There, this chapter I also used the idea given by reviewers, thank you!
Special Thanks to carefreecat for beta-read.
Chapter 5 Truth about forgetting Riku
5th day
"Arhg! Now I'm lost!"
Sora stood in the middle of nowhere, feeling completely misplaced. His eyes slid half-way down with barely restrained frustration from the predicament he was in.
He and Riku had meant to get to the other side of Destiny Island and find Riku's owner, Kairi. The island wasn't that big, but random high boulders and canyons were enough to confuse them. They ended up winding their way around them and they had strayed off the paths.
It seemed like Riku, hadn't even known the right direction to take.
'And Roxas…grr…'
Axel just happened to show up at their door early in the morning and he'd dragged his little blond boyfriend out to somewhere, most likely a date. Either way, Sora wasn't up for any commotion, so Roxas's missing presence around Riku was preferable. Before leaving Sora and Riku in each other's hands, Roxas had done his job in threatening the cat-boy, that if he laid one finger on Sora…
'Duh…but Roxas is not here…' They were on the far outskirts of the island, desolated, so alone and by themselves that Riku didn't pass up the chance of doing something to Sora.
The evocative events were still fresh in his mind, causing heat to blaze Sora's cheeks. He had to cup his own face to make sure that they didn't catch fire, since he literally felt them burn.
Riku had kissed him…again.
Sora had no idea when it had happened. One moment, he'd tripped and had fallen over the rough plane, then Riku helped scoop him up. Sora had said something. And the next moment, Riku's lips were on his. Sure, it was a second time already but this time Riku had done it with a more…pressure, almost desperate.
He clapped his hands against his face, trying to recall the line that had caused such a reaction.
'I don't want you to go…'
He couldn't lay a finger on what had made him say that, it had been a spur of the moment thing.
Riku had talked; fully functioned like a normal human, and Sora had been starting to remember for real what his childhood best friend had been like. That much had led to his confession of how much Sora had thought of Riku. And on the tail of that effect, Sora had stupidly fled, into the wilderness of the island.
Here he was now, stranded in God knows where and alone more than ever. Without a good sense of direction, he could only pick his course blindly.
Where was he supposed to go? He felt the weight of impossibility as he thought of just trying to get back home, but he couldn't just leave Riku as well. God he was irritated at the cat boy.
'It's Riku's fault! He shouldn't have done that to me.' With an afterthought, Sora knew that he couldn't blame Riku entirely. Harboring feelings for someone wasn't something that could be controlled. 'But at least he could have controlled his behavior a little more,' he debated with himself. He could barely deal with Riku when he believed those affections were meant to be a prank of some sort. Now that he knew Riku had been serious all along, it was inscribed all over Riku's posture and actions. What was he supposed to do about it?
Yes and no weren't right answers, and Sora didn't know what his last option was.
Then again, things hadn't stayed the same, life had taken a 180 turn for both of them. Sora didn't want to venture into reckoning of how long Riku had been developing that kind of feelings for him, things at hand were already overloaded.
Sora was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he missed seeing the fissure up ahead, and he continued walking towards it.
"Whoa~!"
Sora gasped, feeling his feet on nothing, the ground was gone. The sound of pebbles skittering off the boulders and into thin air. His eyes flicked down, seeing that indeed, his feet were in the air too. Below was a long way down into the dark.
He had not fallen; his eyes shifted upward a bit and found a pair of arms wrapped around his torso.
He found himself being drawn up and landed safely on the other boy. Sora drew in a sharp breathe, and turned.
Riku gazed back at him in concern, looking more relieved than ever. "You okay?"
"Er…yeah…" Sora responded, and made a quick dodge from those eyes. Then he noticed he was in the other boy's lap, Sora attempted to move off. That only made the arms around him tighten.
"Don't run, Sora. Please. I won't do anything," a husky voice whispered into Sora's ears, effectively stopping him from moving away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you off…okay?"
After the lapse of silence passed, Sora nodded. Only then did Riku slide his arms from around Sora. The younger boy turned fully around to stare at the cat boy.
Riku looked out of breath, he must have been running.
"How did you know I was here?" Sora whispered, breaking the awkwardness in the air.
"I followed your smell."
"Oh." The awkwardness returned. Another fact taken from what Sora had believed to be a joke. "…Um…thanks for saving me."
"No problem," Riku managed a small smile.
Riku stood up, and Sora followed.
"You don't have to come with me if you really don't want to. I'll get you back into town, all right?" Riku's voice was barely audible, suppressing.
