Disclaimer: I still don't own Kingdom Hearts...

Chapter 3: Competition

Kairi felt pretty stupid. She had felt so satisfied with herself the night before. Even though Sora hadn't actually kissed her, he would have if Riku hadn't interrupted them. So she could definitely conclude that Sora returned her feelings for him. Or so she thought. She had spent the night in Sora's room. And that was why she felt satisfied and proud of herself for daring to ask. But now she figured she could have gotten even luckier. She shared his bedroom, but she most definitely hadn't even thought of sharing his bed. But apparently, Riku had. And Sora seemed to find he was a very comfortable pillow.

She looked over at the two were they slept peacefully. Sora had his head on top of Riku's chest and Kairi could see one of his hands had grasped his shirt tightly. Riku had his face turned away from her, and judging by his light breathing she suddenly wasn't sure if he was asleep. She especially didn't think so when he put and arm around Sora's sleeping form, hugging him close to his body.

Kairi had never thought she would get competition to win Sora's heart.

Riku realized he had been fighting in a competition to win Sora's heart. He also realized he always had believed he was going to lose it. That was probably the reason he had never realized it before. Or maybe he had just been in denial. Before he had been sure that Sora and Kairi would eventually become more than friends, and now he knew why he had disapproved so much of it. But now he also knew Sora maybe didn't returned Kairi's feelings and he hated the hope he felt because of it. Even though Sora wasn't in love with Kairi, didn't mean he was in love with him. And besides, Kairi had one big advantage. She was a girl.

Riku sighed as he turned to look at the clock. It was past eleven already. Fortunately it was a Saturday so it didn't really matter. As he looked away from the clock on Sora's nightstand he froze. Emotionless eyes met his and he quickly moved his arm from around Sora, biting his lip nervously. He was surprised to see Kairi smiling at him. How long had she been awake?

"Good morning," she said quietly. Riku weren't able to answer at first. He had completely forgotten about the girl being there, and she had caught him completely of guard. When he didn't answer, Kairi spoke instead. "Can I ask you something?" she said and Riku could only nod in curiosity. "Have you told Sora anything?"

"Told him what?" Riku asked in confusion, speaking for the first time that day. She couldn't possibly have figured anything out about his feelings for Sora? He had just realized himself.

"About your feelings for him,"

Apparently she could. Riku shoot her a sharp glare. How could she possibly know? He hadn't had a clue himself until last night. Kairi couldn't know him better than he knew himself.

"What feelings?" he asked stupidly, denying it all. "I have no idea what you're talking about,"

He shoot her another glare before carefully pushing Sora of himself and getting out of the bed. Even though he had been careful not to wake the sleeping brunette, he could hear groaning from behind him that could only mean he had woke him after all. But at least, now Kairi couldn't start a discussion to make Riku admit his feelings.

"Unnh… what's the clock?" Sora asked sleepily as he rubbed at his eyes.

"11.15. I'm gonna' take a shower," Riku responded and started picking up his clothes.

"Great! Then we can make breakfast, Sora!" Kairi suggested, smiling brightly. Riku sent her a suspicious look, which she ignored. Was she trying to get Sora to herself? Well, if she was he should just let her. He was, of course, going to leave them alone.

He headed for the bathroom and listened to Sora and Kairi arguing about making breakfast. Apparently Sora wanted to sleep for a while longer, but Riku knew Kairi was going to win in the end. She had always been pretty stubborn, often managing to get her will in the end. That could be a problem if he was competing with her to get Sora's attention.

But of course, he wasn't competing with anyone! He was leaving them alone. How hard was that to understand! Riku was starting to get a bit tired of his annoying mind. Maybe it was best if he just didn't think.

So that was what he tried to do while showering, completely shutting his brain down and just focused on the feel of the water beams hitting his body. And he actually managed to have a relaxing shower, without thinking of either Sora or Kairi. But the thoughts came rushing back as soon as he stepped into the kitchen ten minutes later.

Kairi and Sora were making pancakes, but the poor pancakes seemed to be completely forgotten. The girl had Sora pressed into the wall next to the fridge and was currently tickling him mercilessly. Riku wrinkled his nose at the sight and at Sora's loud laugh.

"Let the boy breath, Kairi," Riku said, his voice sounding harsher than he had planned. "Aren't you making pancakes?" The two others quickly looked up as they realized they weren't alone and Kairi let go of Sora. They both seemed surprise by the angry tone in the older teenager's voice.

"Someone is having a bad day," Riku heard Kairi mumble before she walked over to the forgotten pancakes. He ignored her comment and looked at Sora. He was trying to catch his breath after the tickle attack from the redhead and was leaning heavily on the wall behind him. Riku couldn't help but think he looked rather hot. But he ignored the thought as elegant as he had ignored Kairi's comment.

