The Mysterious Boy

Chapter 9

"What's wrong?" Sora asked Riku one day. "You seem really sad."

Riku figured he might as well tell Sora. "The other day, Kairi told me she was starting to have feelings for me. But apparently, she still wants to date Hayner as well. All I could do was run away from her. I didn't know what else to do or what to even say."

"You need to tell Hayner."

"Are you crazy? If I tell him, he'll think I'm lying. I know he will. He seems to care about Kairi so much that he'll find it all hard to believe."

"If he was a real friend, then he would trust you."

"Well," Riku thought about it. "I guess I'll try to tell him later today."

"That's better! Now, I was really hoping to visit my old home world again to see how it is. I just can't seem to tear myself away from that place. Do you mind if we go there?"

"No." Riku replied. "That's alright."

Not too far away were Jack and the other three.

"They're about to do it!" said Jack. "Remember, right as they're beginning to teleport, we grab onto them."

"Right!" said Rick and Gary.

They watched as Riku and Sora grabbed each other's hands, prepared to teleport.

"Now!" Jack said, and the three immediately ran towards them.

Right as Sora and Riku were teleporting, they felt other hands grab on, but they couldn't see who it was. When they ended up in another world, Jack, Rick, and Gary ran to hide so Sora and Riku would not notice it was them.

"What happened?" Riku asked.

"Not sure." Sora replied. "I thought I felt someone else grab on, but I don't see anybody."

Jack and the others laughed. They were shocked that they got away with that. Usually, the three weren't too bright and were terrible at getting away with things.

"So now what?" Jack asked the others. "Any ideas, Gary? This was your idea after all. What trouble can we cause?"

"Er..." Gary thought for a moment. "I got nothing."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You idiot. Well, I dunno about you two, but this place sickens me. Why don't we make it look a little...better?"

"Where are you going with this?" Rick asked.

"You'll see." said Jack. "You'll see."

"I guess everything's fine." said Sora. About an hour had gone by now and they had walked towards the far end of the place. "I hope I didn't bore you."

"No, it's ok." said Riku. "We don't always have to do something exciting."

"Well we should head back now." said Sora.

He then noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Something sort of...orange. He spun around.

"Oh no!" Sora cried when he saw from far away there were flames. "Something's on fire!"

The two immediately ran in that direction to see what had happened.

"Keep going!" said Jack, ordering the two to continue to set things on fire. So far, they had gotten a good bit of the place on fire. Jack then noticed that Sora and Riku had come.

"How did they get here?" Riku asked, puzzled. He then remembered when they felt like someone had grabbed onto them when they entered Sora's old home world.

"Stop it!" Sora yelled to the three. "Leave this place alone!"

"Why should we?" said Rick.

I've got to get them out of here. Sora thought. He held his hand out and some strange light came out of it. In an instant, the three guys were gone and back at their world.

The beautiful world Sora lived in was still slowly being burned. If Sora had arrived earlier, he would have been able to save the place, but now half of the place was burning.

"Sora?" Riku walked up to Sora, checking to see if he was alright.

"You should leave." said Sora.

"Huh?"

"I need to put out the flames." Sora refused to show his face and how upset he was. Sora held his hand out once more and once more some strange light came out.

"No! Wait! Sora!"

Riku was suddenly back in his world.

Dammit! Riku thought. Why did he do that? I wanted to help him! But why did those three morons have to do that!

"Well look who it is." Riku heard a voice and turned around. It was Hayner.

Well, Riku thought. at least I can tell Hayner about Kairi.

"You're a jerk," said Hayner. "you know that?"

"What?" said Riku. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh so now you don't know, eh? You only tried to steal my girlfriend!"

"WHAT!"

"Kairi told me everything. She said you asked her to meet you at Corner Avenue and when she got there you started kissing her. She told me she backed away from you asking why you would do such a thing when you knew she's dating me. And she told me you didn't care and it'd be a secret. What the hell is your problem?"

