Chapter 7: She Is

This is gonna break me clean in two

This is gonna bring me close to you

Riku opened his eyes, feeling dizzy. What happened? He was in his bedroom. How did he get here? The fuzzy memories we slowly coming back to him. The beach. Talking with Kairi. Teaching her to smash the drift wood. The heartless attack.

"Heartless!" Riku cried out suddenly, his dry throat making his voice crack. He sat up and tried to climb out of bed, but dizziness over took him within an instant, and he fell off the bed, landing on the floor with a whump!

"Riku!"

A pair of arms were flung around his torso from behind as he tried to sit up, nearly knocking him over again. Sora buried his face in Riku's shoulder.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" he said desperately. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Riku pried himself out of Sora's grip, very aware of how close their bodies were, and twisted around to face a very upset boy. He was pouting, and Riku found it entirely distracting.

"Look, I uhhh… I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Oh yes, I'm fine! I'm so sorry! I should have told you!" Sora said, jumping Riku again. With his face buried in Riku's shoulder once again, he continued to speak, "I have a darkness, and sometimes when I loose control of myself when I'm being aggressive, the darkness gets control of me and I loose control of my drive, and I drive into that…thing… I know I should have told you, but I didn't think it would happen to me here. I'm so sorry. I guess I just got jealous…" he muttered. Riku had to concentrate on every word that Sora said, since he feeling of his warm breath on his neck was making him dizzy.

"…Jealous…" Riku repeated finally. "Jealous of what?" he asked. Sora lifted his head from Riku's shoulder. Riku was half disappointed, since he couldn't deny that he enjoyed the closeness, but also half relieved, since the lack of closeness made it easier for him to pay attention to the conversation. Sora looked down and mumbled something incomprehensibly.

"And anyways," he added, speaking more clearly now, "I should probably head home. I spent the night here you know. I didn't want to leave until I was sure that you were okay, but you're okay now, so…" he said, getting to his feet and walking towards the door. Riku stood up after him.

"I'll walk you home," he offered. He wanted to a chance to ask Sora again about that jealousy comment. The younger looked for a moment like he was going to refuse, but Riku walked up behind him and had an expression set on his face that said that he was not about to take no for an answer. Sora and Riku walked silently down the stairs and outside.

"So…" Sora said slowly, feeling awkward in the silence. Riku glanced at him.

"So what did you mean that you were jealous?" he asked quietly. There was a long pause, and then Sora launched the conversation in the last direction Riku had ever expected it to take.

"Look." Sora said firmly, looking Riku square in the eyes. "If you like Kairi that's okay with me."

Riku stared at him, so surprised by the words that it took him a long moment o even comprehend them. "What? I don't like Kairi. Or not as anything more than a friend, anyway," Riku answered, taken aback by Sora's sudden comment. Sora shook his head.

"It's okay, though. I mean, I understand if you don't want to tell me because I like her, but I really don't mind. Even if it's hard on me for the first little while, I'd rather you just told me." Sora insisted.

"I don't." Riku said, getting a little exasperated. Sora crossed his arms and brought himself up to full height.

"Come on, Riku, I might be dense sometimes, but you and Kairi have been having your 'little chats' a lot lately and when I walked in on one, you guys were all over each other. And I saw you two yesterday on the beach, and it's obvious that you guys like each other. I'm not going to be mad if you want to be with her, I'm just hurt that you feel like you can't tell me."

"Sora! I like someone else!" Riku stated. Sora opened his mouth to reply, but then the words finally seemed to sink in and he closed it again, looking interested.

"...Who?" he asked eagerly. Riku reddened a little.

"I...uhhh... I don't really want to tell..." he said slowly. Sora frowned.

"Riku, if you're just telling me that to get me to leave you and Kairi alone..."

"I'M NOT!"

"You can tell me you know..." Sora said, looking upset.

"Sora! I don't like her like that!" Riku was beginning to raise his voice, getting frustrated by the argument.

