My apologies for keeping on revising this. Last time I've revised about Riku's age and the number of years that things happened. So…from Riku with the age of 256, it is now 156. It's only the timeline that I'd revised though. I can hardly keep it in control as I've jumped to and from past and present.
Uh, yeah, no offense about pubs or nightlife. I've seen in movies all the time that vampires went to pubs. I just thought that KH doesn't really go along with pubs (my opinion).
Edited with the help of xShootingStarx on 30/10/08
Saving 3 So Nostalgic
Days rolled by as Sora hadn't seen Riku at all, making him believe that what had happened must have only been a dream.
Until came the day…
After school was over, Sora waited for his friends. He casually walked along the hallway and came across the gym. Passing the Kendo Club's Room, no one was inside; they all went to the tournament. Out of boredom and being in the process of trying to find something entertaining, he slipped in.
The room was eerily silent. Sora grabbed one of the wooden swords and swung it absentmindedly. He recalled some students from Kendo Club (or other clubs) had requested for him to join them, but he never did. Despite the number of friends Sora had made and how open he was, he never bound or devoted himself to anything seriously. He was being extremely carefree; it allowed him to come and go as he pleased. He found that kind of life endearing. However, sometimes, he found himself running around in circles, not being able to have anything he could truly rely on, or wanting to return to.
Yet there was only one place that he frequented often since he was seven. Sora didn't know how or why, but going to the island's cave made him feel like he belonged. Yet he had always felt that something was missing. So he took his best friend, Kairi, there, hoping that empty feeling in his heart would go away.
They drew pictures of each other, having fun playing around, but the emptiness in Sora's heart never left.
That was until they grew up a few inches and Kairi wasn't into entering gloomy caves anymore. After that, Sora always went there alone, and yet he still felt the emptiness.
He continued to toy with the wooden sword. Sora had been told that his sword skills were quite something, as if he had been taught properly to some degree. Which was weird, since he couldn't recall having been trained properly…by anyone.
Pacing closer to the window, he looked to the night outside that was illuminated by the faint lights. He was too caught up with his random thoughts, so he was caught off guard when a dark figure sprung into his vision from the window with a "BOO!"
"Uwaaah!" The brunet screamed out and instinctively backed away, whipping the wooden sword and almost hitting the subject of his fright had that object not evaded the blow. Sora held the wooden material tighter as he studied the figure and recognized it. He snarled, "Riku! Man, quit that already! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
The silver-haired vampire grinned and swiftly leapt through the window.
'So…it wasn't a dream…'
A sense of déjà vu filled Sora. That aside, he was happy. He lowered the bamboo sword. "Where have you been all this time?"
"Nowhere."
It was obvious that he didn't want to answer and Sora felt that he shouldn't push it. He didn't know why, but he trusted that Riku wouldn't go out and hurt anyone. He didn't need to worry about that.
"So you came after all."
"Well, you asked me to come, so here I am," Riku pointed out.
"I did?"
Riku eyed the boy skeptically. "You forgot." It wasn't a question.
Catching the hint of disappointment in Riku's eyes, Sora's shoulders drooped guiltily. "Sorry, I can't remember. I only remember us talking about your adventures. And…is that all to it? I feel like there's more to it."
'More to it?' Riku raised his eyebrow. "It was ten at night. I heard your brother's footsteps and you needed to pretend to be asleep. You were already half-asleep though, when you requested my next visit."
Sora nodded dumbly.
Riku glanced back at the boy, noting the wooden sword in his hand and mentioned, "You're in the club?"
"Uh…no."
"You any good with that?"
With one finger, he scratched one side of his cheek and smiled sheepishly. "Ehh…" Sora found himself lost for words. He barely lost a duel even with someone from kendo club, which made him confident about his skills. However, he had a feeling that it might be different with Riku.
"You don't know? You're not sure?" The taller boy trailed off then grabbed one of the bamboo swords from its place. He swung it around to test the object. "Let's find out then."
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Riku smile inside, but it came out as a smirk. Something inside of him stirred. Sparring the boy reminded him of something…or rather someone. Riku felt it was familiar. Unknown to him, Sora felt the same way. But both of them were busy at the moment, so they didn't really give it much thought.
"You've got a strong determination, which is good. But don't focus only on attacking; it could cloud your judgment. You need to estimate my evasive areas and an initiative strike," Riku advised, and caught a glimpse of frustration on Sora's face. He assumed the boy wasn't really much for someone telling him what to do.
