Kingdom Hearts: Before the Door
A Light in the Rain production
Neki © Light of Heaven and Kitty Fetish
Reni Concept © Kitty Fetish
Reni © Black Rainy
Kingdom Hearts Characters and Concept © Square Enix and Disney
Final Fantasy Characters © Square Enix
All rights reserved.
So Christmas is over…
Yup…
And now only three hundred sixty-four days left until the next one! –grin—
--sigh—Three hundred sixty-four looong days…
WE SHALL PREVAIL!
With the power of the random?
That, and throwing dud hand grenades at Jet and watching him freak out –holds up grenades—
--evil grin— Shall we?
We shall! But first, CHAPTER TIME!!!
Chapter 11
So there they were. In a tunnel. In the dark. And stuck. Yes, stuck. They could try to jump down the way they came, but it was pretty high up from where they stood. Hence the stuck-ness.
"Let's try pushing it again!"
"IT'S A STICKIN' WALL!!!?" Reni yelled irritably.
"WE WILL PUSH IT AGAIN AND THAT'S FINAL!" Neki shouted back with her eye twitching. Reni swallowed the lump in her throat and stood to help push the wall.
Meanwhile…
"We say no."
"Well I'm oldest and I say yes."
"Two to one, you lose."
"I count for Neki and Reni as well, so that three to two, so they're coming."
"I don't care, the demon children are not-I repeat, NOT- coming with us!"
Riku sighed and shook his head in frustration. The last few days had been like this. Ever since they had decided to build a raft, it had been a constant fight on whether or they were going to allow Neki and Reni to come with them.
"They wouldn't fit! And they're annoying!"
"We can make the raft bigger, and you can shut them up for a good few hours with a kiss on the cheek."
Sora flushed and glared at Riku, "Must you have an answer for everything?" Riku gave him a look and started to leave when he heard familiar screams from the boulder covered cave.
"Sora come help me move this boulder."
"I don't see why. Neki and Reni will be able to get in."
"That's just it! I think they're stuck!" Riku and Sora rushed over and got on one side of the boulder, pushing it with all they're might. They heard the two scream in surprise as the boulder moved aside, and Neki make a crack pot remark about hidden treasure. When the boulder was successfully moved to the side, Neki blinked at the sudden light and focused instantly on Riku's face.
She blinked, then squealed happily, "MY SAVIOR!" Hugging him tightly she grinned and looked around the secluded strip, "So this is where you've been hiding!" She grinned again when she pulled back and walked towards the water. Reni followed suit, minus the hugging Riku part. Neki's gaze swept the place like a thief in a jewelry store. When she spotted the unfinished raft she turned to Kairi and asked simply, "Going someplace?"
Kairi's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly, "Oh no, we were just making a raft so we could get rid of those tiny little canoes!" She lied, and Reni squinted her eyes to get a better look as she rounded Neki.
"Then why are you bringing food?"
"It's for our picnic!" Sora lied as well and ran over to the group. Neki looked suspiciously at her younger brother.
"But we have better food for picnics," she raised an eyebrow gracefully and continued, "Why not get food from home?"
"We're practicing survival skills!" Kairi blurted when Sora had no answer.
"Why?" Reni asked, "It's not like we'll be magically whisked away where we'll be fighting everyday in life or death situations to save the worlds from being engulfed in complete and utter darkness."
It's amusing how Sora, Kairi and Riku always seem to miss that they're saying 'worlds' as in plural.
Sora laughed, "You never know!"
Neki and Reni exchanged glances, the Reni shrugged, "Whatever." Neki cast one last glance in Sora and Kairi's direction before walking over to Riku to give him a hug.
"See you later. Maybe," Neki growled bitterly at the trio. She made a quick hand gesture to Reni and walked back into the tunnel.
Reni stopped at Riku, before following in after the older girl. She opened her mouth to say something, then decided against it, and with a flip of her hair, followed after Neki.
Riku shared a look with Sora before speaking lowly, "See what you've gone and done? Thanks. Thanks a lot…" Riku mumbled a string of curses under his breath and followed after the two, shaking his head in disgust and frustration.
Kairi looked at Sora, "Are we sure we don't want them to come?"
Sora sighed and shook his head, "I just don't get those two anymore."
The red-head smiled solemnly before answering, "The only person who understands them is them."
With Neki and Reni…
"I can't believe them!" Reni hissed angrily as the two made their way to the dock. She ran a shaky hand through her hair and sighed, "I just don't understand them anymore…"
Neki shook her head, "We never understood them in the first place." Reni glimpsed the older girl's expression with surprise. Neki's eyes were downcast as she walked. Her shoulders sagged slightly as she sighed, "We're outsiders. Searching for a damned muffin…"
Reni looked away, "Now that I think about it, our cover is pretty childish…" She pulled her hair over her left shoulder and absently ran her fingers through it. Neither noticed that they had stopped walking, or that Riku stood behind them, debating whether or not to listen in on the seemingly private conversation, "Protect him."
