A/N: And welcome onto the scene, Kairi!
Riku and Sora quickly became close friends. Although Riku was nearly a year older than Sora, it didn't particularly effect them; it usually just meant that Riku was turning into a sort of in-school babysitter for Sora.
The three boys were let off with a warning by the school in the end. They were deemed 'too young to be held responsible for their own actions', and simply said that if it happened again they would be expelled. Although a stern telling-off from their parents curbed their more aggressive tendencies, it didn't stop them from yelling insults at the two boys and occasionally trying to instigate a fight. However, neither boy rose to the challenge, and after Ventus had somehow known when Sora was in trouble the last time, they weren't willing to face him again.
Riku started coming round to Sora's after school daily, the two boys playing together for a little while with Ventus until Keiko came home. A couple of years passed quickly, Sora turning six, Riku seven, and Ventus twelve. Although the two youngest didn't have a ton of friends, they had a few close ones and so were happy enough. Ventus didn't have many friends, just people he could hang around with, but having never really experienced companionship, he didn't particularly mind either.
One day, the three boys were playing on the beach, Riku and Sora splashing each other in the water while Ventus made sand-castles - he'd gotten good over the period of Sora teaching him, and now found it was one of his favourite pasttimes.
As he finished off yet another castle, he felt something odd and looked up, blinking as a young girl walked towards them. He'd never seen her before, and wondered who she was.
She smiled as she spotted him, walking over and squatting next to his army of sand-castles. Looking around at them, she grinned at him.
"You're pretty good. Did you make all of these?" she asked.
"Yeah, Sora showed me how," Ventus replied. Then he tilted his head a little. "Who're you?"
The girl's smile widened. "I'm Kairi. I just moved to Destiny Islands today, so my mum told me to go out and meet the locals."
"Oh. Well, it's nice to meet you, Kairi. I'm Ventus."
"Nice to meet you too, Ventus," Kairi replied happily, before taking a seat beside him. He continued making another sand-castle, and Kairi watched him for a minute before also starting to make one. As Ventus watched her build two more, he blinked; both of them were different, unique, and looked more interesting than his own.
"You can build sand-castles in different ways?" Ventus asked in surprise.
Kairi looked up at him in confusion. "Well, of course you can. You can build them however you want," she replied.
Ventus considered this, then attempted to make a different sand-castle. For a while they just kept falling over, until Kairi showed him that the bottom had to be heavier than the top, and then he quickly grasped how to do it.
"Woah Ven! You must have at least a hundred!" giggled Sora as he came running over. He noticed Kairi and looked confused. "Who're you?"
"I'm Kairi. I just moved to Destiny Islands today," Kairi replied with a smile.
"Oh. I'm Sora, and this is Riku," Sora introduced, giving a wide grin and motioning to the silver-head behind him. He inclined his head slightly, squatting infront of Ventus' latest sand-castle and helping a little.
"What?! No fair, you can't have two people building a sand-castle," Sora whinged.
"Yes you can, Sora," Riku replied with a sigh.
"Fine! Then we'll have a competition, and me and Kairi'll be against you and Ven," Sora declared.
Kairi smiled as Ventus shrugged, Riku rolling his eyes as he went to sit beside Ventus.
Kairi became fast friends with the three boys. To begin with she was quiet, and seemed extremely gentle, but as they got to know her more she turned out to be just as exciteable as Sora, happily playing along with their games and often sparring with the two younger boys - and winning frequently.
She also started going to their school, turning out to be in the same year as them. They quickly became inseparable, rarely seeing any of them apart from the other two. They gained the title of 'The Three Musketeers' around their school, though it wasn't completely accurate as Ventus was also often with them whenever he could be.
The three of them had been sitting on the grassy part of the playground, Kairi and Sora rolling down the small hill while Riku watched on and was occasionally pulled up to join them. They'd reached the bottom again, Sora standing with a breathless laugh and helping Kairi up, when he heard footsteps behind him. Glancing back, he quickly backed away, trying to avoid the three boys' gazes.
"What're you freaks doing, then?" asked the one at the front, smirking.
"None of your business," Riku snapped back.
