¤ Tainted Games ¤

A Story By Shift Hyde

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II, its characters, or locations. They are sadly not my property, but that of Disney and Square Enix, respectively.

Warning - Rated M: Invoking themes of violence, possibly mild cursing, and shounen-ai/yaoi.

Summary: The story begins in the Destiny Islands. It's been a year since Riku and Sora's return to the islands. Having aged they are 17 and 16, respectively. Changes? -- No letter sent to them by the king, and peace is a steady thing amongst the islands. But a confused Riku battles inner demons when a close friend blossoms in his heart as something more.

Any questions?

This chapter has been re-posted and enlarged

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CHAPTER 2
Of Tides and Sailors

"...I hope you're ready to lose, Sora..."

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"Riku," Sora's voice had recovered its general tone by now. "Dare you to see who'll swim out the farthest."

His tanned fingers gripped the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head. The same shirt fell to his feet without a sound, leaving his sun tanned chest and back bared. Looking back at Riku with an inviting smile, he didn't wait until the other boy answered him. Instead, he looked away from him and unto the sea before him. Taking a step back, Sora leaped up and jumped off the dock. A splash ripped through the air a second later as the brunette landed in the water beneath him.

Riku steadied his expression on his long time friend, refraining from cocking his silvery brow at the cinnomon haired teen. So it would seem that he was right; Sora indeed had some inner conflict of sorts to resolve due to some event at home. Alas, the silver haired teen would not be told. He was helpess to help his friend, as he was so many times in the past, up until his accompanyment in defeating Xemnas. It was stupid to feel it was his fault that Sora was wearing a false grin, but... well, maybe he shouldn't be thinking on it.

And how could he, what with the other stripping right in front of him. Aqua-green eyes ghosted over the tanned, stomach muscles that shone under the red evening sun, over the sinewy chest, up to those cherry colored lips, curled back into the most inviting smile, finally to rest into sparkling saphire eyes glinting with the determination Riku would never cease to admire.

The corners of Riku's mouth twitched into his own taunting smirk as he stood, shedding his white vest and zip down black shirt in a single fluid motion displaying his own paler, but bolder effects unveiled to the world.

"I hope you're ready to lose, Sora," taunted the silvery teen, diving into the calm waves below, kicking off his shoes on the way. Of course, the waters were a little cooler than enticipated making the poor poor whimper quite indignantly as his head bobbed up. Shivering slightly as his body near protested to adjusting to the temperature changes, he looked over to Sora and forcibly grinned at him before taking off toward the wavy horizon.

At once he regretted this brilliant idea of his to find much sought of distraction. Striking the water beneath him, he felt his every muscle in his body tense up at the temperature change. The fine hairs that covered the lengths of his arms and legs stood up on their respective ends. Sora disliked the cold, but no more than he disliked losing to Riku. For all purposes they were rivals first, friends later... At least, that's how Sora saw it. Blinking dazidly under the water, he propelled himself up to breathe. It was no surprise to see Riku already there, taunting him, before effectively taking off.

Frowing for what seemed like a millisecond, Sora watched him go and extended an arm as if from that long distance he could actually grab and stop the other from leaving. In turn, remembering his place, Sora quickly went after the silver-haired teen. He followed after Riku's trail underwater. Sapphire eyes wide open determined not to lose sight of the other. I won't be losing to you today Riku.

No one could have stopped Sora from trying to catch up with the other. Well, a tidal wave maybe... Even though the salt was beginning to sting in his eyes, he knew the pain would go away as they grew numb. He always came up from underwater after a few couple of strokes, to come up for air and to reassure himself of Riku's position.

It didn't take him long to be swimming right behind Riku. He wanted badly to be swimming with him side-by-side but the silver-haired teen had a couple of seconds of distance to his advantage. Of course, this type of technicality wouldn't stop Sora of all people. Playfully extending both his amrs forward he made to grab one of the pale legs before him. When he first caught one of them, Sora pulled with all his might to bring the other down to his leavel. Turning his head to his left side to face Riku, Sora smiled at the other happily with closed eyes, and used Riku's shoulders to push himself up and keep swimming.