"What?" Sora gawked at Riku as he stood up fully, this time Riku didn't dare look at him. "Then…what about you?"
"I…actually remember my own way back to Kairi's," Riku admitted, eyes showing something that could have been guilt. "I was only trying to delay our walk."
"Huh? Why?" Sora asked instantly, curious.
Annoyance filled Riku as he snapped, "You honestly didn't know why yet?"
In silence, the answer came. Was Riku trying to hold onto him as long as possible?
"Forget it…you always did anyways," Riku cut in, "Let's go." He began heading in the direction that Sora believed would lead back into his town.
'That was it? Riku was going to escort me home and go his own way, and then we'll probably never see each other again?' "No," Sora articulated. Once Riku turned questioning eyes on him, Sora closed the distance between them and claimed Riku's hand. His eyes not wavering from Riku's unbearably hopeful look. "We'll go together, to your place, and let Kairi know that you're all right. But I don't want this to be our last day together."
"You…really meant that?" Riku asked with anticipation. Sora gave a vehement nod several times, the act brought a smile to Riku. As much as he was well aware that Sora might not have meant anything beyond the terms of friends being reunited, he was happy.
Shortly after their little moment, they reached another cultivated area of Destiny Island, which was located only a short distance from the heart of the town. It was an easy place to find if one knew the right rivulet to cross and right boulders to climb.
Sora kept swiveling his head around, observing the new surroundings. He'd never been to this other side of Destiny Island before. Too occupied, he wasn't aware that he was already ascended up the stairs to an open flat. His mind was back on track when he bumped into Riku's side, looking up; he realized he was in front of the door.
Another thing that he noticed was that Riku hadn't let go of his hand. Sora blushed; he had nothing against it earlier because it would keep them from separating in the maze of boulders and uneven plane on the outskirt. But it seemed that Riku hadn't had the same purpose as his in mind.
Riku didn't knock the door, and he looked unsure. So Sora took the liberty to do the job on Riku's behalf, and after he knocked he heard the cat boy grunt under his breath.
Shortly after, the door swung open, revealing a young girl with red hair. She was a few inches shorter than Sora, he assumed that she must have been around his age too. Her violet eyes caught Riku who was right in front of the door, frozen in time. She looked at him up and down, then her mouth parted, expression stunned.
"Kairi, right?" Sora picked a moment to call. Only then that his presence was acknowledged, the girl looked at him and nodded dazedly. "I'm Sora," he introduced and fished out the folded paper from his side pocket and presented it to the girl. "I believe you're looking for this cat. This may seems…crazy...but…" Sora pointed to Riku and said, "It's him." 'Oh, what a great way to break it to her!' Sora chided himself mentally. Given that his mind was clogged with Riku and all, he hadn't been preparing for the explanation.
When sora elbowed Riku for support, Riku finally cracked a smile, "Hey Kai, I'm back."
They all lapsed into a short silence before it was shattered by Kairi's squeal of delight as she jumped up to wrap her arms around Riku's neck.
At that very moment, the sight stung Sora, for reasons that were beyond him.
"Riku! It's really you!" Kairi exclaimed. When Riku gave her a few assuring pats on her back, she swung back and held the older boy by his arms to get a better look at him. "You're back to yourself! Where have you been, what happened!" While the questions were being aired, her eyes swept over to Sora again. "So you're Sora. I wanted to meet you at least once."
The brunet pointed to himself, still swimming in the ocean of questions as to why Kairi had accepted the situation so well. "Me?"
"Yes, you." Kairi issued a series of laughs. Unable to contain her glee, she inclined to whisper only audible to Riku, "I think I know what happened, kissy thingy done, right?"
It was a very rare sight for Riku to fluster; Sora wondered what Kairi had said to him, but he was diving deeper into his doubts about their relationship. 'Are they…?' The presumption alone started to nag at him.
"Oh, come in, come in!" Kairi all but welcomed them.
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Cookies and milk were served for Sora while Riku silently sipped away his tea. Kairi had been the one who seemed eager to talk when Sora brought up the expected questions. She ignored Riku's disagreement by stating that Sora had the right to know.
"Well," After settling herself down the sofa, facing two boys, Kairi started narrating, "It began when-"
X
Once in the Wizard Merlin's house, Riku made his way to where most subject of his interest located. On the small table closed to the wall, was Pooh's storybook. Riku occasionally lost himself in the world of that book. Today, however, the storybook wasn't alone. Next to it was the one he'd never seen before.
