Well... it's been far too long since I've updated, so... it's time for a new chapter! :D
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Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Tetsuya Nomura
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (c) Disney
Claimer: everything else (c) me
Chapter Fourteen: Hula Inspiration
Riku sighed as he stared up into the night sky, hands behind his head as he lay on the roof of Lilo's house. Even as he stared up into the blanket of gorgeous stars, he couldn't help but still think about Yuki. It had been nearly an entire day since she had been taken under Organization XIII's control; since she had left him, and every moment of it hurt.
"Hey Riku, what are you doing up here?" a familiar voice inquired, and Sora's head popped up from the side of the roof. "You mind if I joined you?"
The silver-haired teen shook his head, and Sora hopped up to sit down by his best friend, glancing up at the sky.
"You must really miss her, don't you," Sora said quietly.
He nodded, sighing. "If Yuki ends up having any recollection of what she did as she was being controlled, this will break her heart," he explained. "She's going to be heartbroken, she'll never forgive herself. It's going to be hard for her to even be able to face me."
"Aw, come on, Riku," he tried to reassure. "You're underestimating how positive Yuki can be."
Riku shook his head, sitting up and staring across the vast horizon across the sea. "I've spent time a lot longer with Yuki than you have," he said softly with a reminiscing smile. "During the time I've spent with her in Castle Oblivion after I found her, she's always been kinda a pessimist. But then again, due to all the terror Marluxia and Larxene had put her through, I'm not surprised. Even if its something like this, it may be difficult for her to find the courage to even look me in the eyes again." He looked up into the night sky. "These are difficult times… for the both of us."
"But you've both changed, haven't you?" Sora asked optimistically.
He smirked. "That may be true, but even so," he half-agreed, "Yuki will also retain some of that pessimistic nature. It's a part of who she is, and self-sacrifice always did seem to come naturally to her. According to her, I haven't changed much either. Matured, maybe, but I'll always retain some of my old childish nature as well. As for you… well… you're a different story." A glint of mischief shone in Riku's eyes as he glanced at his best pal. "You never were the brightest bulb."
"Hey!" Sora retorted defensively, causing Riku to chuckle.
"Still… I miss her," the 16-year-old sighed, raising his head up to look up at the sky above him. "Ever since I had to leave her back on Destiny Islands to try and wake you up, there wasn't a day gone by that I didn't miss her. Since Organization XIII was still after her, I had no choice but to leave her where she would hopefully be a little safer."
Sora looked at him. "Why didn't you ever mention about having a girlfriend when we found you in the World That Never Was?" he inquired. "Even after we beat Xemnas, you said that you couldn't go on. Didn't you think about Yuki?"
"I did," he sighed again, "but that's my point. Because I was thinking about her I didn't think it was best if I could go on. I cause her nothing but pain."
He cocked his head at him, his eyes glimmering with worry. "But weren't you the one that made her feel love; love for you? She loves you, you know?" He pointed out.
Riku shrugged. "Even though she's been a Nobody, she has the heart of her true self. If her true self were to reawaken again and Yuki would be lost, I don't know what I'd do. One thing would be to probably try to make her fall in love with me again, but that's easier said than done," he explained. "Yuki's always been a sensitive and delicate soul, and I've always felt like I've had to handle her with care or else she'd break under my touch."
"But she's not that delicate," Sora argued. "After all, she's skilled with a Keyblade, right?"
He scoffed, "Not just," he retorted. "She's also a skilled hand-to-hand fighter."
"So there's nothing you need to worry about Riku," Sora said. "She'll break out of the spell eventually, and so until then, you can't lose hope."
Riku sighed and shrugged. "I'm just hoping to protect her from doing anything bad, because when she breaks out of the spell, she might remember what she's been doing as she was under the potion's control, therefore, she's going to bear a heavy burden with all this."
Sora grinned. "Then it'll be our job to make sure she doesn't do anything bad! Plus, that Organization member, Zexion, was it? He also said that he'd help make sure that Yuki didn't do anything bad either," he reassured. "So he'll keep an eye out for her."
The older teen shrugged. "I hope you're right," he said. "Yuki's always been there for me, wherever I was. But now… I don't know whether I can be there for her when she needs me the most." Riku laid his head down and closed his eyes, sighing heavily. "Well… night, Sora."
"You sure you want to sleep here tonight, Riku? You're probably going to have an early wake-up call when the sun rises in the morning," Sora commented.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," he replied, brushing it off easily with a wave as he didn't bother to open his eyes. "Night."
Sora stared at Riku worriedly for a moment before getting onto his feet and heading off the roof. "Night, Riku," he bid before disappearing from the roof.
Feeling no other presence other than his own, Riku opened his eyes, staring up into the stars as he whispered softly, "Good night…Yuki…"
xXx
"R-Riku…" Yuki breathed in amazement, staring at the teen as if seeing him for the first time.
