Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, if I did then life would be beautiful

Key:

- Dream State -, Flashback, ' thoughts ', " Dialogue "

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A change in writing style/time/place/whatever (will notate in () which one)

Author's Note: This is the sequel to An Alternate Ending

Rating: M - for language and graphic images in later chapters

Warning: This is still a Sora/Riku fic… yeah. XD. Deal with it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Chapter 8: Explinations)

"So... I took care of the darkness for a year or so, not thinking too much of it. Then one day I was bringing it breakfast as always, and there in my spare bed lay Riku." Naminé finished stairing pointedly at her feet. "He didn't remember anything... and I don't know much about him myself, so I decided to help him back on his feet... but other than that I made a point not to confuse him anymore than he was."

"So you lied to him about his own name?" Kairi asked, stairing at Naminé seriously, uncomprehending why even telling Riku his own name had been so important to keep from him.

"Oh Kairi, don't you see what would've happened? He would have come here... and so many people would have known his name. He would have been driven insane by people demanding he remember them. I lied to him to protect him from that! Now when they call "Riku" after him, he won't respond, and thusly he wont get confused. He has time now to discover himself. Why take that from him?" Naminé returned, looking at Kairi as though she begged the girl to understand.

Thankfully the redhead wasn't quite as unsympathetic as she made herself out to be. "Well... I guess it's for the best." She allowed and sighed kicking her feet slightly. "I'm going to have a hell of a time keeping this from Sora." She admitted.

"It wont be so hard. Sora thinks that Riku's name is Kai... and for now that's good enough. In time the memories of Riku that are locked in Sora's heart will seep through and return to Riku. After all, as long as the two keep running into each other, their natural attraction for one another will release the memories from Sora's heart without inventing yet another Nobody." Naminé said sagely. "Riku will eventually remember he's Riku. And as for Sora, he's brighter than you give him credit for. He'll realize Riku is who he is long before Riku himself does."

"You think so?" Kairi asked quietly.

"I know so." Naminé said confidantly, causing Kairi to smile.

"Well, I suppose it's not so bad then." She replied.

A pair of emerald eyes blinked and disappeared from around the corner. The two girls, completely unaware that their entire conversation about Riku and his heart had reached the ears of the last person that aught to have that information.

"So... the key to a heart is attraction. Well I'm sure there's some way I can exploit that..."

----

(Later)

Sora trudged down to the beach. He felt like spending the rest of the day relaxing on the sand to rest his poor head. Kairi had yelled at him for hours about how irresponsible he was, and how getting himself drunk wasn't an answer to all of his problems. Idly he wondered how long it was going to take him to pick up the nerve to leave her. After all, he'd decided almost a week ago to do it... what on Earth was he still dragging his feet about?

He momentarily forgot his troubles however, when he noticed a solitary figure sitting on a Paopu tree. Sora couldn't help the flashback that swam before his eyes... a younger Riku sitting there... while they talked about their plans to sail away together to discover other worlds.

Sora shook his head free of the cobwebs and jogged over. "Come here often?" He asked the silver haired man.

Kai turned in surprize to see the brunette standing there grinning at him and offered back a smile. "Actually, yes. This place seems to just draw me to it. I suppose its the beautiful view." He said, gesturing out to the calm sea as it lapped gently on the shore.

"Riku loved this view too." Sora said quietly, tucking his hands behind his head and leaning up against the Paopu tree.

"Is that so?" Kai replied conversationally.

"Yeah... anytime I wanted to talk to him, he would always be sitting right here, stairing off into the distance." Sora reminisced. "We used to talk about life, the universe, and girls." He laughed.

"Mm... girls. Sounds like a fascinating way to spend your time." Kai said laughing.

"Yeah... although, now that I look back on it. It must have been torture for him, talking about Kairi all the time with me... when he had no interest in her at all." Sora looked thoughtful.

"Oh? Well lucky you right? I mean it looks like you two were meant for each other." Kai said quietly.

"What? Oh! No... you see, I... I didn't know what I wanted. I guess, deep inside, I had always known that our bond went deeper than friendship. I just didn't understand at the time, what that meant." Sora explained.

Kai tilted his head to the side, "You mean ... you're gay?" He asked.

