Falling Short of Cloud Nine Part V
Last Time:
Riku wasn't sure he caught that (or at least that's what he told himself…). "What?"
"Oh, don't make me say it again!" Adam rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Sora is in a coma…"
Wow, never written 5 chapters before…
S14: I guess I really am mean to Sora, hm?
Sora: Hey, my sequel's kinda out, so I need to be done with this soon!
Riku: Your sequel? What are you talking about?
Sora: Well, not really my sequel…but I am the main character and all…
Riku: What about me and Roxas? We have Keyblades too! What makes you so special?
Roxas: Hey, what are you guys yelling about now!
Sora: Well, I can understand Roxas's argument! At least he made it onto the poster, unlike some people… cough Riku cough
Riku: You know what, you little-!
S14: Let's stop it there before this gets profane… rolls eyes
Riku stared at the doctor, finally unable to deny reality. "So… Is that what Namine meant by…"
Adam simply nodded before he could finish. "But it gets much worse…. His condition is deteriorating rapidly… We don't think he'll wake up again…"
Riku's eyes grew wide. Sora, never waking up, ever? His Sora, lying listless in a hospital bed, for the rest of his life? That couldn't be… Even after Kairi's death, Sora had remained his bouncy self, though a bit more prone to crying-spells. Riku remembered briefly the last time Sora had been sick, which was about two years ago, when Kairi was still alive.
"Now be nice, Riku. You know Sora doesn't feel good…" the 13-year old Kairi told her 14-year old companion.
"Why would I not be nice? I'm always nice to Sora." Riku gave her an innocent grin.
Kairi rolled her eyes. "Just don't say anything thick, like last time."
"What on Earth do you mean?" Riku continued to grin at her deceitfully.
"'So, how long do you have to live?' Does that ring a bell? Poor Sora was only 5 and you nearly made him faint!" Kairi reminded him.
Riku rubbed his chin in mock thought. "Ah, yes. It's all coming back to me now…"
Kairi punched him playfully in the arm as they walked up the steps to the Hart residence.
She rang the doorbell and Mrs. Hart came to the door to let them in.
"Oh, it's you two! Well, Sora's in his room. Heaven knows it will do him good to have some company. The doctor said the virus wasn't infectious, so I wouldn't worry about that…"
A small brunette girl of about five came up behind Mrs. Hart. Riku bent down to her level. "Well, hello there Jun!" he grinned widely at Sora's little sister.
Jun squealed and hid behind her mother's long skirt.
"Oh, you scared her, Riku!" Kairi rapped him lightly on the head, chiding him for startling the little girl.
"Ow!" he whined, rubbing the offended spot and standing up again.
Mrs. Hart smiled as her youngest went bolting up the stairs and into her room, which was next door to Sora's. They heard a slam as she tried to hide from 'the scary silver-haired boy'.
"Sora's tried to tell her a thousand times that you're his friends, but she still doesn't like strangers all too much." Mrs. Hart explained.
"Who could blame her?" Kairi shrugged. Riku nodded in agreement. "Well, how's Sora doing, anyway?"
"He'll be fine. He doesn't get sick often, but when he does, he really gets sick. His fever broke yesterday, and he should be back to school sometime soon."
"Much to his own disappointment, I'm sure…" Riku muttered, elbowing Kairi jokingly.
"You know that's not true!" Kairi retaliated. "He hates being cooped up inside!"
Mrs. Hart nodded. "Yeah, he's asked a couple of times when he can go back outside again, but every time he tries to go down the stairs at all, he ends up almost falling down the entire flight. Then he ends up pouting in his room again. Not a very happy cycle…"
"Okay, we'll see if we can go cheer him up a bit!" Kairi smiled, a little overzealously.
As they began to climb the stairs, Riku rolled his eyes. "Yay, I get to be stuck with Grumpy and Dopey all afternoon…"
" I heard that." Kairi informed him crisply. Riku winced slightly.
As they approached the room, they heard someone talking. It was a girl's voice. They opened Sora's bedroom door to find Jun talking to her brother, trying in vain to cheer him up. He was sitting up in his bed, a forced smile on his face. He didn't want his sister to know she was failing in her attempts to make him happy.
"Oh, hey guys." Sora acknowledged them tiredly. He gestured to his friends. "See, Jun? They're my friends. They don't want to hurt anybody or anything, see?" he tried.
Jun just shook her head. She glared icily at the two in the doorway and carefully made her way past them to leave the room.
"Oh, uh, sorry about that…" Kairi tried to apologize. "We thought she had gone into her bedroom…"
"No problem. She'll get used to you guys eventually." Sora shrugged slightly. "So, what have I missed while isolated in this little prison?" he asked bitterly.
"Oh, come on it can't be that bad…" Riku told him, sitting on the desk chair, while Kairi took a seat on the end of the bed.
