Chapter 9
Remember Me
"Riku? Riku, come on, stop messing around," Sora said in denial of the situation.
"Where am I? Is my mom in here?" Riku said, trying to push Sora out of his way. "Why are you all looking at me like I have some kind of disease?"
"No, Riku," Sora said, on the verge of tears.
"Sora, honey, just go upstairs, you have been through enough today. Just go upstairs and we will figure out what to do," his mother told him.
"No. Riku, you know who I am, right? Sora, remember?" Sora asked, nearly collapsing from sudden exhaustion.
"Look, everyone, all I know is that my parents are supposed to be back from work to make dinner. I am not sure why or how you all know me, but can you please show me back to my house," Riku said. He shot a disgusted look at Sora, who was now crying on Rikku's shoulder as Tidus tried to calm him down.
"Listen, Riku, I know this is a little weird for you, but you know all of us. You have just suffered some kind of memory loss," Sora's mom attempted to explain.
"Lady, I don't think you look like you are in the position to diagnose any of my problems. I do think I would remember walking into a strangers house anyway. Now-" Riku said, attempting to go to the door.
"Stop," Sora's mom said. "You can't leave. I can prove to you, that you know us, because I know your mother and father."
"Really?" Riku asked skeptically.
"Yes. If you promise to stay in this house," she bartered.
"Fine," Riku told her confidently. She went to the phone and dialed a number. It didn't take long for someone to pick up.
"Hello, it's me...I know...wait...listen, there is a problem...calm down...let me...he is not dead...will you...shut the hell up!" his mother screamed.
"Let me talk to her," Riku said, disbelieving she was even talking to anyone.
"Okay, here is the problem," she said, handing the phone to Riku. Sora could not take any more. He started to run to his room. Tidus started to follow.
"Mom?" Riku asked.
"Tidus?" Sora's mom asked ignoring the beginning of Riku's long freak out. "Would you mind spending the night. Help Sora with this. I don't want him up there alone, and he certainly isn't going to talk to me about it."
"Yeah, sure," Tidus said. He walked up to Sora's room.
"Rikku, you are welcome to stay, but I am not sure if your mom is going to be all right with it," Sora's mom said nicely, as she tried to block out an extremely inappropriate word from Riku's mouth.
"That's all right. I might come back tomorrow if that is okay?" Rikku asked.
"Sure...Would you stop calling her crazy!" Sora's mom yelled at Riku. "We aren't making this up!"
Tidus arrived at Sora's room. The door was closed. He touched the handle gingerly. As the door opened, Sora gasped and looked up in surprise. He slouched back down with a sigh. He must have expected it to be Riku.
"Sora?" Tidus called softly, as though worried his voice would break something.
"Just go," Sora said. Tidus walked in and sat next to him.
"Sora, it's okay. I'm sure everything will be fine," Tidus comforted him.
"You mean, you aren't even concerned with the fact Riku and I are...were going out," Sora said with a depressed tone as he wiped away a tear.
"No. I think it's fine. Although, I am a little confused with what happened with you. I mean, according to Riku, you were taken over," Tidus said. He was not actually concerned with it, but he was trying his best to get Sora to divert from his thoughts of Riku.
"Tidus, I don't want to talk about it. It just happened, to me, like everything else. I must be cursed, or there is a force out their trying everything to keep me away from Riku," Sora said.
"I don't know about that, but I don't know how Riku is going to gain his memory back," Tidus told Sora, realizing he was not going to be able to distract Sora, but he thought maybe talking about it would help.
"He will never know how close we were. He is completely clueless about us. And when we get back to school, it is going to look like I made the whole thing up and everyone is going to look down on me like a creep," Sora said, starting to shed a little more tears.
"Sora, most those kids at school are jerks anyway. That is all they are ever going to be. Listen, you have me, and Rikku, and Yuna. We are going to be with you all the way. Maybe you will find someone else," Tidus told him, patting his back comfortingly.
"Someone else. No. No one else. I could not do that to Riku. Even if-" Sora started.
"Sora, you can't do that to yourself. You are going to hurt the rest of your life. I know you may think moving on is a little to fast, but Sora, how do you think Riku is going to remember you. He is completely lost. He probably doesn't even look at guys in a relationship as something that is okay," Tidus explained as he tried to look in Sora's avoiding gaze.
"I love Riku," Sora stated firmly.
"Maybe there is someone else for you. Someone right in front of you that you don't even realize is there," Tidus told him, finally catching his eyes.