"That's our mission. The only reason why we're here. To protect him," Neki shivered against a cold breeze that blew through the island, "Ten years. We've been here, leading false lives, for ten whole frickin' years. Yet still we don't know which one he is!" She punched the air in aggravation at the loss of time, "What do we look like? Super detectives? I'm a fighter for tuna's sake! Not a turkey'd sleuth."
Turkey'd?
The equivalent of damned…
Ah…
Reni flinched as Neki screamed loudly and punched a nearby coconut tree, causing it to splinter, "I'm angry too, but that doesn't mean we can give up! Maybe things will come to light soon! Maybe this raft thing is a sign!" Reni forced a smile as she tried to lighten Neki's spirits. The older blonde whipped around to face her with a scowl.
"And what, pray tell, does this turkey'd sign say?" Neki growled viciously. Reni flinched at the underlined tone in Neki's voice. When Reni didn't answer Neki snarled, her canine's glinting in the fading light, "Exactly."
Reni averted her gaze, "Then what do you suggest we do, oh powerful one," Reni spat back. Neki's scowl melted immediately, and she rushed to Reni's side, wrapping her in a sisterly embrace.
"I'm sorry, little one…" she crooned and sighed, "This is all just so…" She left the sentence unfinished. Reni nodded and hugged Neki back.
"I know…I feel the same…"
The two separated and smiled at each other. A peaceful silence ensued as they finished their walk to the docks. Neki was the first to break the silence, once they were half-way to the main island.
"What do you say to a nice mug of hot chocolate?"
Reni beamed and nodded, "Sounds like a plan!"
With Riku…
He couldn't believe it.
He headed back silently to Sora and Kairi, trying to clear his mind of the conversation all the way, but inevitably failing. Kairi flagged him over to help her tie the basket of food to the raft so it wouldn't fall off. Sora had him help with the sail, the three silent all the while. After the minor fixes were complete, he looked over the raft while Kairi made a list of the food they had left to find tomorrow. Sora left for the paopu tree after Riku and he finished the sail.
Kairi looked up from her lap when Riku came over and sat down next to her, "The raft is ready." She nodded her acknowledgement, and the two fell into silence yet again as she finished her list. The two stood and started for the paopu tree where Sora awaited them.
"Do we really not want them to come?" Kairi asked inaudibly as Sora helped her onto the tree. He gave her a look.
"Of course not!" He growled, "They're annoying and stu—"
"You're stupid!" Riku barked, "Does that mean we're not taking you?!" Sora recoiled from the outburst and lowered his gaze, "You're annoying, you're stupid, you're just like your sister. Yet we still plan on taking you with us. So keep those remarks to yourself." Kairi gaped at Riku with shock.
"Riku! I know you're angry, but that's no reason to take it out on Sora!" Kairi hissed. The silver haired teen fixed his eyes on her.
"You're no better Kairi…" She glowered at him, "You don't want them to come just so you can have us all to yourself." Her eyes widened as she sputtered out a remark that that was a lie, "Oh really?" She averted her gaze as well.
"You've changed Riku."
Sora's quiet comment shook Riku to his bones.
They'd all changed. Kairi had become quick to get jealous of the other girls. Wakka seemed to distance himself from everyone but Tidus, and Tidus seemed like he only wanted to be with Selphie. Selphie had grown to have a crush on Tidus. Sora had become a lot stronger, but only because he was constantly trying to beat Riku at anything and everything. Riku himself had changed. He had become less comforting, and less approachable. He seemed like he wanted to keep everyone away from him. Sometimes not even letting Neki sit with him, even if she was quiet.
Then there was Neki and Reni.
It seemed they had changed the most. They had grown not only physically, but mentally too. Physically, they had tanned from life on the islands. Neki's eyes had gone from pure honey, to a deep russet color. Her gaze was piercing and defiant. Reni's eyes had changed into a grayish-blue color, but had deepened with knowledge and unrequited feelings. Her eyes were soft and bubbly, but at the same time dark, as if something was troubling her.
Mentally, they seemed as if they hadn't changed, but Riku knew they had. When they first arrived, Neki would latch herself onto him, and go into "deep" conversations about the dumbest things, but she didn't do that anymore. Now, when she wanted to spend time with him, she would simply sit somewhere near where ever he was and watch him. Not saying anything. Sometimes, late at night before they all would head up to the main island, he'd get her to have a normal conversation with him.