So the water wasn't so bad once he forced his body to cooperate into moving with a little more grace and finesse. From sloppy paddling to professional breastrokes in no time flat; that was Riku's style, his demeanor. More often than not, Sora would challenge him to these sorts of things and undoubtedly lose. Oh, up until the whole Keyblade, hey let's save the universe! thing. Lately he'd been having issues keeping his records in tact, so he needed all the leeway possible, like taking off as soon as he touched the water despite the potential cramp developing in either leg.

The teen glanced back once to check on Sora's progress. To his amusement, Sora was still a few seconds behind him. He grinned, turning back to the setting sun satisfied that he was bound to win.

However, he did not expect to feel a cool hand possess his foot, dragging him back that few seconds he previously had over his rival. He was half submerged for a brief moment, and when he caught himself again, looking over he spotted a certain someone grinning. Then he was submerged again, going down with much protest by his shoulders. He wasn't going down that easy! Eyes blazing under the salty waves, he spotted the other and used both hands to grab hold of anything and pull down with every once of strengh he had and swim on, making sure to stick his tongue out tauntingly as he swam again, desperately attempting to pick up his pace.

For a second there Sora honestly thought he had gotten away with it. How very wrong was him. He felt desperate hands grasp him as he had just reached the surface. He was under water again, sooner than he had expected to be. He squealed a little out of character genuienly surprised. Maddened by Riku's actions, Sora tried to fight it as he was pulled down on harshly. His shorts threateaned to slip but he grabbed a hold of them by the hem just in time to look up and see Riku sticking his tongue out his way.

Damn it! Stubbornly swimming after his rival his head hurt with the pressure of being tossed around. He wasn't going to lose to him, he wouldn't permit himself to. With sloppier bigger strokes he fought with the burning in his lungs to catch up with Riku. Deciding to go over the water, he caught his breath. Between taking short, rapid gasps he still went after the other.

His lungs were protesting, and his hair was getting in the way of his eyesight but he still wouldn't relent. With flushed stark pink cheeks he swam util he was on Riku's left side. The corners of his lips perked up as Sora found himself glaring at the pale teen with a mischeivous smile cast across his features. Splashing the boy straight in the face with hopes of distracting him, Sora didn't look back and took off passing the other, towards a unsteady horizon, controlling his breathing with his strokes.

Riku gritted his teeth between gasps of air his lungs sincerely needed as Sora joined him on his left once again. The boy was so persistent! And he himself was running out of breath and energy; once those were gone, he'd be running on pure adrenaline which he'd hoped to use for a finale. It didn't really seem possible, but he couldn't lose, no matter what! Maybe psyching out the poor boy would help?

Looking over to glare, Riku found, was a big mistake to which he would suffer for. As soon as that grin was flashed at the silver haired teen, he knew what was coming. With a yelp, he brought his hands to his burning eyes, the sudden disgraceful movement halting his strokes and sending him sinking into the disrupted waters. He could hear the contiunal splashes above pracitically reeking with victory. Rubbing his eyes still, he squinted through the salty liquid at Sora, who was at least a good 5 seconds ahead.

'Sora!' One part of him cursed the boy for the cheap shot. Meanwhile, the other half made short work of cursing him for taking his Plan B.

Growling irritably through the waters, Riku swam after him with whatever leftover strength he had. He had only gained maybe a second though before his legs' threatening cramps made themselves fully known. Gasping in a mouthful of seawater, he found that swimming was no longer something he would be doing as his muscles twisted and knotted. 'Shit!' Stopping all movement in his lower half, he concentrated on moving his arms so he could re surface... and let Sora know he had forfeit due to reasons beyond his control.

Yeah, that sounded good...

"Sora!" his voice cracked through a breathless cough, water spurting from his lips. "Stop! You win!" Ouch...! He could feel his ego burning... Oh, wait, that would be his legs still, attempting to sink him while his arms fought to keep him otherwise.

To Be Continued.

Be kind. Please unwind.

A/N: This chapter has been only enlarged for the reader's benefit. No spelling mistakes, or previous context were touched.