Sora shrugged again. "I'd rather be outside, doing something…"
Kairi smiled at him. "You haven't missed much. Tidus and Selphie broke up, but we all saw that coming. The principal hasn't had much to do with you gone. Riku's too scared to try to pull anything on his own…"
"I am not!" Riku snapped. "It's just no fun without Sora, that's all! Nothing that stupid principle can say that can scare me…" he grumbled, nursing his hurt pride.
Sora laughed weakly. "Riku, calm down. He's not here, so you're safe until Monday."
Riku gave him a sheepish grin, which made all of them laugh.
"Ha, I knew we could make him laugh!" Kairi said triumphantly.
"Yeah, now all we gotta do is stay here 24/7 until he gets better!" Riku joked. "Just call us your own personal circus, Sora!"
Sora raised an eyebrow. "Well, I definitely know who the clown is…"
"Oh, haha, very funny…" Riku snapped. Kairi almost fell off the bed laughing.
"Hey, what are you guys doing up there?" Mrs. Hart's voice shouted from downstairs. "I hear laughing, is that a good thing?"
"Everything's fine, mom!" Sora called back down. He returned his attention to his friends.
He was right, everything was fine…
"Jun!" Riku suddenly blurted.
"What?" Adam asked a bit stunned by the sudden outburst.
"Where's Sora's sister? She's 7 and she's got brown hair, like Sora, but it's longer. Her name's Jun. Do you know if she's here?"
"A little brown haired girl? Yeah, she came in a little while after the Hart's came in. She was at a friend's house, she told me. But, um, you may not want to confront her… She kind of… how you say, 'freaked out' when she saw him…" Adam tried to explain.
"But, is she okay, or did she completely lose it?"
"She ran from the room, and into the corner, I think… I haven't seen her." Adam shrugged.
"Which corner?"
Adam pointed to the left of the room. "Over there, I think… But I don't…"
The rest of his words fell on deaf ears. Riku walked quickly to the spot the now frustrated doctor had indicated. As predicted, a little, mousy-brown haired girl was pressed into the corner, her knees curled up into her chest. She sniffled into her knees, her tears all dried out. It was such a sad sight. No seven-year-old should have their only brother ripped from them…
"Jun?" Riku asked gently. He didn't want to startle her. She had eventually warmed up to Kairi, and was devastated when she had died. Kairi had been the older sister she had never had. The 7 year old never really liked Riku, but at least she didn't run away every time she saw him now. When he didn't get a response, he asked again, a little louder, "Jun?"
She gasped and looked up, her eyes red from crying. Riku had never really looked at her eyes before; they weren't the same, never-ending blue like Sora's. They were actually almost on the brown side, a dark hazel-green. "Wh-what?" she stammered. "I don't want you, I want Sora back!" she shook her head violently, and began to cry into her knees again.
"I know. I want him back, too. You saw him, right?" Riku persisted.
Jun shook her head again. "No!" she shouted, her voice hoarse from crying. "No, that's not my brother! That's someone else's brother, that's not Sora! Sora would wake up when I said his name, he would wake up and tell me everything was okay, like when I have nightmares… This is just a nightmare! I don't care what mum and dad say! And that stupid doctor! They say that's Sora, but it's not! I know it!" She sobbed, her throat throbbing from shouting so much.
Riku bent down next to her and opened his arms, silently telling her somebody cared. She couldn't refuse him; he was Sora's friend, right? She hoped he believed her… No one else did. She clung to Riku's shirt and sobbed into his chest. "I just want my brother back…" she said quietly.
Riku felt tears stinging in the corners of his own eyes. "I know… I want him back too…" he told her softly.
They ignored the confused eyes that stared at them, crying and hugging together.
Jun looked up at him, her innocent hazel eyes sparkling with tears. "Why does everyone keep leaving?" she asked. "Kairi left, and she never came back… And now Sora's gone… and they don't think he's gonna ever come back…"
Riku hugged her again, and she hugged back. "It's okay." He told her calmly. "I'm glad you're not afraid of me anymore…"
She gently wiped her tears away. "You're nice, just like Sora said. I should've known… He never lies to me." She giggled lightly. "Can I tell you a secret?"
He smiled at her. "Go ahead."
She giggled again. "One time, me and Sora were playing ball in the house, and momma always told us not to do that, but Sora was babysitting me, and he didn't mind. I accidentally threw the ball too hard, and it hit momma's favorite vase! You know what Sora did? He got some super glue and helped me put it back together again! Momma never even knew! But, then he forgot to put the glue away, and we made a big mess while fixing it. But, he told momma that we had done arts and crafts, and that's why there was glue everywhere. She made us clean the glue up, but that was the only time I think I ever saw Sora lie. He never ever lies, does he?"
Riku's smile widened. "No, he never does, because he's a good kid, right? And you're gonna be a good kid, like him, right?"
Jun gave him a wide grin. "Yeah. I wanna be just like my brother!"
And that's all I've written because I've been playing KH2 WAY too much…. teehee
This flashback was just to introduce jun, and I'm still not sure I'll make her a big character ot not, but this is almost over anyway!