Author's Notes: Well, this was going to wait until tomorrow, but then one of my reviewers reviewed nearly every chapter, and I go on updates by how many reviews I get. You lucky ducks. Now you get to see what Riku's reaction is to meeting Sora.

Let us watch the sparks fly, shall we?

By the way, if you guessed the name of the artist for the last title chapter, and you guessed Alice in Chains, you were right!

I actually do think of "Man in the Box" as Riku's theme song for this story. Why do I have a theme song, you ask? Well on the way to visit family in an eight-hour car drive, this fanfic actually earned its own soundtrack. Twenty tracks, on two discs of ten songs. Most of the themes are on the "First Disc". I was either really bored or really inspired, or maybe I'm just lame/nerdy that way. Eh. (shrugs)

Happy reading! Leave me love and fuel my muse!

Chapter 5

"Under Your Skin"

Sora was up bright and early the next morning (meaning nine-thirty). He spent his time lounging around the house, entertaining Selphie. The reason he did this was because he hoped to distract her attention from going with him to the pool with Tidus today. He ate leftover Chinese for breakfast, since there was no other food in the house.

After playing around for about forty-five minutes with his kid sister, Sora showered to get clean after unpacking a towel and some toiletries, then dug through his boxes of clothes. Where was it? Where was it?

"Mooom!" he shouted down the stairs, clutching his towel around his waist. "Mom, where's my bathing suit?"

"It should be with your clothes, honey!" Lisa called back, unpacking her own boxes.

Sora frowned. If it was with his stuff, why couldn't he find it? He went back and furiously clawed his way through the mass of clothes, throwing them this way and that around the room. "Aha!" he finally cried, whipping out his favorite pair, two-toned, with black on the front and a bloody color of red on the back. He quickly changed into them, then picked out an oversized black shirt with a sketchy skull symbol on the front, and found his favorite crown necklace sitting amongst the clothes he'd tossed on the floor. He threw that on around his neck, the thick chain clinking against his chest. It wasn't real silver or anything, but he liked it. "Oh yeah," he'd said when he'd first worn it, "I'm the King!"

Sora then threw on a pair of flip-flops and checked the clock on his bedside table. With the time he'd taken to eat, play with Selphie, shower, then rip through his clothing boxes...it was...ten twenty-two. Barely made it!

"Wicked," Sora mumbled to himself, running downstairs with a bounce in his step. After all, he was really excited! He would get to learn a new sport! And he'd already made the friends to do it! He really liked Tidus. Tidus was such a nice boy.

Hmmm...a thought passed Sora about what he'd said about that kid, Riku. He wondered if he was as nice as Tidus? He hoped so.

He only had to wait a little while before he saw Tidus walking up to his driveway. Sora quickly snuck out the door and met Tidus on the doorstep before the blond could even knock—his hand was raised to do so when he stopped, blinking.

"Whoa. Anxious."

Sora clung to Tidus' arm and started to drag him away. "Hey, what's the rush!"

"Quick, let's leave before my sister comes!" Sora hissed under his breath. Tidus grinned.

"Ohhh, I get it." he murmured back. "Escaping babysitter's duty?"

"I'm escaping pure Hell, is what I'm doing," the brunet groaned. "Trust me, if she comes with us, the afternoon will be as good as ruined!" He pulled on Tidus' arm harder. "Come on!"

Just as they were halfway down the driveway, Lisa came up to the door.

"Sora, where are you going?" she called, her voice casual. But Sora winced, feeling her eyes bore holes into his back. He turned around timidly.

"Um...I'm going to the pool..."

Lisa crossed her arms. "Without your sister?"

As if right on cue, Selphie burst out the door with a hyperactive grin on her face, wearing a flowery yellow one-piece and a pair of flip-flops with blue straps, a towel and goggles in her arms.

Sora sulked. Tidus smirked, hiding his amused chuckles with one hand. "Your sister's adorable," he mumbled to Sora. "She might not be so bad."

"Yeah, you think so now. Wait until you've set her loose."

"Oh, don't let it rain on your parade." Tidus chuckled. "When you're Selphie's age, it's easy to be entertained."

"I guess so."

"Booyaka! We're going to the pool!" Selphie squealed.