Reni had changed in a similar fashion. She gave up on trying to get Sora to like her when they were twelve. She also came up with an idea to have her and Kairi sign a contract so that they wouldn't have another catfight over him, which often caused him to hide in his closet for a week or two. She'd also mellowed out, and was often using logic instead of Neki's 'way of the random'. Riku found the two sitting on the beach a lot, just watching the stars. He never understood they're fascination with it. When he asked Reni about it once, she simply smiled wretchedly and told him that the stars had been going out recently.
"Riku," Kairi's hushed voice brought him out of his reverie, "If we get to a new world…What will you do there?" A flicker of realization rushed through him as he spoke slowly and gently.
"I haven't really thought about it. If there are other worlds out there, then why are we on this one? Why did Kairi, Neki and Reni end up here? Why did we end up here instead of some other world?" Riku look intently out at the water, as if it had the answers he searched for, "And if there are other worlds, then this island is just a part of something much greater! And I want to see it all…"
The three fell into yet another silence, and during that silence it finally clicked in Riku's brain the many times that the two people not here kept saying worlds—as in plural. Good job Riku! He stood up quickly, startling his companions. Ideas and thoughts flood into his minds as insignificant things clicked into bigger ideas. Like pieces of a puzzle beginning to show the final project. But there were still puzzle pieces missing.
And he planned on finding them.
"Riku?" Sora asked, "You okay?" Riku turned to look at Sora and smirked, "Yeah he's fine." Sora and Kairi laughed and jumped down off the paopu tree, following him off the bridge.
"Sora."
Sora turned, leaving Kairi to head into the Seaside Shack alone, "Yeah?" Something was thrown at him, which he fumbled with to catch, "Wha-what?"
"It's a paopu fruit. I know you've been wanting one." Riku walked past Sora with a knowing grin. Sora looked down at the thing in his hands to see that it was in fact a paopu fruit. But how did Riku know that he wanted one? The only person that knew was Ne—
He really had to stop telling his sister things…
When Sora looked up, he was gone, already to the docks. He gave the fruit another look before chucking it over the edge into the water and running to catch up.
The Next Day…
"Go fish… Got any sevens?"
"You do realize that 'got any sevens' is poor grammar?" Riku asked the two girls sitting on the sand playing with a deck of cards rather dejectedly. Neki lifted her head to meet his gaze and he felt a shiver run down his spine at the emptiness he found there.
"Go fish," Reni said with a yawn. Neki drew a card and switched her gaze to see what she got. Silently she pulled out the seven from her hand and put it with the seven she had just drew.
"Do you happen to have any three's in your hand per chance?" Neki said in a mocking British accent. Reni cracked a smile and shook her head.
"I do not. I believe the proper term is, 'go fish.'" Riku sighed, shaking his head, and sat down next to Neki, "Aren't you supposed to be helping for the 'picnic'?" Reni asked with air quotes around picnic. He shook his head again.
"No, Sora can do it just fine on his own. He's a big boy."
Neki scoffed, "A big boy wouldn't still sleep with a night light at the age of fifteen." Reni showed another smile as she looked down at her hand.
"Got any kings?" she asked. The older blonde shook her head no and mumbled 'go fish.'
"Besides," Neki continued, "We refuse to speak with you from now on starting," she paused, "Now."
Riku raised his brow and looked to Neki, who wouldn't meet his gaze, "Fine. I don't mind." He leaned back in the sand and watched the two as they finished their game of Go Fish and started a game of War.
It was a good few minutes into the game when Sora came bursting out of the secret place, "THERE'S A CREEPY MAN IN THERE SPEAKING GIBBERISH!" Neki and Reni simultaneously rolled their eyes, but didn't speak up, "There is!" He defended again the two's silent remark.
"Right Sora, and there's a midget living in Selphie's hair."
Selphie, who was sitting on the docks, whipped her head around to glare at Riku, "I can hear you Riku."
Riku shrugged, "It's not true."
"According to the people with normal brains," Reni grinned deviously. Sora stared at her with wide eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're an idiot, dear little brother," Neki explained, "Get used to it." Sora yelped at the sudden insult and rubbed the back of his head, giving Riku a look that said clearly that he did not want the blondes to come. Riku shrugged and snuggled deeper into the warm sand as Reni and Neki continued with their game, as if they hadn't even been interrupted.
"Sora!" A voice called from the bridge. Kairi stood there waving at him with a grin, "Come here!"
"Now?" He whined. Kairi nodded furiously, the grin still plastered to her face.
"Keep smiling Kairi and your face will stick like that," Neki called out venomously. Sora glared, which Neki rebutted with a glare of her own that said she really didn't care, "Sometime this year Sora. Your little girl-y friend is waiting for you." Sora blushed and ran off to see what it was that Kairi wanted.
