AN: I admit I do like writing first person Sora. He's so adorable, quirky, naïve and innocent. He's just a-dork-able to put it simply and I guess that's why I usually have so much fun writing him. Come on, you know your heart melts whenever you see that stupid little grin of his X3.

Pocketship: Chapter Three
The Oblivious One
Sora

My name is Sora Hart…

…And I wish that my two best friends, Riku and Kairi, would stop fighting over me.

It's gotten to be such a progressive problem that I'm all tapped out of ideas for what to do with the two of them. I've tried to incorporate both of them into joint activities so we can all hang out together, but whenever that happens, they usually just end up fighting like all hell. I've known Riku and Kairi ever since we were kids. Granted, I've known Riku for longer but I feel just as attached to Kairi as I do to him. I don't want to lose either of them because they both mean the world to me.

You know, I was always told that when you got older, you were supposed to mature. At least, that was the impression I got from other people. I mean, just look at my older brother, Leon. He acts more like an old man than a twenty-something year old. Mom always says he just lives a 'rigid' life style though, whatever that's supposed to mean.

Anyway, back to my problems.

I can't pinpoint exactly when it started, but it definitely became more noticeable just after Riku came back from this summer after his first year of college. Once summer started, Kairi and Riku never seemed to leave me alone. If I wasn't doing something with Riku, Kairi was filling up my schedule for time to be spent alone with her.

They never seemed to be around each other for whatever reason, and like I said, when they were, it was as if hell had sprung out from beneath my feet and landed right in front of me. There were many times when Kairi stepped beyond the verbal bounds and tried to get physical with Riku, but during those times, I often jumped in to intervene before anything too catastrophic happened.

Also when I tried to bring up the problem with either one of them, they both skirted the subject so many times that I just about gave up on it. Riku just really quiet and reduced himself to answering my questions with a noncommittal sounds.

It was like he wasn't interested in what I was saying to him and there was never any substance to what he was saying. Kairi would laugh, call me silly and change the topic to something else. As much as I hated to admit it, it was really starting to tick me off. And that doesn't happen all too easily.

Most will probably tell you that I'm a pretty level headed and easy going sort of guy who rarely, if ever, gets angry at anything. A little 'pouty'—as Riku always says—but never angry. But, no, I was certainly starting to get angry over this.

…And to tell you the truth, I don't think I could stand for it much longer.

-x-

"Sora!" My mother called upstairs, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Sora! Riku's here to see you!" She called out again just as I was getting out of bed.

"Coming!" I called back down the stairs as I opened the door to my room. The minute I started to walk down the stairs, Oathkeeper was bounding up toward me, her white tail wagging enthusiastically when she saw me. Oathkeeper—often referred to as my little sister by my mother—is a little, barely pushing five pound, Maltese that my mom absolutely adores. She got her after our last dog, Oblivion, died around fall of last year.

"Rraaf!" Oathkeeper looked up at me with bright brown eyes when I leaned down the pick her up. The moment I gathered her into my arms, careened her face up to start licking my cheek, and steadily moved over to my nose. She's …an affectionate little something.

Riku was standing by my mother in the living room, talking about something with her and laughing all the while. They both turned around to look at me the second I descended the stairs into the living room with Oathkeeper in my arms. The minute she saw my mom, Oathkeeper very well jumped out of arms and sprinted like hell fire over to her.

My mother laughed, leaning down to pick up Oathkeeper, "Well aren't you a little spitfire of energy today? Are you just showing your tail because Riku's here?"

Riku laughed in return, scratching Oathkeeper behind the ears as she leaned out of my mother's reach toward him. "She's gotten bigger since I've seen her last."

"And a whole lot more active, too." My mother shook her head, "I'll leave you with Sora, now. It was good seeing you, Riku." With a quick nod to Riku, she left the room with Oathkeeper in tow.

I waited until she had left the two of us alone before I said anything, "What's up, Riku?" I motioned for him to follow me as we walked through the living room and back in the direction of the stairs.

Riku began shrugging his jacket off his shoulders as he followed after me. "Nothing much. Thought I'd pay you a little surprise visit."

"You're not …leaving to visit your dad this year, are you?" I asked, as we ascended the stairs in unison.

"Not quite." He murmured.

Riku's parents are divorced. After they split, his father moved away to Radiant Garden while his mother stayed here in Twilight Town. For most of the year, excluding school, Riku's usually in Twilight Town. But, sometimes he leaves to—rather, it's more like he's forced into—visit his father for the holidays or during vacations and such.

He doesn't like to talk about too much, and but I know it bothers him even if he doesn't admit it.

"Then …?"

"I can't pay you a visit if I wanted to, Sora?" He asked, a grin unfurling on his lips.