The public pool was a good twenty-minute walk, so by the time they'd gotten there, Sora was shocked that Selphie hadn't complained. She usually hated to walk. When they arrived, Tidus had to give Sora and Selphie visitor's passes, since they didn't have valid pool passes in their county just yet. When they went through their respectively separated locker rooms and met inside the pool area, Sora gasped and froze in place.

"Oh my God! This is so awesome!"

Tidus grinned proudly. "Do you like it? I'll bet it's not like out there in the country, huh?"

Selphie saw it and shook her head along with her brother. "Nuh-uh!" she agreed. "This pool is humongo!"

In front of them was a round pool, with a square tab on the edge with steps where you could walk in, and ladders evenly spaced all around to climb out. In diameter, it was about half the length of a standard school football field. Wakka's team was already there, and so was another Blitzball team, it appeared.

"This is wicked!" Sora cried.

"It's also about thirty feet deep," Tidus explained, making Selphie squeak. "The reason is because this pool isn't just used for practice. We actually hold official Blitzball tournaments here. Did you see all the equipment hanging in the locker rooms?"

"I sure did!" Sora nodded his head. "So, that was for all the Blitzball players?"

"You bet." Tidus added, "But most of the time we bring our own." He waved to the caged-in pool, the half-dome above it making a complete sphere if you counted the water-filled half. "See the cage around it? That's to keep the players inside the field. Under the water, they built little pumps around the edges that can shoot you out of the water. So you can spike the ball in midair."

Sora looked at Tidus with wide, hungry eyes, soaking all of this up with nothing but intrigue and excitement. "Isn't that dangerous?" he asked. Not that he cared. It sounded fun!

"It is if you're not careful," replied Tidus. He noticed then that Selphie was staring in awe at it, and he smirked. "What's wrong, Selphie? Too scary for you?"

Selphie gulped. "I-I'll just get a tan..." she murmured.

Tidus leaned over and whispered to Sora, "See? Easily entertained."

Sora smiled. "I guess so." he whispered back.

" 'Eeeeyyyy!" Wakka strode up to them. Tidus held out his forearm.

"Wakka! My man!"

"What's up, ya!" They knocked their arms together, once up high, once down low, then smacked their fists together. "Sora, glad you could make it!" He saw the look in Sora's eyes and laughed. "It's a lot to take in, ya?"

"I feel like a noob." He admitted shyly, his face a little pink. By now, he noticed, Selphie had found a lounging chair to sit in and was spreading out her towel on it. Good.

"Don't worry, man. We'll teach you the rules!" Wakka assured him, grinning. "It's reeeally easy. Trust me. After a while, you'll get it!"

"It is." Tidus nodded in agreement to Sora. "It's a very simple sport. You'd be surprised. It looks complicated, but it's really not."

Sora laughed nervously. "When you guys say that, it just makes it sound harder."

Wakka snickered and slung an arm around Sora. "Why don't we explain the rules to you before we get in the cage? That way you won't be totally lost when you play, ya?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh, ya! And we'd like you to meet our practice team, the Alexandria Wizards...our team is the Besaid Raiders. From Besaid High School, ya."

Sora was introduced to the Wizards team, and then made sure he remembered everyone with the Raiders. He did. Yuffie, however, was currently off conversing with Selphie. Wakka and Tidus also explained all the rules to him—how to pass, how to score, fair play and fouls. Sora was, as Tidus told him, surprised. It actually did sound a lot simpler than he'd thought. Wakka offered to give him tips on how to spike, but Sora passed politely. "Let's stick with basics for now," he laughed.

"Hey, where's Roxas?" He asked after a moment, looking around.

"Oh, Roxas couldn't make it." Tidus replied. "He's out on a movie date with Alice. But it's okay, we should have plenty of players, unless Yuffie sits out."

Wakka glanced over at Yuffie and Selphie, who were giggling and chattering away. "Mmm, she just might." he teased. "Look at them. Typical girls, ya?"

Sora pulled off his red shirt, now only in his swimsuit like the others, and set it aside with his towel and Selphie's things before coming back. "So I guess we can start?"

"Yeah! Right on, ya! Let's get this game started!"

"Without me?"

Heads turned, and Tidus' eyes widened in shock. But he thought he couldn't make it!