"Huh?" Sora asked. Tidus moved his hands to Sora's. Sora left it there, although his mind was telling him to pull away.
"Sora."
"Tidus? What are you-" Sora was cut off by an unexpected kiss. Tidus followed Sora when he leaned away. "Tidus, stop-" Sora was cut off by another passionate kiss. Sora felt confused. He truly wanted to stop him, but he could not help but want it. He kind of felt like it was the only option now that Riku could not remember him. Then, he quickly made his mind up. He did not want Tidus. He did not care what was happening with Riku, Tidus should not be doing this to him. Tidus knew what was happening and that Sora was in an emotional breakdown. Before, Sora could fully push Tidus off of him, Riku walked in.
"Riku," Sora said, somewhat relieved. Riku stared at them as though thinking hard on a question. Then, he snapped out of it and approached Tidus.
"Get off of him!" Riku yelled. He pulled Tidus off the bed and gave him a right hook across the face so hard, Tidus spun around before collapsing on the floor.
"Riku? Are you...normal?" Sora asked hopefully.
"What? Wait...That felt familiar. Hitting you. That was weird. I have never saw you before, but I recall hitting you outside of my house-" Riku said.
"Why the hell did you hit me!" Tidus said furiously.
"I don't know. I felt like I should have. It felt like I was-" Riku started.
"Jealous?" Sora suggested, hoping it would come back to him.
"No. Why would I be?" Riku asked. Tidus was now looking extremely embarrassed. He started to say something, but just walked out of the room with an upset look. Sora soon heard the front door shut. He was not staying the night.
"Riku?" Sora asked.
"Look, I just want to go to bed, all right. I don't want to talk about anything. I am confused and I have no idea what is going on. Okay Sora," Riku said.
"It's Sora. So-ra. Sora," Sora stated, feeling another tear slide down his face.
"Oh. Okay. Good night," Riku said.
"Good night," Sora said, falling over on his bed to what would surely be a sleepless night. It was not long before he heard the relaxed breathing of Riku, signaling he was asleep. Sora lied there for a little longer, then decided he was not going to sleep. He stood up out of bed and could not help but look at Riku. How had he remembered hitting Tidus? Was his memory coming back to him? Then Sora suddenly thought about what Tidus had done. Sora felt awkward as he thought about the kiss with him. He knew Sora was upset and vulnerable. Why did he do that to him?
Sora walked down stairs, not bothering with any lights. He felt his way to the living room and turned on the television. He watched some random black and white movie that he thought might bore him to sleep, but he actually sat through the whole thing. It was nearing 3 am. Sora decided to find something to eat in the kitchen, and found that he quickly began scooping ice cream continuously until he had eaten it all. He found it hard to stop eating all the comfort food he could find.
Sora pulled his head back and shut his eyes as the sun began to creep in through the windows. He felt his eyes try to adjust to the light filling into the room as he watched the earliest news broadcasting.
"Sora? Are you already up?" his mother asked in surprise as she came down the stairs.
"I never went to sleep," he responded.
"Sora, are you going to be all right? I'm sure he will get his memory back," she said comfortingly.
"Probably not," Sora muttered. He decided to go back to his room and lie down. He still did not sleep. As the sun rose and fully covered his room in light, Riku yawned. Sora rolled to his side to see him.
"Riku? Do you remember anything?" Sora asked, hoping that in his sleep he recovered.
"Look, I don't even know what you people are trying to make me remember. All I know is I would rather be home with my parents then here with whoever you people are. Sora, was it?" Riku asked.
"Yeah," Sora answered quietly.
"Sora! Breakfast is ready," his mother yelled up at them.
"Great. I am starving," Riku said as he quickly left the room. Sora rubbed his forehead vigorously.
Sora walked downstairs and entered the kitchen. The smell of pancakes flooded the room. He sat opposite of Riku and looked at his food. It smelled good, but did not feel like eating very much. He took small bites, and chewed slowly. Meanwhile, Riku was inhaling his pancakes like he had not eaten in years.
"These are really good," Riku said.
"Thank you. I make them from scratch with a small hint of brown sugar," Sora's mom said happily as she sat down herself, pretending like everything was fine. Sora felt a little angry at her behavior.
"I hope it is all right with you two, but I would like to have another talk with my parents about what is going on, and then I would like to go for a walk," Riku said, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"Well, that would be just fine. You can come back at noon for a sandwich. I think I will be out for a while shopping. I think I will pick up some chicken for dinner-" she said normally. Sora threw down his fork and scooted back his chair to get up. He stomped out of the kitchen, raced up stairs to change and put on shoes, then left his house. He was furious with the way she was acting. It was as though nothing was wrong. He hated it. Everything was wrong and nothing was getting better.