I opened the door to my room and shrugged as Riku followed me in and closed it behind him. I went back to lying on my bed like I had been previously. Riku joined me a few seconds later after throwing his jacket over my desk chair. "So what have you been up to today, Riku?" I asked, as he settled in on the opposite side of the bed.

"Nothing really." Riku replied, "I was on my way to the store to pick up some egg nog for my mom, but …"

"…You figured coming to see me was more important?" I asked, as I flipped over onto my back, my head hitting the pillow behind me. I laughed, "Your mom is going to wonder what's taking you so long."

Riku laughed, "She's going to be in no rush, trust me. Loz, Kadaj and Yazoo flew in for the holidays this year. They're over for the next week or so and with them around, all the work that I used to have to do around this time has lessened significantly. So if I'm a little late coming from the grocery store, she's not going to complain too much."

"Your cousins are here? …And they flew in all the way from Edge?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "That's like a five hour flight."

Riku shrugged, "You're telling me." He straightened his posture a bit. "So what about you Sora? What have you been up to today?"

"Just thinking about stuff…" I said.

"Stuff, hm?" Riku questioned, leaning towards me with a smirk on his face.

I gazed at him momentarily, about to respond when my phone started to ring. "Just a moment." I sat up to retrieve my phone off my nightstand and looked at the number briefly and grimaced slightly. I knew I'd be entering hell in a little under a minute. I flicked the phone open and gave Riku an apologetic look as I held it up to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, closing my eyes in anticipation for one of Kairi's enthusiastic greetings.

"So-ra!" Kairi half-sung into my ear, giggling a bit afterwards.

"Hey, Kairi." The minute the first syllable of her name left my mouth, the look on Riku's face darkened considerably and I knew I had definitely reentered hell. I hadn't even been back in Twilight Town for a two days and I already knew they were going to start right back up again where they had left off before we all left.

"Tell her you're busy." Riku hissed, not even bothering to lower his voice.

"Hey …" I said again, looking up at Riku who had crossed his arms over his chest and was shooting a rather intensive glare in my direction. "Uh, Kairi? Can I call you back?"

"What's wrong? Is something …" Kairi paused, and then I heard the change in her voice immediately. "…Riku's over there, isn't he?"

"He's here. Kai—" I started, but she cut me off before I could finish.

"Nope, don't worry about it Sora. It's no problem; he'll just have to deal with me when I arrive."

"Arrive? Wait a minute, you're coming—"

"I'll see you soon, alright, Sora?" She giggled, and with that the line went dead. I hit the send button again to call her back but her phone went straight to voicemail. I tried two more times, failing at each attempt. Riku was looking at me expectantly when I sighed, falling back onto my pillow as I massaged my temples.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice remaining neutral.

"I'm guessing that Kairi is on her way over as we speak." I replied as I closed my eyes.

"You guess." Riku replied, incredulously.

"She hung up before I could get a word in edge wise, and she's not picking up her phone." I shook my head, grimacing slightly. "Riku …please don't start."

He looked out the window, and shook his head. "No, it's alright. I should get going; you know …I have to go to the store for my mom and all." Riku got to his feet and I held out a hand tentatively to stop him but he still progressed with getting ready. I nearly had to rush after him as he left my room and headed downstairs into the living room. I paused by the front door while he grasped the door knob and stared at me airily.

"Riku, you don't have to go." I said, shaking my head.

"…No, I …" Riku looked past me and then shrugged, "Rather, I'm going to be the bigger person here and leave before anything stupid happens. I'll call you tonight, alright?"

I sighed, "If you say so."

He ruffled my hair affectionately and was out the door. Not a minute after I had closed the door after him, the doorbell rung and I didn't even have to look through the peep hole to know who it was. The minute I opened the door I was greeted with Kairi grinning from ear to ear at me.

"Sorraaa. Long time no see, hm?"

"Kairi …" I began, moving aside to let her into the house. "…Come on in."

-x-

"…M'llo?" A tired voice murmured from the other line.

"Roxas?" I mumbled, trying to keep my voice low so my mom wouldn't hear me. I bit on the nail of my thumb on my left hand, whilst tapping my right foot nervously on the mattress of my bed. "Roxas, are you up?"

I heard a groan come from the other line, followed by a low whine. "…So …ra? The hell are you callin' me so late for?"

"Roxas, it's only …" I glanced at the clock and grimaced slightly. Alright, so I hadn't exactly checked the time when I had called Roxas. But I was nervous, and I couldn't sleep. I needed someone to talk to. "Alright, so it's one in the morning. But never mind that, Roxas, I need help."

"Damn right you do …" He yawned loudly into the receiver. "Didn't your mom ever teach you proper phone etiquette?"

"If she did I must have forgotten it." I murmured back. "Listen, Roxas, I've got a problem."

Roxas inhaled sharply, and I heard rustling on his end. "Sora …can't this wait until the morning? You know? When I'm up and coherent?"

