DancingMistress—I like reading your reviews. Thanks.

kia—thanks for letting me know you liked it. Sora will definitely do something but that's later, maybe real later. Sora's a bit too dense in my fic. Hehe...

MaChIcHi-cHiBi—thank you so much. So glad that you like it. I like my story too. I have fun writing it. You made me feel so happy now.

Love is Blind

Chapter Nine

After Ansem sat Riku down on the couch and merely laid his hands on the boy's shoulder, the pain began to slowly diminish until the boy felt like it was gone. Right then he found that the man had actually kept his word that he could help. Riku didn't know how Ansem made the pain go away but he did. Maybe Ansem knew some kind of magic, but all Riku knew when he opened his eyes, was that the pain in his heart seemed dull and he felt different but better. The teen also didn't know why the man would do this but he had not asked. After all, it helped and that was all Riku cared about.

When he thought of Sora then, no piercing pain when through his heart. He felt nothing.

But what Riku found out was that if he thought of Sora too much, the pain would return. That night he did that and in the morning he went to Ansem a second time.

Afterwards, Riku walked along the beach instead of going home and staying in his room. The reason he had done that was because of the pain and now that it was gone or gone for the time being, he had no reason to lock himself in his room.

The gods were either really kind to Riku or they were really hated him, because after a few minutes, Riku saw his friends. Selphie ran up to him with a cheerfully pretty smile. "Riku!" She called, joy written all over her face and she seemed more energetic than usual.

They came up to him quickly. Riku only had to wait seconds before they were all gathered around him. "Riku, man ya alright?" Wakka asked out of concern.

Riku merely nodded, one hand on his hip like he usually did so unconsciously.

"You really had us worried, Riku," Tidus commented. The blonde gave Riku a pat on the shoulders, glad to have his friend back.

"I'm so happy, Riku," Kairi said sincerely, and Riku knew that she meant it. Kairi seldom lied. She was a good girl. Exactly why Sora likes her so much, Riku thought.

And in thinking of Sora, Riku noticed that the brunet was not there. Normally, if the pain was still there, Sora was all he could think of. So this must be a good sign, right?

"Where is Sora?" Riku asked his friends, only curious to know why the boy was not with them.

"Sora's sick," Kairi answered.

"Ya, we're going to see him now. Want to come, Riku?" Wakka suggested.

Riku thought carefully. So Sora was sick. If he was the other Riku, no doubt, he would be running over to the brunet's house with a bowl of soup or something. But he was not now. He was trying to forget the boy so he should not see him. "No," Riku said plainly.

"Why not?" Selphie asked, her eyes in shock.

"I'd like to...be alone for a while," Riku replied. It was true. He wanted to be alone so no one could hurt him.

"Ok," Tidus said, understanding that his older friend wanted some space. Riku's been acting strange so it was only good not to push him.

Selphie was still reluctant but gave up when Wakka dragged her away from the silver-haired teen.

As his friends left, Riku saw on their faces genuine smiles that were for him.

"Sora, are you feeling better?" Kairi asked as she stood to the side of Sora's bed, her other friends standing close to her.

"Ya, man, you putting up ok?" Wakka asked.

"I'm ok," Sora replied, his voice hoarse. He had a fever and a strep throat. Poor Sora looked so weak. He coughed.

"Hope you get better soon, man," Tidus said.

"Yeah," Selphie said as she sat on the end of the bed. "Because if you don't, we would be awfully bored with no one to play jokes on and Riku would probably be bored with sparing by himself."

"Riku!" Sora almost popped out of his covers at the sound of his friend's name.

"Yep, it's seems he's alright now," Selphie stated, "We just saw him before coming to see you."

"Did you ask him to come?" Sora asked. It amazed him that he suddenly had the energy to talk when just seconds away all he wanted was to go to sleep. Now, all he wanted was to see Riku. Yet, damn Sora that he still didn't know why. But what he did know was that the mention of Riku tug at his heart strings and he forgot about his fever and strep throat, his mind only thinking of the silver-haired teen.

"Ya, but he said 'no'," Wakka answered.