"Don't you think that was a little harsh Neki?" Riku asked her. She didn't answer. He sighed and moved in front of her face, blocking her view of Reni and their game, "Talk to me." She answered by raising her brow in a questioning motion, "About anything!" She smirked, causing him to sigh, "Yes, I can't handle you not talking to me."
Reni cast a glance between the two, trying to understand the one-sided conversation, but failing. She shrugged and gathered the cards in preparation of a game of Free Cell. Neki handed Reni her cards and stood.
"I'll talk to you later Reni. I'm going home," she left after Reni nodded her acknowledgement, heading to the docks at a fast pace. Riku got up quickly and chased after her.
"Neki!" He called out to her, and was thrown off balance when she turned on her heel to glare at him, "Please talk to me…"
She shook her head, but helped him up—bringing him to eye level—before heading back to her boat. He followed.
"Neki, will you please say something?"
"Something."
"That's not what I mean and you know it!"
She hopped down into her boat, and pushed off trying to get away from his barrage, but he jumped hurriedly and managed to land safely before she had gotten too far. "Neki!" She refused to meet his gaze, and the simple gesture finally registered in his mind.
She was trying to distance herself from him.
In a flash of emotion, he reached forward and gripped her shoulders, pulling her up to meet his eyes. As he had expected, she averted her gaze, so he shook her gently, causing her to refocus on his face, "Neki…Don't ever think you can get away from me." Her eyes closed slowly as she mulled over her options. Finally she reopened them, and he felt his breath hitch in his throat.
The tear fell slowly down her cheek until it reached her chin, where it made a small splash on his arm, followed by another, and another.
Neki was crying.
His first reaction was to stare, seeing as he'd never seen Neki actually cry over something before. Sure she'd 'cry' over spilt milk—metaphorically and actual spilt milk—and when Sora or himself would make fun of her, but he'd never seen her cry.
Never.
His second reaction was to wrap her in his arms—quite aware that they were now stuck in the middle of the ocean between the main island and the play island seeing as the paddles were currently floating toward the main island after he dropped them—and whisper in her ear that it'd be alright.
And his third reaction was the one that got her to stop crying.
End
--glare—
What?
I refuse to let you stop there.
Why not? I think that I wrote a really awesome cliffy!
EXACTLY! Now I want to know what he did?
What do you think he did?
Threw her into the water…
I'm not that cruel!
Riku! –glomp—You're on my side right?
No.
What?
Write. Now. Seriously.
--huff—Fine! Geeze… Nobody appreciates a good cliffy anymore…
Not the End…
He kissed her.
She would have gasp were it not for his mouth on hers, so instead she closed her eyes and leaned into him. Her hands found her way to his neck and he pulled her closer, not wanting her to leave him. His hands moved to her hips and he broke the kiss, staring down at her with a smile playing across his features.
She removed one of her hands to wipe at the tears and sniffed, "Riku?"
"Yeah?"
"How are we going to get back to the island now that the paddles are gone?"
He chuckled and laid the two of them down in a comfortable position on the small boat—meaning her curled up next to/on him with her head snuggled into the crook of his neck—then said with a sigh, "We'll get there eventually."
"You didn't think that one through very well did you?"
He looked down at her the best he could with his signature smirk, "Contrary to popular belief, I don't think a lot of things through."
With
Reni…On the dock…Spying…
"Oh…My…Land-ho on a chocolate covered muffin!" Reni squealed and pulled the telescope away from her eye. Sora came up behind her and squinted to see what she was squawking about.
Since he couldn't, he turned to her and asked, "What? I don't see any—OH MY LAND-HO CHOCOLATE COVERED MUFFIN ON A STICK!" Reni had taken the telescope and stuck it in front of his eye so he could see the outrageous stunt being done out there in the stray boat.
"They. Are. SO KISSING!" Reni squealed again. Sora stood there with his mouth hung wide open and a blank look on his face, "What?"
"Things are going to be so awkward from now on."
Reni looked at Sora with a funny expression, "How so?"
"My sister is dating your brother."
"OH MY GOD WE'RE RELATED!"
Sora slapped Reni across the head making her scowl, "Think stupid! We are related now, but if things keep going in their favor, we will be!" Sora and Reni exchanged a glance before both began to daydream about what the floating pair's kids would look like. Reni squealed again and Sora shuddered. They both turned around and headed back for the beach.
Sadly for Reni, they missed the second, longer kiss.
End For Real
I'll accept that –dances with salad tongs—
WILL YOU PUT THOSE THINGS DOWN?!?
--shrugs—Okee! –puts tongs on floor—
Thank you. –turns to face readers—Well this is my chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO PUT THOSE THINGS DOWN!
--screams—I DID THEY'RE STALKING ME!!!
--sighs—Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go exorcize a pair of salad tongs…
First you read, now you review!
This is the review part. –smile—