"No, it can't. I need help now or this is going to be on my mind all night and I won't be able to sleep because I've been thinking about it for so long and then you'll feel guilty because you didn't help me, and—"

"Alright. Stop. I'm up." Roxas snapped. He mumbled something about me being as bad as Demyx and sighed loudly. "What seems to be the problem, Sora?"

"It's about Riku. Um, Riku and Kairi together, that is. They …" I paused to try and formulate my thoughts. "…They can't seem to get along anymore. Have you …noticed that at all?"

"Not …really …seeing as I don't hang out with you guys all the time." Roxas replied. "Explain."

"Well …ever since we graduated, Riku and Kairi have been at it with each other on a daily basis. …You know, when all of us are around each other? I mean, Riku, Kairi and I, that is. Um …it started off really small, nothing too big. They'd get into little squabbles every now and then but you know how friends are, those things happen. We're not going to see eye to eye on everything and—"

"Sora, you're drifting." Roxas sighed.

"Sorry …" I mumbled. "Anyway, the squabbles eventually escalated into full on fights. I mean …today, Riku came over for a little while and lo and behold, Kairi is two steps behind him and arrived shortly after he did. I feel like they've just got this …radar or something when it comes to me. That it just seems to go off when the other is with me or something …"

"I'm …sorry, but you're losing me, Sora …"

"Riku and Kairi fight over me. That's the problem. I don't know why, and I don't know when it really started, but I know that I'm the reason for their fights."

"Well have you ever …I don't know, talked to them about it?" Roxas asked.

"They tend to avoid the topic every time I bring it up." I replied, crossly.

"And do you force your point across? Or do they just end up walking all over you?"

"Well …" I started, drawing my free hand underneath my chin in thought.

Roxas sighed, "Sora, I swear. Sometimes you're way too nice for your own good."

I frowned, "It's not like I try to be. It's just whenever I'd bring it up with them and try and get a word in edgewise, they somehow just turn me around in circles and negate the problem. Honestly, I've been trying to think around it, but it's hard, Roxas. I'm at my wits end and I really don't know what to do anymore."

"…Alright, alright." He paused for a moment, "Listen, how about you come over tomorrow and we can talk this whole thing out when I'm not about to fall asleep at any given moment and you're …you're just …well rested and whatnot. I know you'd rather talk now …but, Sora, I can barely focus on anything right about now …"

I bit my lip, as I mulled the idea over in my head.

"Well?" Roxas asked.

"…I guess so." I said, finally agreeing to talking about this fully with Roxas at a more appropriate time. "What time would you want me over?"

"In the morning. Does eleven sound good to you?"

"That's …a bit early. How about twelve?"

"Whatever is best for you. Personally, I have nowhere to go tomorrow." Roxas replied. "So it's settled?"

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow at twelve …or around then at least." I replied.

"Alright then, I'm going to back to sleep now if that's alright with you. Night, Sora."

"Goodnight." I pulled the phone away from my ear and hit the end button.

-x-

When I knocked on Roxas's door the next morning, I wasn't expecting to see Axel standing on the other side of it. Axel removed the cigarette that was in his mouth and stabbed it out in an ash tray he was carrying in one of his hands. Two seconds later, a wide grin came to his face. "Sora, long time no see, kid. Here to see Roxy, huh?"

"Something like that." I walked into the house as Axel gestured me in and closed the door behind the two of us. "He …is in, right?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs." Axel replied, setting the ash tray down and walking past me. "ROXXXASSSS! Get your little tush down here! Sora's here!"

I heard a low whine, someone groaning and then a loud thud. Roxas appeared at the top of the stairwell two seconds later looking like all hell had just broken loose. He looked from Axel, to me, and then back to Axel when he finally got downstairs. "Axel, where's Demyx?"

Axel shrugged, "Um …I'm not entirely sure, actually. When I woke up this morning he was …gone? I think he went out with Larxene for a little while."

"I …am going to kill him."

"When isn't that the case?" Axel asked, resisting the urge to laugh.

"I can't find mom's good menorah that we always use for Hanukkah. You know the one, right? We used it last night! And I know he has something to do with it." Roxas cradled his face in his left hand and shook it. "...Hey, Sora."

I smiled a bit at him, "When did Hanukkah start?"

"Last night." He sighed, "You know …when the menorah was still present. Whatever, I'll find it later. Axel, if you get a moment, can you look for it please?"

Axel nodded, "Will do."

"Right." He turned to me, "Come on up, Sora." I followed Roxas up the stairs and down the hall to his room. He closed the door behind the two of us, and I took up residence on his bed while he sat down at his desk chair and fiddled around with his computer for a moment. "Give me a second, alright? Are you hungry or anything?"

"Not right now. Thanks though." I wiggled my way out of my jacket, and folded it over my arm and laid it down beside me.

