.::. Maiden .::.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Square Enix, nor any of the characters rightfully owned and portrayed by Disney and/or Square Enix.
Setting: Post-Kingdom Hearts II. Sequel to Waiting No Longer.
Genres: Action, Drama, Romance
Rating: Rated Mature for Violence, Mild Language, and [Lemons]
I love you, Kairi...I trust you with all my heart, and want nothing but for you to be happy...and I will always protect you...I will always be beside you, and I promise never to leave you waiting...
"Sora, push over! I can't see!" Kairi whined in a fierce whisper. She climbed over him, forcing his face to the salt-lathered boards of the fishing schooner. He muffled protest into the planking, but Kairi merely shushed him, gingerly peering over the side of the crow's nest. She could just make out the silvery sheen of Riku's head, waiting at the docks for the mail to arrive to the island. Sora turned his neck awkwardly, shimmying from under Kairi to the edge of the nest that remained unoccupied. Carefully, he poked his head above the nest from under Kairi's arm. "Is he doing anything yet?"
"No. He's just...waiting." Kairi and Sora peered intently on the bob of silver hair below. They anxiously watched to see if he did something; anything.
"He's just...standing there."
"Of course, Sora, he's waiting!"
"But for who?" Both fell into pensive silence, yearning to know what made stoic Riku more silent in the past few weeks. They had tried coaxing it out of him, but nothing seemed to work. He seemed to have little confidence in himself since Sora and Kairi had become an official couple. He had always been pleased with himself, and strong in his ways. But, now, the dating scene barely yielded a week long relationship for him. The island girls were never deep enough for Riku; they could never understand his need for purpose, life, and adventure.
"Look! He's moving!" Kairi protested in a whisper, and they watched as Riku inched towards the dock as the small mail boat pulled up to port. Riku stood, unmoved by the sea breeze, marine eyes fixated on the mailman as he docked the boat and disembarked with the small rucksack of letters, bills, and magazines. The mailman smiled at Riku, reached into his rucksack, and withdrew an envelope to him. With that, he left, and Riku opened the envelope with subdued haste.
"Who's it from?"
"I don't know." Kairi replied to Sora, just as curious and unknowledgeable as her adored. Riku read the letter in minutes, then glanced around before pocketing the letter, and walking home to the small apartment complex on Seabrooke Avenue the three lived at, along with an elderly woman and her cat, a fisherman, and a newlywed couple with twins on the way.
Kairi and Sora slumped back into the nest, each looking into the other's eyes and thinking.
"He's practically dated every girl here. Who's left?"
"Could it be someone from another world?"
"That'd be my guess. But who?" Sora looked up to the setting sky as if the answer could be etched in the clouds for him. Kairi, too, thought deeply.
"But who is Riku's type?" Sora asked.
"A better question is, what is Riku's type?" Neither could answer the question. Riku had always kept himself close and distant, open and mysterious. The closer you got to him, the more questions remained unanswered.
"What day is it?" Sora's question was sudden and worried. Kairi was taken a back, and thought for a moment.
"It's..." A look of sheer horror sparked between her face and his.
"Friday!" They both exclaimed the day at the same time, and in a frantic motion, each leapt for the rope ladder. Sora fumbled and fell from the fishing boat outlook, catching the rope ladder below with his left arm. The ladder jiggled, Kairi clinging to it before continuing her frantic descent. Sora was jumpy, waiting for Kairi to get down. Finally, she leapt from the sixth rung, landing on the boat deck.
"C'mon, or else Riku'll think we're up to something!" Kairi exclaimed as she continued her frantic pace, gracefully tripping from the fishing schooner onto the dock. Sora followed her in a similar suit.
"But we were up to something." He observed, leaving Kairi only to roll her eyes. Sora's pace quickened, passing Kairi, but only a little. He did not want to leave her behind. They puffed and panted their way to Seabrooke Avenue, where Sora took a sharp corner into the lot of the apartment complex. It was a deep burgundy against the sunset, with bright white shutters and tiled roof. Sora thrust the door open for Kairi as she sprinted inside, and groaned silently at the two flights of stairs that stood in her way.
She lighted each step with a huff, turning the corner to the next flight of stairs quickly as Sora took the steps two at a time with his lanky stride. Finally, they made it to the second landing where they shared an apartment. Each held their dying breath as Sora fumbled with the door's knob. And...a sigh of relief came when the door did not budge. With hand shaking with relief, Sora took the key from his pocket and unlatched the door, Kairi controlling her breath as she wiped the sweat from her brow onto the front of her hand.
"I can't…believe…we made it." Kairi panted as Sora pocketed the key and opened the chipped white door, encrusted with beach sand. They both stepped inside.