Sora saw the teenager walking towards them, and drew in a breath. He couldn't stop staring. He had long silver hair down to his upper back, and it shaded over his face in shaggy bangs, eyes blue-green like a carribean sea peering out from underneath, his skin pale and creamy. He wore a light-blue, loose tank top, under which he could vaguely see a tattoo on his left pec. And he had matching dark-blue swim trunks on, walking barefoot. Sora could only think of one word to describe him.

Gorgeous.

The pale (he almost wanted to say "angelic") teen smiled at them, and Sora groaned mentally, feeling plain all of a sudden. Wakka was tan and strong, Tidus was incredibly cute, and now this guy...he was almost perfect! Why were all the boys in this town so damn pretty?

...Wait. Where did that come from?

"Wakka, shame on you. Starting this party without inviting me."

"Last I checked, you weren't comin', ya."

"Riku, you made it! Slick!" Tidus walked up to him instantly, smiling, and Riku smirked back as they slapped a high five. But Sora blinked at them and his eyes widened.

"Wait...you're Riku?" He grinned. "Tidus told me about you!"

Riku looked up at him. Sora thrust his hand out for a shake. "I'm Sora Tilmitt! I just moved here! Nice to meet you!"

Sora regretted that not one second after. Riku gave him a look that would kill the dead twice over. He frowned.

"...Or not..."

He scowled at the Plain Jane brunet in front of him, his carribean eyes solidifying into pure hatred. Tilmitt. So...

"You're the new kid?" he growled. Sora shrank his hand back, looking guilty. Yeah, that's right. Fuck you, you little man-bitch.

"Uh...yeah. I moved in yesterday."

Riku turned up his nose and snorted. "Yesterday?" That was when Ansem had punished him for his "Sin". You horrible little RAT, he hissed mentally, You made my life Hell yesterday!

Sora shifted uncomfortably under Riku's gaze. He turned his eyes away, glancing at Tidus nervously, and the blond gave Riku a warning look: "Don't screw this up now, or I'm going to kick your ass." It said. Riku paid it no mind.

"So we're playing with the normal rules?"

"Sure. Looks like Yuffie won't be joining us anyway, ya." Wakka turned and shouted to their teammate: "Oy, YUFFIE! You chatterin' away over there, you don't mind letting Riku take your place, ya?"

"Not a bit; have fun, boys!" was Yuffie's instant reply.

"We explained the rules to Sora already," Tidus informed Riku. Riku rolled his eyes.

"Tidus, there are only two rules in Blitzball." He gave Sora that hateful glare again. "Don't get hit, and kick your opponent's ass."

Sora gulped and scooted a little closer to Tidus, who jabbed Riku in the arm.

"Be nice," he snarled. "I invited Sora myself."

"Oh, is that so." Riku said challengingly, leering down at Sora. "Well," he said, forcing a charming smile, "Any friend of Tidus' is a friend of mine."

I'm going to run you into the ground, you little shit. How DARE you move into my cul-de-sac.

"Let's get in the cage, ya." Wakka said. "And play some Blitzball!"

As Riku passed by Sora and got into the water, he gave him that nasty look again, just to make sure Sora got his point. You better fear me, Tilmitt, because I'm going to ruin your life like you ruined mine.

Sora shuddered under Riku's cold gaze as the older teen followed the boys and girls into the Blitzball arena, and gave Tidus a nervous glance.

"Um...did I do something wrong?"

Tidus sighed and shook his head. "Riku..." he mumbled. Looking at Sora, he replied, "I'm sorry. He must be in one of his moods. He didn't sound very good on the phone last night, so I expected as much..."

Sora's bottom lip pouted a little, he being a tad bit upset. "Yeah, I know, but...he acted like I'd done...something...to him."

"He's like that with all the new neighbors. Try not to let it get to you. He's nice once you get to know him."

Anna and one of the other girls, Terra, giggled behind them. "It's too bad Riku's gay," Anna commented. "He's really cute!"

"No, more than cute!" Terra squealed. "He's hot! Like, the Brad Pitt kinda hot!"

This was news to Sora. He turned to Tidus questioningly, having rarely ever heard about homosexuality in his own hometown.

"Riku likes guys?"

"Yeah." Tidus looked at Sora suddenly with a wicked smirk. "So, what do you think? Is he sexy or what?"

Without thinking, Sora replied what he'd been thinking earlier. "He's gorgeous."