Sora walked down the sidewalk, not paying attention to where he was actually going. He noticed he was walking too far from his house, when he was no longer on a sidewalk. He turned around and continued to walk the same way until someone yelled his name.
"Sora? Wow, you walked far from your house," Rikku said.
"Huh? Yeah, I wasn't paying attention. I needed to get away from mom, and Riku for that matter," he told her.
"Still doesn't remember?" she asked. Sora shook his head. "That's messed up. Oh. Is that Tidus over there?" Rikku asked.
"What?" Sora gasped. Tidus was walking a little ways down from them. He had his head down, so he had not seen them yet.
"Hey Tidus!" Rikku yelled.
"No!" Sora yelled. Tidus looked up. His eyes widened before he crossed to the other sidewalk and took off quickly.
"What the heck," Rikku said. She looked at Sora. "Didn't he stay at your house last night? What happened?"
"Umm. It is kind of... weird," Sora said.
"Weird. What? Tell me? I need to know," she said desperately.
"Well...he sort of kissed me," Sora said.
"What! You are kidding. Why would he do that? I didn't know he was like that. I didn't know he liked you or anything. What did you do?" she asked.
"I was confused. I did not want it to happen. I don't know," Sora said.
"He took advantage of you?" Rikku asked.
"Kind of. I guess," Sora told her.
"Hmm."
"Oh yeah. Then, even weirder, Riku came in and acted as though he was jealous. He hit Tidus," Sora said quickly.
"Really? Did he remember something?" she asked.
"He said that when he hit Tidus he remembered doing somewhere. When we were at Riku's the other day, Riku hit Tidus. He remembered doing it somehow," Sora explained.
"Sora, if he remembered that from hitting Tidus, maybe he will remember how he feels for you, if you kiss him?" Rikku suggested. Sora looked at her with confusion at first, then excitement.
"You think?" he asked.
"It makes sense," she said.
"This is great!"
"Although, this could be a bit problematic."
"Why?" Sora asked as his heart raced.
"How do you explain to a guy that has no idea who you are that you want to kiss him?" she asked.
"Oh yeah," Sora said. With this, Rikku patted him on the back apologetically.
They walked together back to his house, thinking of ways to solve the problem.
"Well, on thing is for sure. There is no way you can simply ask him. I am sure it won't work," Rikku said.
"Okay. So I try to just surprise him with it?" Sora asked.
"Yep. Good luck with that," she said as Sora opened the door to his house.
"Oh, I would ask you to stay, but I am so tired right now. I need sleep," he told her.
"That's fine. I have to meet my mom at that new restaurant downtown. Bye," she said.
Sora ran up to his room and fell on his bed. He fell asleep, aside from the intense anticipation of kissing Riku again.
Sora woke up abruptly from being shaken.
"Sora?" his mom said. "I didn't even realize you were home. Dinner is ready. I was getting worried for nothing," she said.
"Oh," he said yawning. "Is Riku back?"
"Umm. Yes he is, but Sora, you need to stop bugging him about this. It is hard for him too you know. He doesn't even know why he is with us," his mom told him. Sora had not thought of it like that.
"Yeah, sure," he said. He walked down with his mother and the smell of chicken was everywhere.
"Yummy!" Sora exclaimed at the surplus of food. They talked about funny little stories from his mothers childhood. Riku surprisingly laughed and talked as though they were his family. It made Sora feel more comforted to know that he was getting used to them. They talked more after they were finished eating. It was nearing 10:00 when Sora's mom finally stopped.
"Well, Riku, school tomorrow unfortunately. And Sora, I talked with the principal and managed to negotiate your return the day after tomorrow. So enjoy your day off," Sora's mom said.
Sora and Riku walked up the stairs together. Sora prepared for what he was going to do. They approached the door to Sora's room and Riku opened it.
"Your mom is nice," Riku said. Sora ignored him, spun him around and lunged at him, to kiss him. He came within inches of his lips before Riku pushed him away.
"What the hell! What is wrong with you? I don't know what you think is happening between us, but forget it," Riku said. "You can sleep downstairs." He slammed the door in Sora's face. Sora's face was red hot. He felt incredibly embarrassed.
He walked downstairs and fell onto the couch. This was not going to be easy.