Taking interest, he studied the cover: 'Cast of Oblivion.' He had been taught not to randomly touch Merlin's objects, but well, he'd been discredited by the name of a well-behaved boy too. He took the book in his hands. Leafing over the pages, Riku found that the book contained magic about granting wishes, for the price of memory."
"What good will it does if the price is memory…hmm, although it stated here that it'll be only a piece of insignificant memory," he mumbled to himself. Then a certain page caught his interest, it read, 'Walk the avenues of latent memory, and you shall meet someone dear to you.' It sent Riku's mind reeling, he studied the page thoroughly.
He learned that, "In order to grant this wish, you'll lose some insignificant memory, nothing biggie. However, if something should go wrong, the person that you wish to meet would forget your identity, but not who you are. Should the magic fail, the participator will be turned into an animal, to what kind…is unpredictable." Frowning almost comically, he mumbled, "What the heck is the relation? Hnn, magic, never know what it'll do."
Riku thought this over. 'Do I need to do this? In coming year, I'll be able to see him with Kairi's help, but there's no one hundred percent guarantee. No, I already want to see him this much.' Having an idea that no grave danger ever resided in Merlin's magic, at least not what he'd known of, Riku wanted to give it a shot.
"Hah, and the way to work this out, is to read this passage…in one moment, no pause, no re-read, recite exactly word by word loud and clear. How hard could it be?" Riku came to a decision, he paid no heed to how it was even possible when the person he wanted to see was in a different world. "I…want to meet Sora, now." Without as much as any hesitation, he began reading the passage.
His anticipation grew by every word he articulated. He was so confident in reading only that such a small trivial thing he failed to calculate was the chance of the dust in the room would fly to his nose.
"Ar-choo!" he sneezed between mid words, near the end of the passage. Riku stopped death in his tracks, eyes went wide. "Holy shit!"
No sooner than he cursed, his vision twisted and so were his insides. Pain shot through him but not more than he could handle. He didn't know what had happened. One moment he was shocked, and was cursing at his unfortunate mistake, the next, everything in the room was suddenly bigger than it was supposed to be.
X
Kairi had been the one who found him first, bundled up in his clothes. It took her a few moments to piece things together, then she called in Leon and their friends to tell them of the situation. Instead of helping Riku, they seemed to make things worse for him. Kairi and Yuffie wouldn't stop petting him, Aerith smiled fondly, Cid the old man wouldn't stop laughing his belly off, and even Leon was obviously holding back his chuckles. The wizard Merlin, meanwhile, was combing his long mustache with one hand in thoughtful manner, but he was far from resolution.
"Isn't he cute? Even turning into a cat, he still looks like Riku with this silver fur and green eyes."
Said cat, Riku growled, after fighting to compose himself for so long. His voice didn't come out as a threat as it normally did when he was angry. When the girls didn't quit, he fled from Kairi and Yuffie's teasing hands and darted behind the nearest table, earning more bubbles of giggles from them.
"Well, are there anyway we can solve this?" Kairi finally asked, for her friend's sake, after having had enough fun.
Riku, now as a cat, poked his head out of the corner.
Merlin's silence among the fuss equaled a very bad sign. "Hmm, I'm afraid there isn't an instant cure for this spell." Everyone in the room gaped at him. "That book contains only the magic that is irreversible. Riku is a bad boy for not following my advice."
Riku couldn't believe it. T-That was a grin he saw on Merlin's face? Was Merlin having fun with his ill-fate too? After all, he did create a lot of fuss for the wizard with his curiosities.
"But…rest assured, my friends. For every spell, there's a condition that could be met to reverse the magic," Merlin smiled, lifting up one finger.
Managing to pull Riku out of the corner, Kairi held the small cat by his upper body. Riku had given up, understanding that after the fun Kairi had, she'd get right down in business and help him. She regarded him with barely contained glee as she aired, "Don't tell me he gotta look for a true love first kiss." She laughed at her own joke, and Yuffie joined her. So much for Riku's trust in her.
"It is very similar to that."
Kairi almost dropped the cat, her face twisting into tension for the first time. "Is that for real? Riku never showed interest in anyone, how is that gonna be possible in the near future?"
"No worries. It's a simpler matter than that. It doesn't have to be his true love. You see, this book, namely the spell that Riku had participated…would grant his wish to meet someone he longed for should the passage is chanted correctly." Merlin lifted one finger and resumed, "That person…is the key,"
"You mean a kiss from that person?" Kairi assumed.
"Then…is this still about the kissy thingy at all?" Yuffie brought up.
"Oh well." Merlin answered, "It's about the kiss, of course!"