Tidus, Anna and Terra all burst out laughing. Sora paused for a minute, before his brain caught up with his mouth, and he gasped and turned beet-red, wrenching his eyes shut.

"Oh, my God, I'm sorry I'm sorry! I swear to God, I'm straight!"

"It's cool, esé!" Anna snickered, her face red also—but from laughing, unlike Sora's position. Tidus patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah, every guy here is guilty of the same moment, even me. And I'm straighter than an arrow." Tidus grinned. "Riku's really lucky. He's just a super-handsome guy. You should see the girls at school; they practically formed their own fanclub."

"A Riku Fanclub?" Sora chuckled at the thought. "He must be a real catch, then."

Terra and Anna giggled again. Likewise, Sora blushed, and kicked himself mentally.

"I guess," Tidus said with a smirk. "I mean, he's got more than enough guys in the school questioning their sexuality, too. He's just really good-looking. Has a bit of an attitude, though..." Tidus frowned. "As you yourself just saw."

Sora's expression soured a little. "Mm...well, I hope he cheers up. He seems like he'd be nice if he'd drop the nasty attitude."

"...Let's get in the cage." Tidus suggested.

Sora didn't object.

The game was split into four quarters, and two halves. Wakka and the Wizards' Captain helped keep track of score and time, and also acted as the game referees. Everyone, including Sora, was wearing goggles and a compact underwater breather that they could strap to their face, and then bite down on the mouth guard inside to let the air flow into their lungs from the water. They could also talk, a little bit, if they so wished, even if it was distorted.

Sora did pretty good for his first time considering, although he made a couple of mistakes now and then. Every so often those mistakes were because he caught himself looking at Riku—who had, strangely enough, decided to keep his tank top on when he played. And he blushed every time he caught himself looking. Tidus wasn't joking—Sora had a feeling he knew what some of the guys at their school were going through.

At one point during one of the last halves, Riku was in possession of the ball, and he swam like lightning over to one of the boosters Tidus talked about. He touched base with the target, and a powerful spring launched him out of the water like a rocket. The next thing Sora knew, he'd been smacked in the head by a Blitzball spike. Wakka cried out in a distorted gargle and gestured madly to the surface, nearly blowing steam out his ears, and Tidus joined them as Wakka chewed Riku out for a foul—not just for hitting a player, but for hitting one of their own players! But Riku acted like it didn't matter, which only made Wakka more upset. Tidus had to talk some sense into the irritated teen before the three of them dived under again. Tidus spoke through his breather to Sora:

"You all right?"

"I think so." Sora said back, rubbing his head as he waded. "Let's just keep playing."

"I'm sorry about that," Tidus apologized.

Sora frowned. That wasn't right. Riku had attacked players more than once the rest of the game, particularly him, and every single time, it was Tidus who was apologizing for his actions. He didn't like that. Riku should be the one saying he was sorry, not Tidus. So far, he was being proven wrong about Riku's chances of being nice. He was turning out to be a total jackass. By the time the game was over, Sora was just as mad at Riku as Riku was at him—even though Sora had more reason to be angry than the other.

"Well, that wasn't a bad game!" Wakka said.

"Yeah. Your newbie did pretty good for his first time." said the Wizards' Captain. "Good game."

"Not bad, Sora!" Tidus patted the brunet's shoulder. Riku glared at them under his towel as he ruffled his hair dry, eyes narrowing.

"Aww, shucks." Sora muttered, smiling shyly. "I tried my best."

"Hey, if you transfer to our school, you could join the team, ya." Wakka offered. "With a little training, you'd be great!"

Sora grinned happily. "Really? I'll think about it!"

"Cool! It'll be fun to have you on our team!" Tidus agreed.

"I think he sucks balls."

Everyone turned and gave Riku a sharp glare. He just smiled haughtily at all of them and relished in the silence he'd created. Tidus finally snapped and threw his towel on the ground, stomping up to him.

"What is your problem! You've been bullying Sora this whole game! You haven't once even thought about playing! You just tried to pummel all the players with the ball! I swear to God, Riku, you've had a roach shoved up your ass since yesterday!"

Riku shrugged, unfazed. "I'm telling it how it is, that's all." he said cooly. "Sora sucks balls."