But then, Sora was taking his time before his next strike, so Riku knew the boy was listening.
"Try not to crouch too much when you're waiting, it's good for not leaving anywhere unprotected, but it will tire out your knees. So you might want to crouch…a little less." Came another piece advice.
Sora blinked, and he suddenly stood up straight like a pole that Riku had to chuckle at the boy's attention.
It was a good several minutes later that they decided to stop.
"Should we stop here? You're straining yourself," asked Riku.
"No!"
"You're getting better by the minute," Riku complimented and added. "I know I see the potential in you."
Sora's sword collided with Riku's and they were face to face. "Really?" The boy asked with a childlike excitement in his eyes, and Riku found himself grinning in amusement.
"Really," Riku confirmed. "I've never had to use this amount of stamina with someone new to sword fighting."
"I used to duel with Tidus all the time. Maybe next time, you could meet him? We can all play Blitzball-" Sora asked good-naturedly.
Riku dropped the fighting stance, causing his companion to do the same. He ran his hand through his silver hair and sighed, looking away from the boy that wouldn't yet give up on dragging him to meet his friends. "I don't know what Blitzball is, and I don't care. For your answer, I'd rather not; I don't like meeting people."
Sora's eyes filled with discontentment. "But you came to see me, what's the difference?"
At that, Riku advanced to the boy, his taller form towering over Sora. He stared down at the boy who still blinked up at him. He knew that look, a look so innocent, which he'd encountered several times before he crushed the hell out of it. "There is a difference, Sora."
The brunet felt that there was something meaningful behind those words and he ventured, "What is it then?"
Riku sighed exasperatedly at first. Then it was followed by something that Sora was surprised to see: Riku looked lost. Sora had always seen Riku as composed and calculated, but the taller boy looked different when Sora brought the issue up. Upon Riku's silence, Sora raised his hands. "It's fine. If you don't want to talk, then just forget about it."
"Yeah. You're tired, that's it for today." The taller boy announced as he made his way to the bamboo sword's holder and placed the object back where it belonged.
"Are you angry?" The smaller boy suddenly asked.
"No. Why should I be?" Riku still had his back turned to the boy from where he was situated.
"You look kinda lost."
Everything around Riku stopped and went dead silence for a while and he wondered aloud, "Do I?"
Sora had been holding back the questions that he needed answers from Riku, but Riku's current mood worried him more. "Riku. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. But it would be better if you could just talk about it," Sora suggested.
For a moment, the thought of reading the boy's mind was tempting but Riku beat it down. How could he tell the boy? Narrowing his eyes, he closed the distance between them. He reached out and tugged the brunet strands between his fingers. "Sora, how I wish I could tell you…maybe I can tell you, or maybe, I have already told you."
"Huh?"
"I've been having these dreams, that this felt familiar…I think we have met-"
Sora couldn't hear the last word clearly as it was drowned out by another voice calling out.
"Sora!"
Both boys turned and found the redheaded girl standing at the door way. Her violet eyes full of bewilderment, probably because of finding Sora that close to some stranger.
There were another curly brown-haired girl and two boys just behind her, the shorter one with blond hair and the other with orange hair, both having tan skin. They all had backpacks in their hands.
When they brought themselves into the room, their eyes studied the taller figure which they were not at all familiar with.
Riku's hand fell away from Sora's face as he murmured, "later then." He turned to leave but he was stopped.
"Wa-Wait! Why do you always have to leave so suddenly? And, wait a minute; you're going to get out through the window? There's a door!" The brunet had both of his hands tugging at Riku's coat. "Aww, come on, Riku! Don't be so shy, meet my friends!"
With that, the vampire snarled in frustration at the smaller boy. "Shy? Who are you calling shy!"
Kairi had positioned herself at Sora's side. She was taking a good look at the vampire, her frown deepened and the silver-haired boy happened to notice it. She found him untrustworthy which Riku suddenly was reminded of a protective mother cat.
Lacing both of his hands behind his back, Sora grinned. "Everyone, meet Riku." He motioned from his friends to the vampire accordingly. "Riku, this is Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka."
Selphie looked up and down on Riku and chirped, "Haven't seen you around here, are you from somewhere else?"
"Yeah," Riku only gave a short reply, which demonstrated that he didn't want to get into it. And thankfully, the curly haired girl didn't push the subject.
"Next time come play Blitzball with us!" Tidus invited when there was a short awkward pause.
