend." Kairi said dashing by Sora "oh, it's nice to meet you Kairi…Sora's girlfriend you say?" Riku said smiling a little "Yep! Umm are you two going to stop holding hands any time soon?" Kairi said looking worriedly down at their hands. "Oh! Oops sorry 'bout that!" Riku gasped letting go of Sora's hand quickly "well, this is Paine, Zell, Haku, and Quistis" He added trying to change the conversation quickly "Nice to meet all of you, this is Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka." Sora said looking at his group

"Paine? That's a weird name." Selphie chuckled pointing at the annoyed woman "Teh, you want to see why I'm called that, little girl?" Paine growled making a fist causing Selphie to yelp and hide behind Tidus "Well we had better go before these two kill each other." Riku laughed "Yeah really. I can't wait to battle your group in the concert competition!" Sora smiled largely, Kairi frowned, Sora was truly happy there was no hidden sadness as there usually was. "Yeah, just be prepared to lose. We'll see you around, Sora." Riku smiled over his shoulder as he walked away "Yeah like wise!"

"aww you like him don't you?" Quistis teased "what are you going on about Tis?" Riku growled "don't deny it Riku, you like Sora don't you?" She said poking him "yeah, 'course, he's cool." He shrugged "no, I mean you are sexually attracted to that guy." She laughed earning her self a punch in the arm by Paine, Riku merely glanced at them and kept walking. "I'll catch you guys later, I promised Arieth I'd help with dinner to make up for totaling her yard." He said closing his eyes "I'll walk with you." Paine said pulling him away from the rest of the giggling band.

"You do like him though, don't you?" Paine said rather randomly, Riku remained silent "We could all see it, even his band could. The holding hands thing was kind of a dead ringer."

"We weren't holding hands. We just didn't realize that we hadn't let go yet."

"If Kairi hadn't said anything you would probably have gone on not noticing." Paine smiled raising an eyebrow "you don't understand. Something weird happened when I touched him." Riku said frowning "yeah I'll bet. Your first boner or something?" she laughed a little

"No, I'm serious. When I touched his hand it was like a flash of different memories all containing him, and I recognized him. It's like I knew him along time ago." He said his face caught in a seemingly permanent frown "well maybe you did. You didn't appear in Twilight Town until you were like… what.. sixteen?" Riku nodded "see then maybe you knew him when you were growing up." Paine smiled "yeah but I'd remember him, I know I would."

"well then maybe your just soul mates." Paine said with a smirk "I know you're bothered by this Riku, I've only been your best friend for five years, and hey my past is a mystery too so I know the feeling. Don't think about it too much." She added pecking him on the forehead as they got to his house "See you bright and early tomorrow." She said with a wave as she walked back the other way.

That night Riku dreamt of a large white door, and seeing Sora's young face "Riku!" the boy cried as he tried to close the door with Riku on the other side "Hurry Sora!" Riku cried then the door was closing and Sora stared at him with awe and everything went black "I'll find you Riku, I Promise."

Riku jolted awake drenched in sweat "S-Sora…" Riku whispered holding his head "How do I know you?"