Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts I & II do not belong to me in anyway.
Tohrue's Note: Oh yeah. I just beat Kingdom Hearts II. Score one for Taylor!
The Dumbing Down of Love
Chapter Three
It's a Transfer For Friendship
"Riku! No!"
"What!"
In a rather disturbed and shocking look, Kairi immediately picked Riku's hand from off of her shoulder and 'gave it back.' Totally flustered by the fact that the boy would even THINK about putting his arm around her just to make Sora back off -- was frustrating. Never had the platinum haired boy ever done such a thing. Sure, when they were seven Kairi had told him that if she kissed him, he'd stop looking so ugly -- but that only ended up Riku knocking Kairi to the ground, telling her she looked like a toad.That was the closest they'd ever come to any 'romantic contact&conversation' and even now, it wasn't romantic. Which, really just proved a lot.
Taking back his hand, he folded his arms across the chest and suddenly redarted his head back to the television screen as to act as if nothing had happened. Frowning, she looked away from him and over to Sora from the corner of her eye. From what she could tell, the boy was slightly smiling. A little uncomfortable by that, she was just glad that he had his hands kept to himself and not tempting to go anywhere even near her shoulder. Or for anywhere else of that matter.
For the next hour and forty five minutes, the three of them all sat in silence. But as the last kiss of the movie was given and the credits slowly began to fade onto the screen, Kairi clapped her hands together for the lighting in the room to turn on. Immediately, their iris' were all greeted with the intensity of light. Squinching her eyes, she got up from the couch and moved over to the DVD player to turn it off.
"… …"
"… …"
"So how did you guys like that movie?" Turning around, she faced them with a smile upon her face. Even though the last thing the both of them were doing, was looking happy.
"It was good."
"It sucked."
Happening to speak at the very same time, Riku and Sora drew both of their eyes towards each others. Riku's brow twitched slightly in aggravation while his hand clenched into a fist. Realizing this was just a fight screaming to happen, Kairi slowly began to head back towards the couch; one hand raised near her chest in defense. She'd known Riku well enough that if he was going to punch, she'd be able to snap away his arm right in time.
"Gonna punch me, are you?"
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it."
"Riku .. Don't even think about it --"
But before her words could have any little say on Riku's actions, his fist went flying across the air. Thinking that she could have been fast enough to grab his wrist, pull away his arm, and then slap him across the face … … Well, she was wrong. The only thing that she'd been fast enough to do was to get his very own punch knocked right into her rib; simply by getting in the way..
The scent of lavendar scented burning candles instantly filled Kairi's sense of smell. She let out a slight moan as her eyelids began to flicker open. As her vision began to return from her slumber, she noted how dark the room was except for the dim light which the candles carried. The blinds of her windows were shut and drawn tight, but she could tell by the cracks that it must have been early morning -- or so it was just starting to be.
Slowly rolling onto her side, she came to find her clock blinking '5:25 AM.' Immediately a groan went past her lips and she flopped back onto her stomach. Great. School day. She hated school. Not only did she feel like such a loser loner, but now Sora was going to be spreading rumors about what had happened the night before with Riku, her, and himself. Of course, everything would get twisted and somehow it would have become that she and him must have had s--
The night before! That was right! She'd accidently taken the punch for Sora -- which had correctly hit her somewhere deep in her side. Just thinking about it, she could feel the pain rearing up in that exact spot. Finding herself now in her bedroom with the clock indicating it was early hours, she must have gotten knocked out by the impact. Not surprised at all, the smallest little pinch probably could have knocked the blue right out of her. Still, it would have been nice if she'd awoken to someone sitting beside her bedside or something. You know, what you always saw in those really cute romantic comedies?
Well, too bad her life wasn't one. Closing her eyes, she pressed her face deep into the pillow and let out some random mumbles beneath her breath. However, she was soon asleep just minutes later.
Thankfully her mother had let her stay home later that day from school. With her side now practically bathed in blue and black and it swollen to about a size of a baloon, she had began to ponder how powerful Riku's punches were, infact. While watching a daily Soap on TV, she'd even wondered if perhaps Riku had some kind of poisonous touch because with the way her injury was acting, it sure as hell seemed so.
Later in the afternoon when the digits of '5:25 AM' had changed to '2:56 PM,' her mother had bothered to take some time out of her day to come upstairs and eventually, knock on the door. The only other time she'd actually seen the older woman that day was when she'd woken her up, to inform that she wasn't going to school. Of course, Kairi had found no problem with it and just fell back asleep minutes later.
"Kairi, someone is here to visit"
"If it's Riku, push him down the stairs and describe in horrible detail about my bruised side."
"It's not him, dear."
Before she could even argue about who it could have been or whether her mother could come in or not, the creak of her door lifted throughout the whole room, and soon, it was opened. Her mother, standing in there in all her beautiful glory, almost blocked the view of the boy behind her. Eventually the woman stepped in the room and off to the side -- revealing who her 'mystery guestt' had been.
"Hey there."
With a rather crumbled smile, Sora hesitantly took a step inside. Kairi watched the whole scene appeal before her; grief stricken all the way. Not only was her face unadorned with makeup, but her hair was one adventure of a jungle. Immediately letting out a 'yelp!', she grabbed for her down cover quilt and pulled it up over her face. There was NO way he was seeing Kairi -- aka Bedhead Frankenstein -- in this state. Sure, if it'd been Riku, no big deal. But not only was it a boy from her school, but also one that was on the ladder of success already. Not to mention any negative word about her from him, could instantly destroy any friends she'd have potential in making.
"Kairi, stop being so immature! Get out from under there!"
"N-no, I ca-can't! I .. I have nothing on!"