Sora glared at him. "I'm sorry, isn't that YOUR job?" he snapped.

Now everyone was looking at Sora. Some of them even gasped. Tidus' jaw dropped and he paled, looking at the brunet like he'd outright lost his fucking mind.

Riku was pretty damn shocked, as well. He stared incredulously at Sora, blinking in silence, not sure how to respond to that.

Then he glared at him.

You little SHIT.

He walked up to Sora and stood towering over him by what six inches or so of height he had over the brunet, leering at him like Death. "You've got some nerve talking back to me, you little twat."

"I could say the same about you, dickhead!" Sora snarled. "You know, I thought you were supposed to be nice, but you're nothing but a jackass!"

"You ruined me yesterday!" Riku screamed, his eyes full of hate. Sora coiled back, ocean-colored orbs wide.

"ME? I never even KNEW you until today! You're crazy!"

Riku went from angered to enraged. "You smart-mouthed little man-bitch! I'll rip off your fucking scalp!"

Sora flipped up his middle finger. "Try it, Townie, I'll rip you a new asshole!"

Riku's eyes turned to the size of dots and his scowl was as deep as it had ever been. Before Sora could blink, the sound of a slap was heard resonating in the air, and Sora stumbled backwards with a red mark on his face, Riku's hand held high up in the air. He'd backhanded the brunet. But he moved to do a hell of a lot more than that when Sora put up his fists to defend himself.

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Tidus lunged and wrapped his arms around Riku's underarms, restraining him. Riku fought against Tidus' grasp. Despite their difference in height, Tidus had plenty of strength to speak of. "Riku, knock it off!"

"Let me at the little shit! I'll tear off his God damn nads!" Half the group circled around or got behind Sora, glaring at him, and Wakka yanked him back by his torso, helping Tidus to hold him back. Sora licked his lips and tasted blood. He wiped a trail of it off the corner of his mouth, staring at his hand in shock. He couldn't believe the other had hit him that hard. What the fuck had HE ever done to HIM?

"Riku, if you don't cut this out, I'm going to kick your ass myself!" Tidus snapped. "Adjust your fucking attitude! I swear I'll call your father!"

Riku stopped on a dime. He whirled his head around and glared at Tidus, stunned. Or scared.

Everyone waited with readied fists and angry stares for Riku to back down. When he was still for more than a minute, Wakka and Tidus slowly backed off. The teen turned slowly to fix his eyes on Sora, narrowing them with a deep-set look of vengeance on his face.

"You make my skin crawl," he snarled. "I HATE you."

As Riku stormed off with that sentence, Sora bore holes into his back. "Right. FUCK YOU TOO!" he shouted. Riku ignored him.

When everything had settled down, everybody tried to change the subject and talk about something else. Just to try and blow it over. Sora's mood was now officially worsened for the day. He didn't even need Selphie to ruin it...Riku had done worse damage than his kid sister ever could have done.

Of course, Selphie was present when this fight occurred, and she walked up to Sora looking very, very scared.

"Sora? You're bleeding..." she pointed to the corner of his mouth. Sora looked down, and wiped the blood away, smiling.

"I'm okay, Selph. I promise. I'm lucky that's all he did."

"God damn right you are," Tidus grumbled. "What the hell were you thinking, picking a bone with him like that? I warned you he was in a bad mood!"

Sora now hissed at Tidus, "That's no excuse to take it out on me! If he wants to make it up to me, he can apologize for everything he did! And you should stop doing that in his place!"

Selphie hugged Sora's waist without a word as Tidus mumbled something under his breath. Admittedly, Sora was right. And he knew it. But he just couldn't stop sticking up for Riku, even if he did seem a little crazy like just now...

Sora hugged his little sister and ruffled her hair, saying gently: "Selphie?"

"Yeah?"

"We both agree that you never heard me or any of my friends saying all those nasty bad words, right?"

Selphie nodded after a second's pause.

Sora kissed her head. "Good."

Author's Notes: I hope everyone realizes why Riku's such a twisted little prick. Again, getting treated the way he has can fuck you up pretty good if you endure it long enough.

Personally, my favorite part was making Sora snap back at him. I loved writing that so much I got distracted from role-playing with a friend on MSN chat for like, fifteen minutes. She had to Nudge!me to get my attention.