"So…where were you two?" Hair stood on the back of their necks. They turned- Riku. He smirked, relaxing against the red futon that boldly dominated the small living room. His silver hair fell casually to his shoulders, lying against his collar like aqueous silver. His Caribbean eyes looked intriguingly at Sora and Kairi, both frozen and bumbling over their words.
"I…uh…we…were…getting ice!"
"Getting fresh air!" Kairi turned, frowning at Sora. His words had jumbled and stabbed their unborn lie. He laughed, perspired more than he had into their frantic beeline, and smiled, eating any other words in his mouth behind a goofy grin.
"Getting fresh ice for the air, huh?" Riku asked, but pressed on no further. He put his arms behind his head, cushioning his teasing gaze onto his friends. Making them squirm for comfort was always one of the more fun perks of becoming the official third wheel. Especially when Sora was so easy to make blush; he never liked being put under the spotlight when it came to personal questions.
"Yes, Riku, we were. We went outside for a walk and decided to get some ice. I figured you'd like a cold drink, but hey, if you don't, then that's just fine." Kairi feigned an annoyed smirk, but a bubbling giggle threatened to give her away.
"Oh, sorry, Kairi. I didn't realize that. Could I have a glass of ice and some lemonade then?" Riku's sarcasm failed to completely ebb from his words. Kairi bowed out of the room, leaving Sora to sigh, and fall down into a beat-up sand colored recliner. He scratched the back of his head, and turned to Riku.
"So…what'd you do today?" Riku turned to Sora, quirking an eyebrow.
"Fine…and yours?"
"Good, good…" Silence pervaded the room. Sora tapped his foot impatiently. He looked about the small living area, with its sandy wallpaper, white crown molding, and the various snapshots and pictures scattered on the mostly blank walls. The small talk diversion was not working. Strategy was not quite Sora's forte, especially in an impromptu situation.
"Have you heard from the King lately?"
"Huh?" Sora was thrown back by this question. Riku was now sitting up, his sculpted arms resting on his legs. He leaned forward; Riku was genuinely curious to hear an answer. They had not openly discussed their business for months. Since Riku had returned from his conference with the King two years ago, life had resulted in welcome normalcy and regulation for them. Slowly, their adventures ebbed into retold stories and times past. The regularity of their reclaimed lives was a new sensation for them, and thus far, it was a nice change.
"Not since a year ago with his Christmas card. I only see Donald and Goofy when they come by with a package or an update. Why? Is something wrong?" Sora perked up. No, nothing can be wrong. Everything was fixed.
"No reason. I was just thinking today…about the Worlds." Riku sat back, his gaze resting on the mahogany coffee table. A photograph of them, naive fourteen and fifteen-year-olds, proudly standing before a makeshift raft, rested on the table where Riku gazed.
"Sora!" Kairi whispered fiercely. Sora turned, noticing Kairi. She held her slender finger up to her lips, motioning her other hand frantically to come over to where she was. Sora looked back at Riku, torn. He continued to stare at the photograph pensively.
"'Scuse me, Riku." Sora got up and bounced to the kitchenette, where Kairi sighed.
"Help me make ice!"
"What?" Sora was dumbfounded. Kairi held up a soaking wet tray.
"We need ice to make Riku think we weren't following him!" Kairi whispered under her breath. Sora nodded, then ushered Kairi into the corner of the kitchenette furthest from the archway leading to the living room. Kairi put the tray of water down carefully, then stepped behind Sora and waited. Sora opened his palm, and as he pulled into a fist, the hard handle of the keyblade was secured in his hand. He held up the subtly tapered end of the key to the tray, and he sighed, clearing his mind.
"Blizzaga." Crystals spiraled around the body of his blade, and shot an arctic blast at the tray. A loud shattering and crackling echoed in the kitchenette. Kairi and Sora winced.
"Kairi? Do you need help with that lemonade?" Riku called from the living room.
"No! No, Riku, we're fine! Just fine!" Kairi left the room to assure Riku, and Sora began to whack the iceberg of a tray with his keyblade as silently as he could. The tray was hidden deep inside the robust mound of ice, and only now could Sora actually grab the corner of it.
"Kairi, it sounds like you're beating someone in there." Riku said, trying to see if everything was alright.
"No! It's fine; really! Sora's just cracking the ice in the bag now." Sora cussed in the other room, proceeded by louder bangs and shrill cracks. Kairi attempted to push Riku back down onto the futon, as he was attempting to make his way to the kitchenette. Though difficult as Riku was about a foot and an inch or three taller, Kairi managed to make him relax back into his futon.
"You know, you two never were the subtlest people, but this is ridiculous. What's going on?" Riku asked, peering through locks of quicksilver at Kairi, now slightly above eye level as she stood before him. Kairi was unnerved by his gaze. She couldn't lie again; she would give herself and Sora away. But, if Riku knew they had been following him to the docks for a little over a week now, how would he react? Doubtless he'd be angry at them. Privacy was a valued thing for him. If he knew they had violated one of his few enforced policies, they may just well have to become a two-person party.