No? Why didn't Riku want to see him? Was he still mad at him? Sora's chest constricted considerably. He didn't want Riku to be mad at him. And he would have liked that his friend would come and see him, because he certainly wanted to see him.

"Really?" Sora asked as he placed his head back on the pillow lazily and disappointed.

"He said he wanted to be alone," Kairi said softly.

/I hope he isn't mad at me./ Sora saddened significantly. "Would you ask him to come by next time?" Sora asked hopefully.

"Why next time when I can go ask him now?" Selphie exclaimed. She was obviously still stubborn and wanted to drag Riku there. The cheery girl was always the one to get her way.

"It's ok. Next time," Sora said. Although, his mouth said that, his heart told him that he didn't mean it as much as he wanted it to. He didn't want to see Riku next time! He wanted to see him now!

Selphie got up and skipped to the door. "I'll get him! Just wait!" she yelled triumphantly. Then she disappeared through the door.

Sora sighed. Maybe Selphie would get Riku to come, eh? He really wanted to see him.

"Hey," Tidus caught everyone's attention. "How about we play flying chess?"

"Sure," Sora replied. He was happy to have some company. And playing a game would be fun. All he would have to do is roll the dice while his friends could move his ponds for him.

His friends started to set up. They rolled dice to see who would go first. When it was Sora's turn, Kairi had to snap him back to this world. He definitely was not paying much attention. All his thoughts went to Riku.

"Riku!" Selphie shouted to get the boy's attention. She found him at the usual plateau where he was currently just lying on the Paopu Tree.

Riku looked in the direction of the caller. Selphie again? He wondered what the girl wanted.

"Riku!" Selphie shouted again as she approached closer and closer to the silver-haired teen.

"What, Selphie?" Riku asked.

"Come on," Selphie demanded as she pulled the other up to his feet.

"Why? Where do you want me to go?" Riku asked, standing his ground.

"Sora's sick. Don't you want to see if he's ok?" Selphie demanded this of Riku.

"Do I have to?" Riku asked back. He felt that his visit would do no good anyway.

"Don't you want to?" Selphie asked again.

"No," Riku answered plainly again, "I would really rather stay here." He was having a good time, just relaxing. With the pain gone, he felt so much better.

"Why don't you?" Selphie asked credulously.

"I don't think I need a reason," Riku said.

Selphie had always thought Riku acted cold, but she never minded it, not until now. "Why!" Selphie demanded. She was angry for some reason but her friend seemed oddly calm. "Riku, I don't get it. What happened?" She asked.

"Nothing," Riku said, his temper was being tested.

"Then why don't you want to see Sora?" Selphie asked. Would she just let the subject go?

"What does it matter?" Riku countered.

"You used to care about him a lot, if you think I didn't notice. So why this 'I don't want to see him' thing?" Selphie said. "I have always known, Riku. You like Sora."

Riku looked at the brunette in horror and shock. What? She knew? How?

"If you ask me how I knew, I'll tell you that I'm very aware of the things around me even though you people don't think I am," Selphie stated proudly. "And I used to think just how cute you two were," she added, a smile on her face now. "You always talked to him about things that none of us know."

/Stop./

"I see you watching him almost all the time."

/No./

"And when one time, when we played a joke on Sora that made him cry, you were the one to yell at us."

/I'm not. Stop./

"And when we dumped Sora in the water, you helped him too."

/I.../

"You cared about him so much."

/No! I do not/

"It kind of made me jealous but I was over it. You should see the way I notice you and him sitting there. Looked so romantic and..."

/No! No! No! Shut up! Stop! Hurts! It hurts again/

Riku ran, his hand to his aching heart and his suffering mind. Selphie looked at the form that was fading into a direction she did not know too well. She felt concerned for Riku. Yet, she did not want to follow him, knowing quite well that he didn't want to be followed. So instead she walked slowly back, her heart depressed that she wasn't able to bring Riku back with her.

Riku didn't know where he was going until he recognized the desert forest that led to only the 'haunted' house. All those horrifying emotions for the brunet came back to him as Selphie reminded him of his love for Sora. It hurt badly because.../He'll never love me back./