"Ridcilious. I spotted you earlier this afternoon walking around the kitchen with your giant bathrobe on. Now, stop being a big baby and talk with your guest. He was nice enough to stop by and bring you your homework that you missed. Not to mention that he walked here from school, missy --"
"Actually, mam', I got a ride from my driver --"
"O-oh, well, still .. Kairi! Get out of there! Now, I'm going to go make some snacks for you and your friend. In the mean time, you pull yourself together and act like a young lady."
Kairi remained silent as she listened to her mother mumble underneath her breath, and eventually, leave the room. However, she could still feel the presence of Sora standing in the corner of her room. A part of her wanted to remain under there; not wanting him to see her in the worst state you could see her in. But another just wanted to get it over with and talk with him. And if he did go around school telling everyone how nasty she looked underneath her done hair and makeup, then it just proved that he wasn't someone to trust.
Slowly, she pulled the covers away from her head.
As Sora finally drew his attention away from out the window and back to her, he began to laugh. At first she thought it might have been because of her appearance, but what he was laughing at had nothing to do with it.
"Some senior from our school just tripped outside of your house."
Giving him a rather odd look, she sworn the boy must have been blind. But as he soon started to rattle on about the senior's trip, she took off a binder from her wrist and began to put her hair up. She nodded and let out the occasional laugh at the description just to show he had her attention, but really she was trying to cake herself up slowly so she didn't look like a pile of crap.
Eventually her hair was neatly tied back into a ponytail and she'd bothered to wet the sleeve of her robe with her saliva and 'secretly' clean her face with it. Yes, it was disgusting, but she was desperate. Besides, who would have been wanting to talk to a guy like that and have something disgusting on their face? Not wanting to take a risk as such, it explained for her actions.
"Ha ha. He's a geek, but he's really nice. .. Anyway! I set your books and stuff by your door incase you want to get caught up on today's homework. But I should be going, anyway. Promised a couple of the guys I'd meet them after school at some lunch restaurant thing -- but yeah, I'm also really sorry you took that blow for me. You shouldn't have, you know. I probably would have been able to blcok it. But .. I hope you feel better!"
The brunette flashed a rather bright and warm grin as he moved himself away from the window. Walking over to her bedside, out of no where he suddenly placed his hand upon her head and ruffled the top of her hair. The neat pulled back surface immediately got ruined and put her back in the state of looking how she had before.
"H-hey!"
"It's nice to see a girl look so natural for once. Sure, looking pretty is great on the eyes for guys, but come on, that can be a little boring, don't you think so?"
But before she could say anything in response to that, the boy turned around and headed for the door. Just moments of stepping outside of it, he reached for the doorknob and pulled it shut. However, just as the barrier of wood came to close the opening between the hallway and the bedroom, Sora gave a wink and then lipsynched some unbeknownst words to her.
RING. RING.
Beep.
"Hello?"
"Hey .."
".. Riku, what do you want?"
"I'm really sorry that I hit you. I feel terrible."
"I don't want this to sound ungrateful, but why didn't you stop by, then?"
"I felt too bad."
"Riku, those excuses are getting old. Someone I hardly even KNOW, stopped by to drop off my books and wish me to get better. What does that tell you about yourself?"
Not even bothering to give the boy a chance to defend himself against that, Kairi clicked 'end' to stop any further conversation. The phone was soon tossed out of posession and onto the floor. It bounced a couple of times, but thankfully the plush white carpet carried the fall, well. Soon after this, Kairi headed for her bedroom door and proceeded out.
Carrying herself down the stairs, through the entry way, through the kitchen, and into the dining area, the red headed girl soon found herself slumping down in one of the chairs that purposely matched the table. Resting her head down upon the glossed surface of the darkended colored table, a loud yell was soon pouring out past her lips. With her mother not home during this time, she didn't care much about how much of volume her voice produced.
"Kinda loud there, aren't ya?"
Immediately, Kairi's head shot up from the table and her eyes across to where the voice came from. With a smirk upon his lips, Riku sat right across from her; a piece of paper in his hands.
"W-what are you doing here!"
"I called from my cellphone outside your house. I had a feeling that you might hang up on me when I tried to apologize. .. But that's old news, anyway. Look what I have!" Taking the paper that had been in his posession, he placed it on the table and slid it across to her side.
"What is it?" she asked; suddenly forgetting about the whole punch thing.
"Read it!"
Casting her eyes upon the paper, her eyes quickly began to scan it as her lips began to read out loud in order to catch up.
" 'The following information below will be Riku's schedule starting the Nineteenth of December. All classes have been picked in order for his choice of career. These classes will help him become stronger in his focal points and strengthen weaker aspects. On the day of arrival, please stop by in the office to have your son fully registered. Thank you, the School of --' RIKU!" The reading of the paper came to a halt as she screeched his name loudly.
"Great, isn't it?" Leaning back in the chair, that grin only widened upon his face. "I'll be going to school with you now! I just told my mom how much you were already suffering -- batta boom, batta bing! Called the school, said I was an aspiring director, and what do you know! They already are getting my school files switched and everything! Isn't it great! We're gonna go to school together!"
"R-riku .. Ah. Why … w-why would you do that?"
"What? I thought you'd be excited! You know -- best buddies, going to school together again!" The curve of the lips instantly went downward. "Or of course you don't want me to see your little new friend again so I can't beat the crap out of him."
"That's not it, Riku!"
"Yeah, yeah. You girls are all the same." Standing up from the chair, he soon pushed it back in and then began to head for the door that connected her dining room to the backyard. Standing up from her own chair, she was ready to follow him right out the door if totally needed.
"Riku! That's not fair! You can't go saying that when you don't know that I want you there or not!"
"Hmph. Whatever. See you tomorrow at school, Princess."
With those words, Riku left Kairi's house.
Tohrue's Notes: Now I'm hungry for some Kingdom Hearts III.
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Tohrue