Roxas swiveled around in his desk chair a few seconds later and drew his legs up into the chair so he was sitting Indian style. I mimicked him as soon as I got my shoes off. "So, Sora."

"So." I replied, tapping a finger against the insole of my foot. I looked up at Roxas, "Should I recap for you …or …?"

"No, I remember everything." Roxas replied. "Riku and Kairi are at each other's necks, and you think you're the reason, right?"

"I know I'm the reason." I said, leaning forward.

"Right …right …" Roxas drew a hand underneath his chin in thought, looking away from be as he searched for something to say to me.

"I've heard it from both of them first hand. They can't stand the sight, thought or mention of the other. All they want to do is be around me and then they fight like little kids whenever I spend more time with the other. Honestly, I don't know how I've dealt for it so long …but …" I sniffed, wiping underneath my nose gingerly. "…I think it's time that I finally do something about it, you know? I'm not going to spend my winter break like this."

"Besides …this, have they been acting strange around you?" Roxas started.

"Strange? This whole thing—"

"I …wasn't finished." He said, shaking his head. "Strange in respects to …" he trailed off and shook his head again, "Let's put it this way. Have Riku and Kairi been overly …affectionate or nice to you in any way? For instance, become overly touchy feely in any sort of way, complimenting you in any way they can and just been …kind of weird and not like themselves at all?"

"Well …I'm not really sure, actually." I replied.

Roxas sighed, crossing his hands over his chest and hanging his head. "You can't think of anything that sticks out like a sore thumb?"

"Well …Riku and Kairi are always sending me something in the mail while I'm away at school …but that's normal isn't it? You know sending each other care packages and stuff?" I looked up at him and he nodded at me to continue. I felt my forehead crease slightly as I thought on it for awhile. "And then Riku …well …Riku's always calling me adorable every now and then …and Kairi's the same when she calls me cute… I think that's something …new. Oh and … Kairi's always looking for ways to hug me, and Riku's the same when he ruffles my hair and …" I looked up at Roxas, my eyes growing a bit wide.

"…Come on, Sora. I know what you're thinking and it's not impossible." Roxas continued when I didn't speak. "The fighting over you, names of endearment …spoiling you rotten to whatever degrees both of them see fit. A normal person would gather that your best friends are possibly in love with you."

"…No." I said, pointing at Roxas. "No …they just …that's not true. They're just …they just care, that's all."

"Naminé is right. You are oblivious." Roxas said, sighing. "They probably fight all the time because they've realized that both of them like you and they're trying to win you over. I don't see any other logical explanation besides the fact that they might of have just woken up one morning and decided that they'd hate the other for no reason whatsoever. And that's not even logical."

"But Riku isn't …gay and Kairi …Kairi likes girls." I said.

"Ever heard of the term bisexual?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow in retaliation.

"This …Roxas, this is impossible." I groaned, falling back over onto my back.

"No, it's not. Besides, I think it's the most reasonable explanation for what's going on right now." Roxas shrugged, "I've got a proposal for you. A little experiment if you will."

"Go ahead."

"How long is your winter break?"

"About four weeks, why?"

"That's perfect. Alright, here's what you do." Roxas began, "Your job for the next few weeks is to figure out the following. For one, if you want to be with either of your friends in a romantic sort of sense and two, if not, then tell them straight up how you feel. This whole thing is not only putting a strain on both of them, but mostly on you."

"Both what if I don't want to be with either of them? Or can't choose who I want to be with should any romantic feelings arise for either of them?"

"…Then be honest with them and tell them that." Roxas said. "Look, this whole thing is about you. Riku and Kairi are you friends, best friends at that, but they don't control your life, and that sounds exactly like what they're trying to do at this moment."

"And if all else fails?" I asked.

"…Then come back to me and we'll talk about this some more and try and figure out another course of action." Roxas answered.

I sighed, low and hard. Why hadn't I thought of this in the beginning? "Is there anything else you can gather from all of this?"

"Nope, nothing at the moment."

"Alright, then." I sat back up, leant over to put my shoes back on and grabbed my coat from the side of me. "I'm going to go put this …'plan' into action. What comes of it …is …" I shook my head to clear it. "I should get going."

Roxas got out of his desk chair and followed behind me as we walked out of his room, down the hallway and descended the stairs in unison. "Call me and let me know how things go, Sora." Roxas said as we neared the front door.

"I will. And thanks again for everything."

He shrugged, "No problem."

"See ya, Roxas." I nodded to him, and let the door close gently behind me. I paused shortly outside the door as soon as I heard Axel yelling something at Roxas.

Hey, Rox! I found the menorah!

Where was it?

In the downstairs bathroom!

…Where in the downstairs bathroom, Axel?

…In the …toilet.

…Axel, call Demyx. NOW.

I could only try and contain my laughter as I descended the steps of Roxas's house and headed on down the side walk, and back to my own home.