"We made you lemon ice!" Sora came in, beaming, frost tipping the natural spikes of his mocha hair. On a small platter, he had three cups of slushing yellow ice.
"...sure." Riku asked no more questions, shook his head, and took a cup. He sipped it and licked his lips. Kairi took a place on the sand hued recliner, while Sora plopped beside Riku on the red futon.
"So what game should we play tonight?" By now, the sun had gone, and the tawny wall sconces lit the living room. Sora sipped on his lemon ice as Kairi patiently awaited an answer.
"What about chess?" Kairi offered. Sora shook his head.
"No more chess! I'm tired of always losing."
"We can't help it if you're not good at thinking, Sora." Riku jested. Kairi giggled, stifling it with an innocent sip of her ice. Sora just pouted, but laughed.
"How about Dead Man's Dice? We haven't played that in a while." The small chest with the game from Will Turner and Elizabeth Swanson was tucked away in the cherry wood shelving towards the hall that led to the bedroom.
Among its shelves were the various games and memorabilia they had collected or received from otherworldly friends over the years. They had continued to keep in contact with most of their friends; Kairi had only been able to meet the ones at the Castle or Radiant Garden. Among the shelves were the chess set from Belle and Beast, a photograph of Leon, Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, and the gang, play masks from the Olympus Theatre, an elephant bone, Nightmare Cards from Jack and Sally, a key to Agrabah from Jasmine, and a small, thin box wrapped in silk with the emblem of China on it.
"I don't really feel like a dice game tonight." Riku admitted, sighing. Sora then got up, swiftly moving to the shelf. He crouched down, and grabbed the box wrapped in silk on the bottom. Sora struggled with the word written on it as it brought it over. Giving up, he grabbed the inscribed card:
"From Fa Mulan, Captain Li Shang. (and Mushu). 'Come visit us sometime! We'd be honored to see you guys again.'" Sora flipped over the card, and blushed. In scrawled lettering, written with claws dipped in ink: "'And we'd like to see your girlfriend, too. She probably needs a vacation anyways.'"
"Hehe." Kairi giggled at Mushu's note on the back; she had vague impressions of him as a Summon. Riku smirked as well.
"Why don't we play this?" Sora asked.
"What is it?" Riku asked, leaning to look at the ornate box.
"Mah-Jong...Mahjong. I think." Sora untied the silk wrap, and placed the box on the table. Kairi slid onto her knees beside the table, and Riku hunched over on the futon. Sora found multitudes of small, ceramic tiles with various images painted and etched into them. As he searched for the instructions, Riku picked up a small tile with blue and green stones etched onto it, turning it over in his hand. Kairi noticed a small tile with red flowers, delicately painted, on it. She picked it up, feeling the curve of the brush beneath her finger.
"Jeez, this is more complicated than I thought!" Sora turned the paper sideways and uprights, as though looking at the instructions from a different angle could make it clear for them.
"Here, let me see." Riku took the instructions, scanning them quickly.
"Well, it should be for four players, but I think we can do it. It's like a card game, but with tiles, points, and dice...these are the Honor Tiles, and those are the Flower and Joker tiles." Riku pointed to the correct tiles as he spoke. For another few minutes, he continued reading the instructions, and translating them into simpler terms, though it was not that easy. Sora began to feel a bit restless.
"Can we start playing? We can figure it out as the game goes on." Sora then dealt thirteen tiles to each of them, and lined up the remaining tiles as a wall on the table. The chips were laid, and the three friends began to play. On more than one occasion, Riku and Sora bickered about a particular move. The instructions became a holy document of intervention, and Kairi just giggled, playing along and accepting any rules or changes that came. When Sora shouted "Royal flush!", and grinned widely, Kairi erupted into laughter. Riku hung his head, but could not suppress the smirk. Sora laughed loudly as well, beginning to give up the Mahjong rules. It became Poker-Yahtzee-Uno-Jong to Sora.
The three of them, sitting there in the living room, were a testament of time. From childhood through adulthood, they still laughed. Despite the hardships they fought, the things they endured few ever must suffer, was something few friends could survive. Though taller, grown, and matured, their laughter was the same. Kairi's silvery laugh rang as sharp and sweet as it had when she had perpetually failed at racing Riku and Sora. Riku's smirk and chuckle remained confident and true as it had when he won a sword fighting match. Sora's laugh resonated with the same strength and joy as it had when he found everyone hiding when he was the seeker.
"So, Riku..." Kairi began, discarding a tile as she took one from the back wall tiles, "have you been up to anything exciting?"
"Not really. Just the same on the fishing docks everyday." Riku took a Wind tile, smiled, and discarded a Stone tile. Sora bit his lip, trying to see if he had any Melds in his hand or not; it would be painful if he discarded the tile that could let him win now. They'd been playing for well over an hour now.