"Your hair's wet Riku," the brunette suddenly said, walking over to touch Riku's silver hair. He forced back a blush at the feel of Sora's fingers through his hair.

"That's what tends to happen when you shower," he said mockingly and Sora shut out his lower lip cutely, making Riku laugh and ruffle his hair.

"Don't talk to me as if I'm stupid!" Sora complained and Riku couldn't resist the respons coming out of his mouth.

"But you are stupid," he said, smirking at the younger boy.

And then Sora tried to tackle him, but Riku was prepared for it and jumped to the side, avoiding it easily. He wasn't expecting Sora following him so quickly though. The keyblade master managed to push him to the floor. And then the fight had begun.

"Hey! Don't fight in the kitchen! You're gonna' break something!" Kairi shouted when the two boys suddenly hit the floor behind her, Riku pinning Sora to the floor. The brunette wasn't going to have any of that though. He quickly sent his knee into the unguarded Riku's stomach and turned them around, reversing their positions. Riku forcefully managed to show Sora of himself and stood up, ready to attack the other again.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Kairi yelled irritated and pointed at them with a fork. Both boys started to laugh at the same time, and soon after the girl started laughing too. "These pancakes are going to end up being a mess if you two don't behave yourself!"

"You're the one who's making them," Riku pointed out. "If they end up a mess it's your fault,"

"Not if you have ruined the kitchen," Kairi stated and turned her back on the boys. "So stop fooling around and help me out,"

Riku had a feeling the pancakes would be in more danger if all three of them were going to make them together, than him and Sora fighting near them, but he didn't voice his thoughts out loud. Instead he and Sora tried as best they could to help the bossy redhead. She was indeed bossy today. She kept ordering them around, asking them to do this and that. But in the end, the pancakes came out very tasteful.

"Where's your parents Sora?" Riku asked as the three of them had sat down by the kitchen table. He hadn't seen neither Sora's mom or dad this morning and he knew they never worked on Saturdays.

"They're visiting some friends," Sora answered, munching on a pancake as he spoke. "So the house is all mine this weekend. Do you guys wanna' stay here till tomorrow?"

Both Riku and Kairi agreed at once and Riku was pretty sure the same thing was going through their minds. Or maybe not. He was thinking this was his chance to tell Sora about his feelings, but at the same time he was telling himself he should just ignore them. Kairi was probably thinking she wished Riku wasn't there and she had already admitted her feelings to Sora so maybe she was thinking this was Sora's chance to say he returned them. But she didn't know there was a high possibility he didn't. Or at least, she hadn't heard Sora say it himself.

"So what are we going to do today?" Sora asked and Riku snapped out of his thoughts. He saw Kairi focus her eyes on Sora too, and knew she had been deep in thoughts just like him. "We could stay here or we could go out to the island or something? Maybe we can meet up with Tidus and the others too,"

"Sure," Kairi said, smiling sweetly at Sora, making Riku want to punsh her. Not really of course, but the thought did sweep through him. "I think we should go out to the island like we used to do before,"

It was true that they hadn't spent much time there since they got back from all the worlds they had visited. But it wasn't exactly long since they had returned either. They just hadn't had time for going there together yet.

"Okay, then let's do that," Sora agreed, grinning widely.

And after finishing their breakfast they left the house and headed for the beach. When they got there, the first thing they noticed were Selphie, Wakka and Tidus sitting in the sand and it seemed like they had been waiting for the others to show up. Selphie came running to meet them and asked them to join them to go buy ice cream. And that's what happened. The six teenagers all headed to the nearest ice cream shop, Selphie bouncing around and talking the entire time. Kairi and Sora participated in the conversation, but Riku kept quite as they walked. He noticed how Kairi always were 'accidentally' brushing her hand against Sora's and walking unnecessary close to him. It annoyed Riku to no end. Couldn't she let Sora have some space? He knew the other boy was very confused about his feelings for Kairi and he was sure Kairi was just making everything more difficult for him, acting the way she did. It probably made Sora feel like he was being forced into a relationship with her.

As Riku listened to his own thoughts he realized he was maybe making it a bit more dramatic then it was, but the point was Kairi didn't have to act like she did. She should let Sora choose for himself, and if he wanted peace and quite to think, she was ruining it for him.

They reached the ice cream shop and everyone bought a cold ice cream before they returned to the beach. Once they arrived there, they sat down in the sand and Riku watched Kairi with narrowed eyes as she seated herself as close to Sora as possible without touching him. He wanted to push her away, but instead he sat down on Sora's other side and were sure to be as close to him as Kairi were.

"Ha-ha, poor Sora!" Selphie laughed. "Are you afraid his going to run away or something?"