"I don't know anything about it," Riku said, trying to manage a smile, but failed.
"It's not hard. I can teach ya!" Wakka offered with brotherly atmosphere.
It made Riku feel weird. 'Is everyone on this Island this open and friendly?' Then his eyes traveled to Kairi who hadn't said a single word. When he met her gaze, the girl looked somewhere else.
And her violet eyes happened to fell upon Sora's features. She grabbed one of Sora's arms. "Sora, what are these bruises?"
Kairi's voice had been a little higher than normal, thick with concern and it caught everyone's attention.
"Is Sora hurt?" Selphie asked worriedly, moving to take a better look.
The said boy quickly shook his head. "I was dueling with Riku a little; I didn't wear the Kendo uniform, that's why." He shrugged, and declared with enthusiastic voice, "Guys! Riku's really good with a sword."
Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka had gotten over with Sora's bruises, which left only Kairi who remained silent through out the ordeal.
When Selphie noticed the tension in the air, particularly between Kairi and Riku, she nudged Kairi, causing the redhead to manage something. "Uh, hi. Nice to meet you."
"…same here." Riku forced himself not to look away, to be polite. It wasn't like he disliked the girl. He just didn't feel like getting involved with anyone else. Moreover, he could tell the girl was suspecting him of something, but he couldn't care less.
"Riku, we're all going to my house for a sleepover, you want to come?" Sora offered easily.
The vampire once again found himself wondering why he saw no protest in anyone's eyes, except the redhead girl of course. He shook his head, "I have somewhere else to be."
For a moment, the vampire caught sight of Sora who looked unconvinced by his line. But the boy only closed his eyes and smile. "Maybe next time then. You know where I am. There are still lots I want to hear from you." Then Sora ushered his friends out of the room.
As Sora's group and Riku parted on the school ground, the vampire glanced back. He wasn't surprised to see that the girl named Kairi rushed Sora with numerous questions, probably all involving him.
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"What was that about, Sora? Who is he?" Kairi glared at her friend. "He already knew where you lived? Did he go to your house? How long have you known him?"
"He's Riku, you know, the one that I was looking for when we had gone to the island last time. And yeah, he sort of, knew where I lived. I met him that day when you saw me looking for him" Sora answered accordingly, unawared of her frantic.
Kairi narrowed her eyes as she warned, "You've got to be careful of outsiders, especially as you've never seen him around here much."
"Why? Riku's only a boy," Sora returned automatically, even though it contradicted what he knew. Riku was a vampire, but it didn't matter to him.
His best friend then smacked her hand up against her forehead. "Okay, he's only a boy I see, even good looking I might add. But I got this…feeling…and it's kind of odd to wear that black cloak here on this island."
The brunet boy clasped his hands behind his neck, standing up straight. "I'm not concerned about how people dress. He's kind of cool."
"He's the kind of person that keeps changing, and is far from human. No one can understand him fully." It came off more ambiguous than Kairi intended to. Everyone was staring at her in confusion so she summarized, "He's weird. I don't trust him."
Selphie arched an eyebrow. Being a friend of the two for so long, she'd always witnessed Sora and Kairi usually agreeing with each other on most matters. There were however, on rare occasions, that they opposed Still, they were like two sides of the same coin.
Now Kairi was having her feeling against this Riku.
Seeing the dark clouds forming over Sora's head, Selphie decided it was time to come to his aid. "Come on, Kairi. You're not normally this way around new friends. It's not that bad, Riku's cool. What made you think he's bad?"
"He's just dangerous," Kairi warned, but she knew Sora's stubbornness was like her own. "Just…be careful, okay?"
"Okay!" Sora provided a huge grin which didn't reassure Kairi at all.
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"Yeah, I can't wait to go back and see you guys again. But Sora keeps me worried. I wish I could take him with me there." A pause. "What? Bro…brother complex? What the hell is that?" Another pause. "No, no, no, Hayner. There're things lurking dangerously out there, and you guys won't believe me, my stupid little brother won't believe me! Therefore I'm worried!" Roxas went quiet for a long while as he switched his role to listening. "….Nah….I'm okay."
"Roxas?"
The said boy tilted his head back and saw the subject of his conversation behind him.
He twitched his eyebrow when his brother looked at him with that look on his face. "What?" His tone almost snapped, trying to look angry at the interruption, and wondered if his brother had heard the conversation. He mumbled into the phone, "It's Sora," then Roxas eyed back at his twin. "Make it quick, coins almost out."