"Okay... I believe you." Sora said slowly, though it wasn't terribly sincere.

"I mean it!" Riku said.

"Why are you being so defensive about it?"

"Because I don't like her and I don't want you thinking I do when I like someone else!"

"Tell me who."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I can't..."

"...is it Kairi?" Sora asked slowly. Riku let out a frustrated growl and leaned towards Sora, capturing the brunette's lips with his own. The kiss lasted less than a second and Riku pulled away. Sora was shocked, but breathless.

"There. Now you know who I like." Riku said quietly. Sora didn't respond. He was staring off into space, looking at the sky just about Riku's head. Riku glanced over his shoulder to see what the younger was looking at, but there wasn't anything. Sora had a look on his face like he was trying to sort out his thoughts, and it was both a painful and a beautiful epiphany at the same time. Riku watched him anxiously for a long while, waiting for a response. When Sora still didn't say anything, Riku let out a long sigh, the thought slowly dawning on him that everything had changed between them.

"I...I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Or something," he muttered before turning on his heel and walking away at as quickly a pace he could without running. He was not running away from Sora. He was walking very fast is all. Because it was cold outside. Right?

Sora's mind barely registered that Riku had left, and even then it took a good long while for that to happen. Once his mind returned to him, however, he let out a gasp and looked around.

"Riku?" He asked hopelessly, knowing that the other was already long gone. He had to talk to Riku, for sure. Riku just kissed him. Weird. Before he could talk to Riku, though, he had to figure out what he was feeling himself. He licked his lips, the remnants of the kiss still lingering there, and set off, wandering in no particular direction, trying to sort out his emotions. Turning a corner at the end of the street, Sora nearly ran into Kairi, having been paying no attention whatsoever to where he was going.

"Oh! Hi Sora! How's Riku?" She greeted, smiling. There was a pause and she looked over his shoulder. "...Where's Riku? Hasn't he come to yet?" She continued to look around cluelessly.

"Oh...he...went somewhere... not too sure where..." Sora answered slowly. Kairi blinked at him.

"Oh. Are you looking for him then?" she asked, now curious as to what Sora was doing, wandering around by himself. Sora was rarely by himself, and Kairi took note of the lost look on his face. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Uhhh... well, not really," he admitted. "I kind of need to talk to you..." he said. Kairi nodded, ready for Sora to spill out whatever was bothering him. There was a long silence.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" Kairi asked finally.

"Well, it's kind of about Riku. See, he... actually, when I... I mean..." he paused. "You know the kind of kiss it was supposed to be, when I kissed you? Those kind of fairy tale kisses?" Sora paused to see if Kairi understood what he was trying to say. She was smiling slightly, but seemed confused. Sora pressed on. "You know, like those kisses that are supposed to make you stomach do flips and your knees turn to jell-o." He added, blushing a little as he spoke. Kairi's smile widened, and she nodded.

"I know what you mean, but I'm not sure what this has got to do with Riku." She admitted. Sora paused, his eyes on the ground.

"Riku kissed me. And...I liked it...a lot..." he mumbled. Kairi looked mildly confused.

"So what's the matter?" she asked slowly.

"I'm not supposed to like it! Riku's a guy!"

"...so?"

"So don't you remember what happened to Tidus? He's still living at Wakka's house!"

"Pardon me for saying, but Tidus' father is a drunk and doesn't know which way's up most of the time. I'm sure your parents won't react like that," she answered, buried anger with Jecht surfacing in her words. Sora nodded, though he didn't seem terrible convinced. Kairi continued. "Besides, right now, it doesn't matter what anyone else has to say about it. You and Riku figure things out first, and then we'll go from there, alright?" she said helpfully. Sora nodded, smiling slightly.

"Thanks Kairi. I gotta go find Riku."

………………………

OKies! Next chapter is that last one, and then I'm off to get started on the sequel!