Riku sent her a death glare and didn't move away from Sora. Kairi giggled nervously.

"Of course not!" she said. "We're just showing him how much we love him!" She laughed loudly and Riku watched with wide desperate eyes as she flung herself around the poor brunette's neck. Sora was caught of guard and nearly fell over by the sudden weight. Selphie laughed out loud too as she watched the redhead's death grip around Sora's neck and Riku's mouth had fell open in shock. What the hell did Kairi think she was doing?!

"Aw, aren't you two cute together," Selphie said and if looks could kill Riku would have killed her on the spot. He did have a keyblade that could be capable of killing her though and he was not afraid to use it. Cute?! It wasn't cute, it was sickening!

"Kairi, let go of him already! You're going to strangle him!" he shouted angrily at the girl still holding on to Sora, and to his horror he noticed Sora was holding her back now.

"What's wrong with you Riku?" Kairi asked, annoyance in her eyes, but she did fortunately let go of Sora. "That's the second time today you have yelled at me because I've touched Sora. What's wrong with us doing that?"

Riku didn't have any good answer for that. But he was completely sure Kairi knew why he reacted like he did every time she touched the keyblade master. She had after all told him herself this morning.

"Don't start fighting," Sora suddenly said and both Riku and Kairi looked at him. "I'm not really sure what's going on, but I noticed how you stared at Kairi while we were walking to the ice cream shop. And Kairi you have seemed kinda' angry at Riku too. What is it with you two?"

Riku didn't know how to answer that either, but apparently he didn't have to.

"We're having a competition," Kairi said without hesitating. Riku just stared at her.

"A competition?" Sora said in confusion. "About what?"

"That's between me and Riku,"

"Oh," Sora looked even more confused as his eyes went from Riku to Kairi and back again. "Okay. As long as you don't become enemies,"

"We're not enemies, Sora," Riku said quickly, before Kairi had the chance to say something. "We're friends, but we just have some issues to solve,"

"Some issues to solve?" This time it was Selphie asking, tilting her head to the side, looking curiously at Riku. Tidus and Wakka were looking curious as well.

"Yeah, but don't worry about that," Kairi said, smiling and looking at all her friends reassuringly. "We're still friends of course,"

Riku didn't want to look at Kairi. He wanted nothing but to stay friends with her. But this was not a situation he thought he would end up in. He had for a time thought he would be competing for Kairi's attention with Sora, but not for Sora's attention with Kairi. He needed to speak with her later. It was no use in trying to hide it from her. She knew him too well.

"Well, that's good," Tidus said with a smile. "We wouldn't like to have our group split up,"

"Yeah, especially not me," Sora added, looking at Kairi. "How could I be able to choose between you and Riku?"

Sora was smiling so innocently, but the comment had made both Riku and Kairi at loss for words. Because, in the end, that would be what Sora had to do.

It seemed like every thing that had happened since yesterday just made things more and more complicated. Riku didn't want to force Sora to choose between him and Kairi. Why did he have to go and fall in love with his best friend? Couldn't all three of them just stay friends without complicating things like he and Kairi had done? Maybe if both of them just ignored their feelings. They were bound to go away in the end, weren't they? He just hoped it wouldn't take too long, 'cause at this rate Riku probably would end up kissing Sora or something if he couldn't control his feelings. And that would at least make things complicated.

He really had to talk to Kairi. She would probably become furious with him if he asked her to just ignore the feelings though. He gazed over at her and his eyes narrowed as he saw the redhead leaning her head on Sora's shoulder. She seemed to have chosen a totally different way to go at this then Riku, and suddenly Riku decided to give up all of his stupid thoughts about ignoring his feelings and leaving Sora and Kairi alone. He wasn't going to let Kairi force herself into Sora's heart like she was trying to. He had to at least let Sora know he had another alternative.

Riku made sure Tidus, Wakka and Selphie were all caught up in their current conversation before he placed his hand over Sora's and squeezed it lightly. When Sora tensed and turned to him in confusion, Riku just ignored it and pretended like it was something he used to do everyday.

He had half expected Sora to pull his hand away, but he was satisfied when the younger boy didn't move it, and his thumb even curled carefully around Riku's.

Riku was definitely not letting Kairi win this easily. But of course, he wasn't going to force Sora into a relationship with him either. So in the end Sora would really have to choose between him and Kairi. He hoped this wouldn't affect the friendship between any of them, but he couldn't help but be a bit worried that it would.

A/N: I promised myself I would finish this chapter before school started up again, and since it starts tomorrow(sadly), I'm right on time! xD I'm not really happy about how this chapter turned out though :(

I don't think this will be a very long story. About one or two more chapters probably :)

Review please! xD