Getting the message, Sora nodded. Roxas was, after all, using the public telephone in the school, most likely conversing with his friends in Twilight Town. "I'm going into town with Kairi and the others to buy stuffs for our projects, will be back before six."
Roxas nodded, he always gave easy permission if Sora was with Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, or Wakka.
Grinning, Sora reached pass his brother's face and inserted some coins into its receiver. Then he ran off, wavering cheerfully to the blond. "Say hi to Hayner for me!"
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Sora joined his friends at the front gate of the school and they started off into the heart of the town. They got sidetracked after their goals of getting the stuff for their project was met.
They were about to head home when the sight of a bookstore came into view.
The four of them always wondered why Kairi had grown to like books. No one had really thought that Kairi liked to read or write; it didn't really fit her outgoing personality. Then again, no one ever thought that a chirpy little girl like Selphie would have such high interest in mechanism.
Sora had been the only one who wasn't surprised when Kairi said she wanted to write stories and draw pictures for children's books. When they were younger, only the two of them used to draw together.
Kairi and Selphie went into the bookstore. The two girls were in the different sections: Selphie, in the mechanism category, while Kairi was in the children's section. Her violet eyes scanned over many books, and halted to one that caught her interest.
The cover was in blue and pink with a simple sketchy drawing with the title of 'Kingdom Hearts.'
There was only one left.
She reached for it but someone's hand had also caught the book at the same time. She hurriedly said, "oh, sorry-" as she looked up, her eyes went wide.
"No, it's okay," the stranger said, looking up as well and met the girl's shocked gaze.
"You, it's you!" Kairi pointed a finger at him…accusingly.
The silver-haired boy quirked his eyebrow and managed to state, "Kairi,"
"You…Riku!" The girl raised her voice again, but low enough to keep it between the two of them. "Why are you here!"
The person who was being questioned shrugged. "Well, don't people in bookstore come to read books?"
Kairi glared at him. "Are you sure? Or are you just following Sora around?" The girl had her hands on her hips by now, looking ready to blow a fuse any minute.
That left Riku wondering why this friend of Sora would have to offend him this much. But he had something else he was obliged to find out. He merely ignored her question and looked around. "Is Sora here?"
"NO," Kairi answered with a cold voice.
"You just asked if I am following him around, so he must be around here." His oceanic green eyes settled back on her with a smirk tugging on his lips.
The girl practically growled and ran off, not forgetting to drag a surprised Selphie out too.
"That was fast, ya?" Wakka remarked when the two girls came running out of the store.
"Let's get out of here!" Kairi quickly urged all of them.
"Whoa? What's the rush, Kairi?" Tidus and Selphie questioned in unison.
Kairi only started pushing at Sora's back, and beckoned all of them to start moving.
But she was too late, or more like…she hadn't been fast enough compared to the person she was competing with. A tap landed on her shoulder, accompanied by a voice she didn't want to hear, much less see the owner of. Or to be more precise, didn't want Sora to meet him.
"You forgot your book."
Sora, who had his head tilted back in Kairi's direction, smiled. The girl sighed heavily at that; accepting the fact of who Sora was smiling at.
"Riku!" The brunet exclaimed with a happy grin.
Kairi's hand slackened at her side, giving up.
"Hey," Riku said to Sora with a slight smile while he acknowledged the others for the sake of manner. Riku turned to Kairi again and nudged a brown paper bag which apparently held the book inside into Kairi's hand. "You wanted this, didn't you?"
The girl looked at the paper bag then at the silver-haired boy skeptically, and shook her head. Somehow, it was obvious to everyone that she really wanted the book. Kairi always picked the right one when it came to books.
Riku leveled the book to their eyes. "You sure? I'm sure it's a good book. There's only one here on this Island. You won't be able to find-"
"Fine, fine, I'll take it!" The girl snapped while shoving her hands into her bags.
"It's paid for, you can take it," the vampire urged.
Kairi didn't listen, she shoved the right amount of payment for the book in front of Riku's vision and repeated his earlier words, "just take it!"
Sora only watched the two's heated exchange, or more like Kairi was the only one who was boiling. The brunet wondered why, and Selphie asked her for him.
"Kairi, don't you think you're being somewhat…rude to him? He's just being nice to you," Selphie whispered to her friend.
Riku only crossed his arms over his chest, and looked uninterested.