The room fell silent, following Riku's mewls, which everyone believed would have been his grumbles had he been human.
"Aww! I wonder who's the lucky one!" Yuffie chirped.
Riku's face fell, accepting the fact that his cure was far from him now.
Leon uncrossed his arms, "So…?"
"I think I know who this person who Riku wants to see is. I'll help him look for that person," Kairi announced as she winked at the cat.
"Well, we should break this to Riku's parents gently," Aerith said as she turned to Riku, apparently she was the one who volunteered for the job. "Don't worry; we'll take care of you."
"You better find that person of yours fast! Ain't want you to stay that way forever when your helping hands could be put to some use, kid!" Cid added.
When everyone nodded in agreement, Merlin broke in again. "Hold on a minute, my friends. There's a side effect to Riku's condition. From being human, but suddenly shrunk into a small cat, Riku is exposed to losing bits and pieces of his memory. After a year, there's a high chance that he'll forget almost everything about himself." Hearing gasps from several directions, particularly from the females, he assured, "However, his heart will remains as himself, and he'd still hold a sense that he's connected to us or people he cares about. After he regained his human form, everything will come back to him eventually."
The one person who was most worried in the room was unquestionably Riku himself.
"Oh, but!" Merlin started again, lighting Riku's hope. "One privilege here is that Riku will earn nine lives in his life as a cat!"
Well, that helped…a little.
X
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When Kairi was finished telling the tale, Riku looked anywhere but at Sora. Sora seemed to love the story so far, but Riku looked somewhat…unhappy.
"Hold the phone!" Sora blurted as he directed to Riku, "Did you kiss me? Before yesterday and today?" Immediately, he turned red, he had been trying to avoid that.
Riku's eyes turned toward the ceiling. "Yes, I did."
"How come I didn't know that!"
"You were sleeping-"
"Wow," Kairi inserted, causing Sora's face to gain a darker shade of red.
"I was a cat, I needed to retrieve my human form, Sora," Riku reasoned before Sora yelled at him.
That helped calm flustered Sora down a bit, he sank back into his chair and got back on track, "I didn't know that such things happen out there. There's really such thing as magic," Sora thought things through, his expression bewildering.
"Lots of things are happening out there. Destiny Island is a small world," Riku commented without looking at Sora.
"But part of one that's much bigger," Sora responded, feeling the need to stand for his hometown.
"….Yeah," Riku agreed and was caught of guard when Sora inclined toward him and stared deep into his eyes. "What?"
"It's the side effect of you wronging the magic, that's why I forgot you!" Sora said.
"Wasn't that you tried to forget about me, and you, being ultra forgetful, accomplished in doing so?" Riku reminded with a quirk of an eyebrow.
"It's the side effect too! I wouldn't have forgotten my best friend that easily!" Sora debated.
"It doesn't matter. This is great. You guys are together again!" Kairi pointed out optimistically.
"You started to sound like Aerith…like a mother-oww!" Riku grumbled, fumbling with the assaulted spot on his head, the girl's handiwork.
Sora gawked at them.
Here, Kairi noticed the look on Sora's face. She assumed she knew what was going on. She grinned almost apologetically at him. "I'll borrow Riku for a while and return him to you in a jiffy, okay?"
Before both boys could say anything, Kairi already dragged Riku into another room.
Once they were alone, Kairi exclaimed "Riku! Congratulations!" She lifted her hands in the air. "So he liked you too!"
"What made you say that?" Riku disputed, dumbstruck. "Sora is afraid of me for feeling the way I do towards him."
"Oh?" Kairi stared with wide eyes at the boy and drawled, "Really? From the look of things, that didn't seem to be the case."
"What are you saying?" Riku looked at Kairi with eagerness.
'Aww, you didn't know…how lovely-' The girl thought to herself. "You know what? Sora might think we're together. Go clear that up with him. " Giving no room for another word, she pushed him out of the room. She poked her head out a little and called to Sora, "Now he's all yours!"
It seemed like Kairi already liked Sora, well…who wouldn't?
Landing into the living room, Riku saw Sora still on the sofa, looking right back at him.
"Er-" Sora began, "-shouldn't you two be talking, instead of me? I mean, you came back for her…"
"Kairi is one of my closest friends in my hometown. She had a Gummi Ship's license, she helped get me here, so I could look for you," Riku clarified as he sauntered over to settle down beside Sora who curled up into a ball, rocking about.
"So…you guys aren't…?"
"No," Riku supplied. Kairi had been right, never underestimated the girl's intuition.