"Touchy. Maybe we just wanted to join in?" he said, stepping towards them. Sora took another step back instinctively, eyes still fixed on the ground.
The one next to him shook his head, glancing at Kairi. "I don't know why you hang around with them. They're full on freaks, y'know?" he said.
Kairi glanced at them, then stepped infront of Sora, giving a bright smile. "Well, maybe I'm a freak as well," she replied sweetly.
The boys hesitated, not wanting to hurt or upset Kairi, then grunted. "You'd do best not to hang around with them," growled the one at the front before they turned, heading back towards the school.
As they headed away, Sora sighed. "I'm so weak," he muttered.
Kairi glanced back at him, then took his hand, making him look up. "You're not weak. You just didn't want to fight, right? I think it's good that you don't get wound up by them."
Sora glanced at her uncertainly, and she smiled. Looking over at Riku, he shrugged, giving a small smile. After a moment he grinned. "Right. And besides, I've got you guys!" he laughed.
Ventus, Sora, Riku and Kairi wandered into Sora's house after school one afternoon, the younger kids happily going to the kitchen to raid the freezer for ice cream as Ventus headed upstairs to start his homework. As he stepped up, Sora came into the hallway, looking up.
"Hey, Ven, d'you want some ice ceam?" he asked.
Ventus considered, then shook his head, smiling. "Thanks Sora, but I need to finish this tonight. I'll play with you guys later though," he promised.
Sora grinned. "Alright!" he replied happily, skipping back into the kitchen.
Ventus smiled as he heard him chatting with Riku and Kairi, before continuing up the stairs and heading into his room. He closed his door, dropping his bag onto his bed and pulling the curtains across before getting changed. Deciding he could use a drink, he headed back out, turning towards the stairs.
Dizziness suddenly hit him, and he staggered, lifting a hand to his head as he tried to stop everything spinning. The walls and floor were blurring together slightly, and he took a vague step forward before collapsing.
Sora was happily licking his spoon clean of ice cream when he heard a loud thump. He jumped then glanced at Kairi and Riku, who looked surprised, before lowering his spoon and jumping off his chair. Running into the hall, he looked up.
"Ven? Are you okay?" he called. He didn't get a reply and hesitated before starting up the stairs. "Ven..?" he asked again, reaching the top before gasping. "Ven!" he cried, kneeling beside the older boy and attempting to check him over.
"Sora, what happened?" called Riku as they padded into the hall.
"I don't know! Ven's just fallen over," Sora replied worriedly, watching as the other two quickly joined his side.
"Is he okay?" asked Kairi, looking a little scared. Sora shrugged as Riku frowned.
"Do you think we should move him?" he suggested.
"I dunno, isn't he too heavy?" Sora replied.
"There's three of us though. I mean, I'm sure we could manage it, right?"
Ventus' eyes slowly opened, and he blinked before pushing himself up with a groan. The three kids quickly surrounded him, asking if he was alright.
"You just fell over! What happened?" asked Sora, voice trembling slightly.
Ventus frowned, then shook his head. "Nothing, I was just a little dizzy. Maybe I stood up too fast or something; I'm sure it's nothing serious," he replied gently.
"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should just do your homework downstairs, then we can look after you," Kairi suggested. The two boys nodded quickly, looking at Ventus expectantly.
Ventus glanced around at them, then smiled. "Alright. Let me just grab my bag first."
"I can get it," Riku replied, standing up and padding into his room. Ventus stood up, padding downstairs with the two kids following. They headed into the living room, Kairi running off to the kitchen to get him a drink, and Ventus sat down on the sofa with a sigh. Sora sat down next to him, wriggling back a little so that his feet were dangling above the ground.
"Are you really okay?" asked Sora hesitantly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. It was just a little dizzy spell," Ventus replied with a smile. Sora nodded, though he didn't look convinced, and snuggled against him silently.
Ventus hugged him gently, glancing out the window for a frown. What he'd seen...that was just a dream, right? There was no way it was ever going to happen, was it?
...Even if it did, he'd protect Sora with his life.
A/N: When I was little, we used to be allowed on the grassy playground during summer, and me and my friends would just roll down the hill continuously. It was pretty much everyone's favourite thing to do. I figured I could incorporate it, at least.
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