"Well... yes. So was Riku. He's the one who made me realize the truth about myself." Sora said softly.

Kai looked a little surprized, but mostly he was still smiling. "Well, I suppose I should have gathered that, from the way you talk about him all the time."

"Anyways... enough about me. What about you? What did you remember yesterday?" Sora poked.

"Huh? Well, why do you want to know?" Kai immediately defended.

Sora smiled, "Well you practically saved my life yesterday. I figure I owe you, and I decided I'm going to help you get back your memories any way I can. Maybe by talking about them you'll remember more!"

Kai nodded and sighed. "Well... thank you."

A little boy sat in a sandbox, outside of a big white house. He whistled happily as he pushed tiny plastic animals through the sand, making sounds for them as they crossed the Sahara of his two-year-old imagination. A big noise behind him made him look up with curiosity as a big shiny car rolled up to the house across the street. He ran his tiny fingers through his adorable brown locks that his mother had decided to tame that morning. Her attempts at making him appear neat however, went in vain, as now there was sand everywhere and his hair stuck out in every direction.

Out of the big shiny car stepped a very big man with long white hair and a skinny young lady with grey hair. The little boy supposed that they were a mommy and daddy... though they certainly weren't –his-. The mommy walked to the back of the car and opened another door. After a few moments, where the little boy could almost imagine the mommy unbuckling that really annoying seat-thingy that his mommy made –him- wear.

Finally she walked away from the car, revealing a very small boy around his own age. The boy had grey hair! The brunette got up, brushing some of the sand off of himself, and toddled over to the other boy.

"Hi!" He called out, catching the other boy's attention.

"Go away." Said the strange one, giving him a very mean glare with his big green eyes.

"My name is Sora! What's yours? Did you know you've got grey hair! Like my gramma... shes got grey hair too." Sora rambled childishly, grinning from ear to ear.

"My hair's not –grey-!" The boy replied indignantly. "It's –silver-. And I said go away." He repeated.

"But you didn't say your name yet! That's rude. My mommy says that if you tell someone your name they have to tell you their name too." Sora replied, dancing around happily.

"Fine... if I tell you my name will you go away?" The boy asked.

"Yep!" Sora clapped happily.

"Riku." The boy replied.

"Yay!" And much to Riku's dismay the two-year old promptly hugged him. "That wasn't so hard was it?"

"I... thought you said you would go away." Riku said blinking in surprize.

"Mm...nope. Changed my mind. Riku, let's be friends! I don't have any friends. Will you please be my friend?" Sora clapped happily after releasing Riku.

The silver-haired boy couldn't help but smile, the brunette's happy-go-lucky mood was contagious.

"Your friend...?" Kai muttered as he returned from this sudden flashback, noting that Sora's face was inches before his own.

"What? Did you just remember something else?" Sora asked curiously.

"I remembered... two little boys. My first memory... they were racing each other. And this one just now... must have been their first meeting."

"What did the boy's look like? Do you remember their names?" Sora asked curiously.

Kai looked thoughtful. "One had... brown hair... and ... one had... grey hair." He attempted to describe, these memories having been extremely fuzzy for him.

"Ok." Sora prodded.

"I ... I can't remember their names." He said softly, looking like he was really thinking hard.

"That's ok... maybe next time." Sora beamed happily.

Kai smiled back weakly. "Well...at least I'm remembering something right?"

"Exactly! You'll be back to... whoever you were, in no time!" Sora grinned.

"I hope you're right."

----

Kai watched Sora leave to go to work and sighed. The little boy from his memories... if he imagined in a few years... then it would be a perfect match. So now the question... was Sora the boy from his memories? He would have to wait for a few more of them to find out. But he smiled as a feeling of familiar warmth crept into his heart, whether or not he'd known Sora previously, he was certain he'd never forget him again.

----

Awwwwwww

Kai/Riku : How much longer do I have to pretend I don't know who I am?

Xukir: Buah... you can't remember everything yet... I haven't even gotten around to threatening you!

Roxas: Hmm... well I suppose I should consider myself lucky I didn't get thrown in jail.

rozu: Hey! The readers aren't supposed to know that yet!

Roxas: Oops.

Sora, Naminé, and Kairi all laugh.