Kairi heaved another long sigh and looked up at Riku sharply. "Okay, sorry for being rude. Nice to see you around here, but we're done, so we're gonna go. Bye bye." Yet again, she tried to push Sora's back, but the brunet didn't budge along this time.
"Heey, what's the rush Kairi, we're not in a hurry, are we?" Sora said as he slipped out of Kairi's pushing hands. He advanced to Riku and waved his hand up in a greeting gesture. "Hey there. How's it going?"
The silver-haired boy returned the gesture leisurely, his other arm still folded over his chest.
"Come to sightsee the town? I thought you didn't like crowded places. Well, Destiny Town isn't very crowded anyway. Find anything interesting?" The brunet asked casually.
The taller boy nodded, uncrossing his arms, and pointed at Sora.
The brunet mirrored Riku's action, pointing at himself. "What? I…what?"
Kairi's eyebrows pulled into a tight knot, understanding Riku's hidden message. And from the way Selphie started giggling, she knew that her friend most likely knew it too while their three male friends were oblivious to Riku's gesture. As her eyes traveled back to Sora, she became a little angrier.
Riku was inclining his head towards Sora's ear, whispering something to the boy.
When the taller one pulled back, Sora looked up at him hesitantly and responded. "Well, that has to wait until I get everyone back home. It's a few blocks away, can you wait till then? Or you can come with us too, and we'll go together."
Obviously the stranger was asking Sora to go with him somewhere. But why did he have to be so secretive? Although he didn't mind that Sora's answer had been audible. Before Kairi could step in and stop it, both boys had already nodded to each other in silent agreement.
"I'll wait in there." The silver-haired boy dipped his head towards the bookstore, and soon walked into it.
"What was that about?" Selphie asked, and her mind processed the answer herself shortly after. She raised a hand to her mouth with an, "oh, Riku asked you out."
Kairi shot a glare at Selphie for her choice of words. Her glare disappeared in seconds and was replaced with a dumbstruck look when Sora only nodded.
"But I'll walk you guys back first," Sora said.
"You're gonna go with Riku? That's okay; we can take it from here," Tidus offered.
"Yeah, you can go with him now, ya? I can take care of these three." Wakka added.
"Yep, not like it's your responsibility to take care of us, Sora. We're old enough!" Selphie supported.
While Sora looked thankful, Kairi looked like she was stabbed in the back.
"But don't you have to go home before six, according to Roxas?" The redhead girl almost smiled at the point she could reason with.
The brunet looked momentarily down, but his eyes sparked up slightly. "Today Roxas said he'll be back at eight. I can make it at home before him. I'll just give a ring to my Mom."
When Kairi started fidgeting again, Selphie immediately wrapped one of her arm around Kairi's neck. "Aww, come on, Kairi. Let Sora have a life of his own sometimes."
That struck Kairi, she was aware that maybe she was meddling too much. But then again, 'this is Sora they are talking about: dense, naïve, and totally clueless Sora.' People didn't know about certain things that had happened to Sora before. Only Roxas and she did.
How could she not worry?
"Remember what I said before?" Kairi asked, out of nowhere. When Sora only nodded dumbly, Kairi reminded him again, "I don't trust Riku."
Sora regarded her with a cheerless smile. "Look, Kairi, you worry too much. Riku really is just…lonely."
The girl sighed, fidgeting with the paper bag in her hand. "Okay, I'm not going to stop you, not that I can anyway. But just be careful, okay? If anything, you've got to tell me."
"I will!" Sora said with cheerful grin. Then he dashed off; waving at her.
Kairi could only anxiously watch him leave.
When they turned to leave, Selphie trailed off, "Honestly, Kairi. I think you worry too much about him. It's like Sora said, Riku does look lonely."
"Ya think so!" Wakka agreed.
"He seems to open up to Sora only." Tidus clasped his hand behind his head and looked up. "You know, how people who are distant could open up to Sora. I guess there's something about him."
Kairi's eyes softened at that. Right, there was something about Sora that made him special.
The four of them started heading back into their hometown. When they separated on their way home, Selphie took another approach in an attempt to cheer her depressed friend up a bit.
"Kairi, I know how you feel about him. What's there to worry about with Sora going alone with Riku? Riku is a guy."
Kairi's frown deepened as she ran a hand through her hair. "No, Selphie. It was because that Riku is a guy, a suspicious looking guy that gives me a bad feeling. Bad things had happened to Sora before, in a similar situation. But Sora never learned, I'm afraid his luck won't hold out forever."