"Oh…" After a few minutes of deafening silence, Sora pondered aloud, "Well, so I've been thinking. You've been human before, then why couldn't you do things on your own when you retrieved your human form; you didn't understand what I was saying from time to time too."
"From a cat to human, I do need time to adjust my human self back…"
"Oh…right."
"Duh…"
"Huh?"
"Tell you what, Sora. I faked it."
"…What?"
Riku extended his hand over the sofa, behind Sora's back, getting comfortable with himself. "I remember you. I recalled how humans' stuff operated upon seeing you do it around your home, but I faked that I was learning. I understood every word you said since first day, but not all of them I wanted to follow."
Sora's posture took on a tensed posture, soon, he cried, "You lied to me!"
"I didn't lie entirely. Sure my cat side still lingered in me. It took a while to be fully conscious of who I was."
"Still! When you regained yourself, you still acted like you didn't!"
Riku's eyes focused directly on Sora, he stuck his tongue out with a smug smirk. "Well, I couldn't resist. It is not my fault that you're undeniably fun to tease, and your reactions were-"
"You moron!" Sora yelled, grabbing a pillow nearest to him and shoved it to Riku's face. Then he jumped on top of an older boy so forcefully that Riku slid down prone to the cushion. With the pillow now a makeshift weapon, Sora tried to suffocate Riku. Due to its poor quality, the fluffy thing shredded, sending countless of feathers flying about. They were tangled in a heap of mess in seconds, but Sora paid no heed. "I trusted you! Roxas was right! You were just messing with me!"
"Uh…"
It was Kairi's voice. She remained behind her half opened door, staring at them intensely, her expression amused. "A moment there, I was thinking of telling Riku that he shouldn't go so fast with you. Seems like he won't be needing my advice."
Realizing his position with Riku, Sora yelped, hopping off. "I wasn't!"
"Really?" the girl narrowed her eyes playfully. "Anyways, I've been meaning to ask Riku too." She addressed to him. "What are you going to do now? You're attached to Sora, but you still need to go back and let everyone know that you're back to yourself."
"Yeah…" Riku pushed himself up, running a hand through his hair. "I'll go back to Radiant Garden." He spared a sideways glance to Sora, reading his expression, and added in biting tone. "Sora doesn't want me here anyway."
"I didn't say-!" Sora blurted, but his line was left unfinished.
Riku's eyes thinned at the younger boy, "Make up your mind, Sora. I want to stick around with you. I teased you and stuff yet I meant it when I said I want you, but I don't know what you really think. Best friends, or more, or less, I don't think I care anymore."
"I…" Sora looked away.
Riku mirrored his action. "I still have to go anyway; I have to let my people know that I'm back."
"I see. Will you be coming back?" Sora asked.
"Probably."
"You said that last time too."
"Sora," Riku got up, walking slowly to Sora. "Why do you care?"
"I do care!" Sora raised his voice.
Riku reached out and pulled the smaller boy close. He let their foreheads touch and held Sora's eyes. "Really? I'm aware of your behavior, but you said it like you didn't. Well, or at least, not to the point that you still want me here."
With such proximity, Sora's eyes swept from Riku to Kairi, feeling somewhat embarrassed. But Kairi wasn't there anymore. "Er, Kairi's gone."
Riku's eyes checked the room. "Yeah, spending times with our ninja friend, Kairi has mastered the art of sneaking in and out." He settled his gaze back on Sora. "Back to us, Sora. What do you think of me?"
"I said I didn't want you to go, didn't I?" Sora managed.
That was all Riku needed. Kairi's intuition plus his interpretations of Sora's behavior, he did believe that Sora wanted him around, but the boy himself wasn't catching up on the fast track that Riku was going.
"Come with me then."
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"You done?" Kairi asked from behind the book she had been burying her nose in.
Behind the half opened door to Kairi's room was an apologetic Riku. "Really sorry about this, Kai. You've been the one helping me find him and-"
"Don't mention it," Kairi said. She closed her book and hopped off her sofa, beaming. "I had my fun too. And I'm sooo tired of dealing with your boredom when we can't be around you. Once Sora steps into the picture, I'll be free!" Kairi acclaimed, spreading her hands in the air.
Riku chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Kairi."
"You're welcome," Kairi returned, "So?"
"So…we all go together."
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See? Riku isn't passive in the first place!
This is the end of the story actually. But I'll be having one more epilogue regarding few things I'm missing here: one is about the kids that beaten up Riku, two is how Roxas allows Sora to go with Riku, and three, about Riku and Sora themselves.