"Yuki!" Riku exclaimed, running over to embrace the girl tightly in his arms, pressing her against his chest. "I thought I lost you."
She shook her head, burying her face against him, indulging herself in his scent. "I love you, Riku," she whispered, tears of relief and joy streaming down her face.
Slowly, Yuki turned in his arms so that his chest pressed against her back, his arms wrapped around her stomach as he pressed his face into her hair, her hands resting over his as she closed her eyes.
"I love you too, Yuki," he murmured, and suddenly Yuki jerked in his arms.
"Yuki?" he inquired worriedly, opening his eyes to find an arrow protruding from Yuki's chest, blood spilling from the new wound."Yuki!"
Just a few meters in front of them, a dark portal had opened, and an arrow had been shot from it, impacting Yuki before either of them noticed the portal.
Riku cried Yuki's name as he lowered her onto his lap, trying to coax her to stay awake. "Come on Yuki, you can't die," he pleaded, breaking the arrow as close to the head as he could. "Please, you just can't."
"R-Riku…" she rasped, every breath hurting her greatly. "I-I can't-"
He shook his head, tears spilling over his light azure orbs. "Y-You can't. You're going to survive!"
She weakly smiled at him, the light in her beautiful golden eyes beginning to fade. "I love you," she breathed, closing her eyes for the final time as she died. The beautiful crystal pendant hanging around her neck shattered, the shards vanishing.
"NO!" Riku screamed, clutching her body against him, one hand on the back of her head. "YUKI!"
But it was already too late. The girl was gone. Weeping, tears fell from his eyes as he held her against him. He had failed her…
xXx
"No!" Riku gasped, snapping up, looking around to find that the sun was breaking, and dawn was coming. He was still lying on the roof of Lilo's house, all alone, only a blanket draped over him. He sighed in relief, realizing that it was just a nightmare. "Wow…" he murmured to himself. "I love her more than I thought."
Sighing as he remembered that Yuki was not with him at the time, he stared across the distance, where a new day was beginning. Looking down at the blanket, he cracked a smile.
Just too nice… he thought. Damn… I hope I can get Yuki back soon…
xXx
"Yuki… so you know the plan?" Xven inquired, nuzzling his girlfriend's neck.
She nodded, staring into his red eyes. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"Yes," he answered. "This is the only way."
Pain radiated in Yuki's ruby eyes. "B-But Xven…" she began hesitantly, "I-I'm scared."
He held her against him. "I know," he said, holding her tighter. "I'm scared too. I don't want you to do this as much as you do. But we both know this has to be done. Like I said, this is the only way."
Stray tears fell from her eyes, and he gently wiped them away with his gloved thumb. "It'll be alright," he reassured, looking at her directly in the eyes. "I promise you, it'll all work out."
Sniffling, she nodded, trusting her beloved Nobody before hugging him tightly. "I-I trust you, Xven. Don't let me down, my love."
xXx
Riku sighed, scratching his head as he, Sora, and Donald washed up and he and Sora got changed into more suiting clothes with their surroundings, Riku wearing a white, short-sleeved collared shirt and dark shorts, while Sora wore a T-shirt and shorts.
"Well… this will be interesting," Donald said. "I guess it's best if I stay inside, considering it wouldn't be normal for me to be walking around.
"Yeah," Nani agreed. "It's not natural for human-sized ducks to be walking around clothed and talking. No offense."
Riku looked outside the window. "Hmm… well… it looks like today's going to be a good day."
"Heard it might rain though later," she added.
"Where are Lilo and Stitch?" Sora inquired.
Nani glanced upstairs. "I think they're still in their room," she guessed. "Lilo's still trying to come up with a hula. Maybe you boys could help her with her inspiration."
"Is Stitch okay?" Donald inquired. "Especially with what happened last night during the movie."
"Yeah, I think he's okay now," Nani responded.
"Where did Jumba and Pleakley go?" Donald inquired, looking around.
"No idea," Nani answered with a shrug. "We haven't seen them since last night after Stitch's incident."
"So where are they planning on heading?" Riku inquired. "We can go around with them to see if we can help." He looked at Sora and Donald. "At the same time, we can explore the area and check whether there are any Heartless and Nobodies around," he told them.
Nani shrugged. "Those kids will go practically anywhere," she informed them. "Hopefully you guys can help Lilo come up with a hula soon."
Sora grinned. "Don't worry, you can count on us," he assured. "We'll help them come up with something for sure!"
Not long afterwards, Lilo and Stitch came down from their room and they looked at them.
"Morning, you two," Sora greeted.
"Morning Sora, morning Donald, morning Riku," Lilo greeted.
Riku patted them on their heads. "Morning," he said softly, "Are you guys ready to go find inspiration for your hula?"
"Yep!" they both replied cheerily.
