Chapter Two
"Come on, Riku, is that the best you can do?" Sora taunted, dodging another vicious swing from Riku's red and black keyblade.
Sora swung up his own silver and gold keyblade, grinding his teeth together as the two made harsh contact, completely jarring his arm. He smiled a competitive, yet playful grin as he shoved back with more force, followed by him swinging himself around in a circle with the keyblade extended forward.
Riku soon let out a gasp of surprise as it hit his mark. Sora grinned once more, feeling triumph in actually hitting his friend, unlike the last times…
A sharp, whistling sound sliced through his thoughts, causing Sora to leap up into the air. Riku's keyblade missed his feet by inches. Riku swore, before twirling around, spraying sand everywhere.
Unluckily for Sora, who had landed at the time, slammed his eyes shut as soon as a small grain of the rough substance lodged itself into his eye. He moaned before staggering backwards, the keyblade held forward to block anymore blows.
Too bad it failed.
Riku dipped his keyblade forward, before swinging it back up in an upper cut, knocking Sora's keyblade up before he used the handle to knock him down to the earth.
Sora gasped in surprise, peeling his hurt eye to see Riku standing above him with his keyblade pointing down at him.
"Yes, it is the best I can do." Riku said, pulling his keyblade away. He offered his hand to Sora, who gladly took it, and laughed as he looked at Sora's watering eye. "Jeez, Sora. It's just a little sand!"
Sora narrowed his eyes defensively and said. "Oh yeah? Rematch! Now!" He lept forward and swung the keyblade at an angle so that it would hit Riku's rib cage.
Riku merely sidestepped it, concern beginning to form on his face. "Are you sure you're ok? You've been wanting to practice fighting all day now… and I have one slight issue with it!"
Sora lowered his keyblade, "What's that?"
"I'm hungry!"
Sora rolled his eyes, not believing that Riku, one of the toughest guys he knew, would be complaining about hunger!
"Come on, just one more round?" He asked, unaware of footsteps behind him.
"Sorry, Sora, but no." Riku said, looking over Sora's shoulder at Kairi as she walked over to where they were.
Kairi stood between the two, a quizzical look on her face. "We really are concerned, Sora." She said gently. "You're not acting the same lately." She took a step closer to examine him. "You keep acting as if another battle is just around the corner, when you've already saved the worlds. Just tell us, what's wrong?"
Riku's own face peeked over her shoulder, a light smile growing on his face, while his eyes were wrought with much concern.
Sora took a step back, followed by another, and another, and another, before he was sprinting to the tree house where they lived.
In a few minutes, he'd climbed up the rope ladder and had trotted into the room, slamming the door behind him.
He leaned up against the door, sweat beading his forehead. I can't tell them how I feel! If I did, they'd think I'm crazy! AND I'M NOT CRAZY!!! Sora slid down to the floor, his mind still in a jumbled mess. Do I SOUND LIKE I'M CRAZY!? He blinked as he realized how he was thinking. Oh, yeah…
Sora stood up and walked over to his bed, sliding down to the soft sheets that covered it. His arm seemed to get a tingly feeling as the keyblade appeared once more in a shower of green sparkles. He turned his face towards it. "Well, at least I can trust you…" He said, slightly scolding himself at talking to an inanimate object.
He jumped at the sound of a fist knocking on the door.
He sighed and said, "Come in." He sat up as he noticed it was Riku.
Riku closed the door behind him, before sitting down on the bed opposite of Sora's.
He grinned. "So, what is going on, Sora?"
Sora just stared at Riku, he'd never really lied to him before, but he would never believe him. "It's nothing… that's all."
Riku cocked an eyebrow, obviously not believing his friend. He opened his mouth as if to ask, making Sora clench his teeth in anticipation, before closing it. He was silent for a moment before he grinned once more and said, "So, it seemed like Kairi was getting pretty close to you, huh?"
Sora was silent. "What are you talking about? Nothing's happening between us!" His face grew hot as he said this.
Riku smirked. "Oh please! You're blushing right now!"
Sora just sighed, hoping that that would get rid of the color. He was guessing it wasn't working, due to Riku's growing smile.
"Whatever." He finally said, standing up. "You don't have to tell me, but I'm not blind." He walked towards the door, the smile still spread on his face. "Later." And with that, he was out the door.
Sora just frowned, not knowing how to react. After dismissing the keyblade, he stood up and walked to the door.
Completely unaware of a black form wavering in the shadows behind him.
The sunset seemed just like the one last night. The streaked colors, the lengthening rays, along with the hint of darkness at the ridges. And, surprisingly, Sora was paying attention this time.
He was sitting at the edge of the dock that was south of their tree house, his bare feet dangling over the edge. His blue eyes just stared at it until they burned from how bright it was. He took in how its shape was so solid on the horizon, before it wavered on the ocean.
Sora looked down at the waves for a moment. The whole day, he'd been acting funny, rousing Riku and Kairi's concern. Well, Riku kept grinning his sly grin that no one could comprehend, so Sora had no idea what he was thinking.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps brought him back to reality. He looked up to see Kairi standing next to him, her eyes staring out to the sunset.
"So, what are you doing?" She asked casually, clasping her arms behind her back.
Sora shrugged, glancing over at the golden sun. "Just watching the sunset." He said casually.
Kairi looked at him, a small grin on her face. Sora couldn't help but smile back. She sat down to where her feet were also hanging off of the edge.
"You looked kind of edgy during dinner tonight," She said, "And, well, what's bothering you? Riku and I are concerned."
Sora sighed and looked away from her, back to the slowly sinking sun. "I honestly don't know, Kairi." He said, unable to hold it in any longer, "I keep feeling as if something's not right, but I just can't figure it out." He turned to her once more, hoping that maybe she'd have something, even though he slightly doubted she'd know what was wrong.
She frowned, her eyes gazing back into his. "I don't know, Sora," She said, "Maybe, since it's been exactly a year ago since you've departed from the island, you're just getting the same feelings you had the last time."
Sora turned back to the sunset. That wasn't happening, he was sure of it! Something was wrong… maybe Donald and Goofy are in trouble and I can just sense it? He shook that away, thinking that it was foolish.
Kairi's words soon interrupted his thoughts. "Well," She sighed, "If there were any more adventures, you did promise that you'd take me with you… remember?"
Of course he remembered. How could he forget? That was when they'd found Riku consumed by darkness, and it was when Kairi had rushed over to him, trying to make sure that it wasn't all a dream…
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Sora said playfully. "Although, you could drag me down, asking to go shopping…"
Sora soon gasped as Kairi gave him a rough, yet playful, shove in the arm.
"Would you stop comparing me to Selphie?" Kairi said, referring to their red-haired girlish friend who now lived on an island not far from theirs.
Sora laughed. "Ok, ok! Just don't eat me!"
Kairi just narrowed her eyes, before laughing in unison. They both just sat there, laughing as loud and long as they could, before Sora finally started gasping from cramps.
"Ok," He gasped, trying to get a hold of himself. Such a small thing could turn into something this big… "I think we'd better get to bed, huh?"
Kairi nodded, her auburn hair turning a deep brown in the now-dimmed light. She rose from where she was and walked off.
Sora stared after her, before sliding his shoes back on and running to catch up.