"Oh." Kairi hid the dejected look in her face. She wanted a hint, any hint, of this secret lover of Riku's! He had found nothing with Selphie, nothing with Bellamie, nor anything with the four other short, very short, relationships with other Destiny Island girls. If this love made Riku more introspective and secluded than usual, then this girl must be a keeper! But who?
"Ha!" Sora exclaimed, but then screwed up his face, and frowned. He had discarded the wrong tile! He just sighed, wishing luck were on his side. It was Kairi's turn, and she thought for a while, looking at her hand of thirteen tiles. Sora looked ro Riku, whose gaze remained on the photograph on the coffee table before the home-made raft. His face was mostly hidden by streams of silver hair, but if Sora could piece together the expression, it seemed almost....painfully confused.
"You know, me and Sora were going to go to the island in a few days. Do you want to come?" Kairi asked innocently. Riku looked up to her.
"No, it's alright. You two have fun."
"If you want, you can bring someone." Kairi discarded a tile after picking up another one; if she got one more Stone tile, she could get the four Melds that would win her the game. Riku looked curiously at Kairi, not swaying his gaze as he picked up a fourteenth tile.
"Bring someone? Who..." Riku trailed off, and suddenly became tense. The game froze where it was. The flow of turns halted completely. Kairi shifted awkwardly. She had been too forward. She was worried that she would be. Silence permeated the room. Sora looked to Riku, then to Kairi. He put down his tiles, openly displaying his hand. A gesture that effectively seemed to end the game.
"Riku, I'm sorry! I know you don't like people asking about personal stuff, but I just wanted to know who she is." Kairi frowned. She felt awful. She worried if Riku hated her now, worried if she stepped over a boundary that she could not double-back from.
"She?" Riku seemed taken aback, emotions beginning to bubble inside him.
"Riku, we jus' want ya to be happy. We don't care who, just as long as she's good for you." Sora added, trying to shade Kairi from some of the outpouring emotions and expressions on Riku's face.
"You guys can go ahead to the Island without me. I hope you have fun. And as for this 'she'...we'll talk later." Riku stood up, and proceeded across the floor. Anger and frustration was absent from his voice, and his calm demeanor was both a blessing and unnerving. Kairi stood up from her place on the floor, and looked across to Riku.
"Oh, and next time you two follow me...try to be a little quieter. People at the Market could hear you whisper." Riku smirked, and closed the door behind him softly as he left their apartment. The ticking of a clock made the only noise in the room. Kairi turned, and met Sora's eyes. The two suddenly erupted into nervous, and relieved, laughter. Kairi's face turned a beat red, and Sora held his sides. As their laughter ebbed, they fell into a silent routine of cleaning up after Game Night. Kairi grabbed the cups and tray, and began to wash them in the porcelain sink as Sora collected the tiles. He gawked at Kairi's hand, and laughed as he realized he hadn't had a chance to win anyways.
As he packed the tiles away into the silk wrapped box, he looked at the photograph Riku had seemed so intent upon. Sora wondered what kinds of words formed in Riku's mind. What things he thought, how he formed them, and what he saw in the photograph. It seemed to Sora that they weren't looking at the same picture. And what had Riku meant when he had been 'thinking about the Worlds'?
"Sora, I'm gonna go to bed, 'kay?" Kairi came over, snapping Sora out of a trance, still holding the Mahjong box in his hands. She leaned over, and kissed him gently on the lips, before retiring to their bedroom. He tucked the box away in the shelves, and looked over their apartment. He opened his palm, and soon beheld the gold hilt of his keyblade. It shone with mystic allure in the tawny luminescence of the wall scones. Sora swiped the air with the blade, and sighed as the blade dissolved into its resting place. He flicked off the light, and went to his beloved place beside Kairi.
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On the first floor of the apartment complex, Riku sat at his corner desk in the small living room he had.
From one of the small drawers, he procured an envelope ripped open hastily. He sighed. They thought it was a secret lover. He had feared...they knew. He could not allow them to go through another ordeal. The two of them had already proven themselves Lovers of Light. Did they have to go through more pain to prove themselves in love to the Worlds, again?
Riku opened the envelope, and read with reinvigorated dread the small words scrawled on the note with the King's seal on the bottom.
"Riku- The Keys to Kingdom Hearts we were protecting have disappeared."
Author's Notes: Thank you for patience. Thank you for reviewing. And thank you for reading. I believe this sequel will be very interesting; I've worked very, very hard outlining it. Bare with me on scheduling and updates. I will attempt to stand by whatever I state. In this case, expect Chapter Three before the New Year. Please notify me of any grammatical errors especially, but do not be too judgemental; I skimped on my editing in order to publish this chapter as quickly as possible.