He smiled. It's been a while since I've seen such happy times, he thought. I wish that I could just hold Yuki in my arms again. Man… I miss her a lot.
"Then let's go!" Sora cheered.
xXx
"So… what are you guys thinking for a hula?" Sora implored curiously.
Lilo sighed. "We can't come up with anything," she whined. "That's why we need help."
"Has anything strange happened in the past few days to the last week?" Riku inquired, looking at Sora. "We might as well check out the state of this place, and get rid of any heartless if we can. Maybe we might find a lead."
The Keyblade Master shrugged. "Maybe we might," he said.
Lilo held up her map of Hawaii, five peculiar landmarks distinct on it: a barber shop pole, a coffee and donut, a pair of undershorts, a burger and soda, and a bench. A picture of a man named Elvis was placed on top of the compass on the map. "This is a map of everywhere that Elvis went in Kawai. Our mission: go to these places where the King would give us an idea for our hula," she instructed sternly.
Sora and Riku blinked as they bended over to look at the map.
"Well… if you say so," Riku said. "But I'm not exactly sure how Elvis is gonna help you. But… if it helps your hula, let's go."
xXx
After visiting all five of the locations, with Stitch freaking out once at almost every place, Riku and Sora sighed in exhaustion.
"Wow… it's been a long, long day," Riku sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat down on one end of the bench.
Beside him sat Lilo, beside her Stitch and Sora.
"You said it," Sora agreed.
"We didn't find anything," Lilo sighed. Looking out over the sea, she shouted out, "Okay Elvis, we're ready to receive a great idea for our hula!"
There was momentarily silence as a chicken paddled by.
"That's it! I got it!" Lilo exclaimed, leaping up onto the bench.
"Got what?" Sora implored.
"Elvis is trying to tell us to make our hula about a chicken!" she declared confidently.
Stitch placed a fuzzy paw on her arm and shook his head. "No he isn't," he said gently, pulling her down next to him.
Trying to go remain optimistic, Lilo blinked before shrugging, looking back at Stitch. "Well… there are plently of other places we can go to," she said, patting her map.
Well… it's good for her to remain optimistic, Riku thought.
Suddenly, a raindrop fell from the sky and hit Lilo on the nose. The next thing she knew, the map had been snatched from her lap by a chicken.
"Hey!" she exclaimed as the rain began to fall harder.
"Uh oh," Sora commented as he and Riku followed after Stitch and Lilo as they chased after the chicken and their map.
"Hey! Give that back!" Lilo exclaimed, jumping for the chicken, but she missed, and the chicken dropped the map.
Unfortunately, the map unravelled and began to float with the wind, and immediately Stitch leaped up onto a rock and jumped to grab the map, successfully grabbing it.
"Yes! Nice job Stitch!" Sora cheered.
"That was a close one," Riku sighed.
Without warning, Lilo tripped and barrelled into Stitch, and the map flew from their grasp and into the path of a passing truck, running over the wet piece of paper.
Skidding to their sides, Riku and Sora kneeled down next to them.
"Are you both okay?" Sora demanded.
Ignoring him, Lilo ran to go pick up her map, but it fell apart in her hands. She drooped forward, dragging herself away. "We're sunk," she surrendered.
"Awww… don't say that," Riku assured, "I'm sure you guys will be able to find an idea for your hula."
Stitch dropped to his knees and began to beat the ground, whining and tearlessly weeping.
"Come on, cheer up, Stitch," Sora said, "it's not your fault."
Immediately, Lilo came back and began dragging Stitch by the legs away, Sora and Riku following. They walked over to the gas station not far and Lilo pulled some paper towels from the dispenser and handed two to Sora and Riku, then began to wipe Stitch dry.
"I know that it's hard to give up sometimes, but if you don't give up on Elvis, Elvis won't give up on you," she said positively.
Stitch nodded.
"Good philosophy, Lilo," Riku complimented.
Suddenly, they noticed that there was music playing, and they turned to see the owners of the gas station playing a song. Immediately, Lilo ran to them.
"That song," she recognized, "it's about the Hawaiian goddess Hi'iaka!"
"Hey, that's right, Lilo," they agreed.
"That's a great story!" Lilo exclaimed, looking at Stitch. "Friendship, jealousy, death by molten lava, do you know what this means?" She was shaking Stitch now.
Immediately, they both ran out into the rain and shouted to the skies, "Thank you, Elvis!"
They began to swing each other around cheerfully.
"We have our hula!" Lilo cheered.
Riku and Sora stuck under the station where it was dry, and they shrugged simply, not really understanding what nor how Lilo managed to get her idea for her hula.
"Hey Riku, why don't you go take Lilo and Stitch back home so they can get working on their hula?" Sora implored, "I'm going to take a look around the island and see if I can find anything."
OMG obviously something's gonna happen! What are Xven and Yuki planning? POOR RIKU!
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