Riku could not believe what he was hearing. This couldn't be happening! It couldn't!

"You have got it all wrong!" said Riku. "She kissed me. Kairi told me she wanted to meet me at Corner Avenue."

Hayner shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you!" said Riku, outraged. "We've been friends since before we even met Kairi. Is it just because she's your girlfriend that you believe her? Is it?"

Hayner looked even angrier now, but managed to keep calm. "I'll tell you why I believe Kairi. You and I may have been friends since before we met Kairi, but...I feel like I hardly even know you. Since we've met you've always been the type to avoid others. Sure, we hang out in school, but you almost never hang out with me on weekends and summer. Now, though I haven't known Kairi as long as I've known you, I have a better relationship with her. She actually likes to hang out with me."

"That doesn't mean I'm lying!" said Riku. "If I'm hardly the social type, then why would I be all over Kairi?"

"You did say you've changed." Hayner said softly. "You said to Kairi and me that you're not the same person you used to be. And this whole situation with Kairi took place after you said this."

Riku was silent. He didn't know what else he could say to convince Hayner that he didn't come on to Kairi.

"I'm outta here." said Hayner, walking away.

"Hayner!" Riku called after him, but Hayner ignored him.

Just perfect. Riku thought.

Riku felt more alone than ever before. Hayner refuses to talk to him, and he's too afraid to speak to Kairi now. And what's worse for him is for the past few days he had not seen Sora. Riku hardly ever took the time to pray until now. He was worried about Sora, so he prayed that he was alright. He prayed for Hayner, hoping that eventually he would realize that he was innocent. He found it hard to pray for Kairi after what she had done, so he didn't bother to.

Why did this have to happen? he thought. Now I feel like I've lost all of my friends.

Riku wished there was something he could have done to help out Sora when his home was burned. Since he felt like he owed Sora so much for all he had done for him, he wished he could have begun by helping him somehow because of that fire incident. He could only imagine how depressed Sora was now. He knew Sora really liked that world.

Riku suddenly remembered the dream he had of Sora crying. It gave him pain to think of such a thing, and he wondered if Sora did cry when his home was destroyed.

Can't blame him if he did. Riku continued his thoughts. But...I still wish those jerks didn't do what they did. Sora is the kindest person I have ever met and it pains me to see someone like him upset. I miss his smile...I miss it a lot. Why? That smile used to make me feel uneasy...now I'd give anything to see it again. Sora...

He looked back on all of his memories with Sora. He remembered how at first, he didn't like Sora and how he would have given anything to get away from him. Now he just couldn't help but feel like he can't stay away from him.

Riku felt tears build up in his eyes and slowly roll down his cheeks. What's happening? Why am I crying? Is it really because I miss Sora and am worried about him?

He laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, still having his thoughts on Sora. At this moment, it was impossible to get him out of his head. Across the room was his window. He could see the sky and the many stars in the sky. The precious memory of him flying with Sora came to mind. Oh how he had loved flying with him.

He thought of the light in the dark Sora told him about.

I need to stay positive. Riku thought. I need to keep my light in the dark shining brightly...so I can find it easily. Sora would want me to do that. I know he would. I won't let my light of hope die so soon! Yeah...Sora would be proud to know that.

He sat back down, now no longer confused about his feelings he had been having. The thought of Sora's smile seemed even more pleasing with every second that went by. And suddenly, everything was perfectly clear to him and he could not help but smile, though he had still been crying. Now his tears were tears of joy. He was glad his emotions were no longer confusing him. He let himself laugh for a moment. He looked back at the sky through his window one last time, then finally decided to close his eyes.

Sora...I wish you were here...so I could tell you that...

He felt one last teardrop slide down his cheek.

...I love you...

And with that last thought in his mind, he fell asleep, not minding if Sora would appear in his dreams. In fact, that was at the moment, perhaps the one thing he wanted the most: Anything to see his face again.

To Be Continued...