Selphie quirked her eyebrow but sensing that her friend wouldn't want to talk, she held back her question.
'I just hope history won't repeat itself.' Kairi trailed off to herself as she shifted the object in her hands. "Oh, I almost forgot about this." Then her eyes went a little wide in realization as she removed the book from the paper bag.
Selphie looked at the book and then at the redhead. "What's wrong with the book, Kairi?"
"It's a story book. And why would a person like Riku read such books?"
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"You like children books?"
Riku's eyes shifted from the book he was holding to the owner of the voice, he arched one eyebrow and smoothed his face into a neutral expression. He put the book back on the stand. "Yeah."
"You know, Kairi loves children's books too-"
Riku cut in, "Sora, I would appreciate it if we could forget about her when we're alone. I know you want us to get along but she obviously doesn't. So I don't need you to push."
Sora went speechless as his eyes momentarily expressed something Riku didn't want to see and didn't mean to cause. Sora's head dropped with a soft mutter of "sorry."
The taller of the two was taken aback. He tried to think of what to say and failed to come up with words, so action took place. He ruffled Sora's hair. "Eh, just forget it. Don't sulk."
The said sulking boy's expression was replaced by a glare instead, which made Riku chuckle as he continued ruffling the other's hair. Then Riku frowned a little.
"It's soft."
"What?"
"Your hair, it's soft."
"So what?"
"It looks spiky, so I had no idea it could be this soft."
The said spiky-haired boy batted the hand away. "Would you forget about the hair!" Sora huffed, though his anger was dimming. "So, where do you want to take me to?"
The vampire shrugged. "Anywhere?"
"I thought you said you wanted to take me somewhere," Sora reminded.
Riku looked to the side again, and rubbed the back of his neck. For the first time since they'd met, Sora noted that the smug vampire could also be confounded at times.
"I don't really have an idea; I just want you to stay with me, that's all."
"Hmm." Sora half-narrowed his eyes in a playful manner, then his eyes brightened up a bit. "Have you done sightseeing around the town?"
"Not really."
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to go for one."
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The clock struck 7pm as they both sat on the bench in the Town Square, a clock tower hovering above them. After making a call to his mother, Sora had nothing much to worry about, he sat with his head tilted back over his shoulder, peering up the night sky, his arms outstretched over the bench. Riku, meanwhile was inclining forward, hands clasped, and arms resting on his knees, eyes staring off to where citizens walked by.
Riku stole glances at Sora from time to time. He'd been around the universe, traveling from one world to another, meeting places and faces that he'd found amusing. But his interests had run dry and he found nothing of importance to him any longer. Everything he looked at was the same old thing and his surroundings all turned dull.
Somehow, it seemed to be different when he was with Sora.
"Riku, where do you live?" Sora suddenly posted.
"Nowhere," the vampire replied and saw the disappointment in the boy's gesture. "Hey, I don't mean to be secretive, it's the truth."
"So…can't I find you anywhere when I want to see you? I mean, you knew where I lived; you popped out of nowhere to see me."
Riku was aware of how much Sora wanted to know about his simple background. But he couldn't find it in himself to tell Sora, he couldn't imagine Sora's response should he told the boy about what he'd done in the past. He thought he knew how almost every human he had ever encountered would react, but everything turned in unexpected ways when it came to Sora. He didn't want to risk it.
"Okay, fine. How about if I ask you more simple questions. Where do vampires usually go to?" Upon receiving a skeptical look from Riku, he raised his hands in defending manners. "Hey, this is not personal, is it?"
The other shook his head briefly. "No. For you'd never pressed on a subject that I wished not to talk about, I'm very grateful for it." He waited for the words to sink in. Sora didn't look touched by it. "Well, for your question, it's a pub. At least that's what I know from the other vampires that I've encountered. It's quite typical for normal vampires, right? Coincidentally, same goes with some Nobody-vampires."
"A pub?"
"Have you ever been to one?"
The boy shook his head.
"Well, I-" Before Riku could finish, he automatically paused when Sora said something at the same time.
"Why don't we go there?" The brunet suggested and turned to his companion. "Are you going to say something?" When Riku shook his head briefly, the boy urged. "Well? Are we going? I still have an hour before I have to get back home, but I don't see any pubs around here."
"There's one on the outskirt of this town. It's about fifteen minutes walk from here, if you want to go."
"Why not then? I've never been to one, let's try it out."
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"Man, I'm never gonna go back there again," Sora said and hiccupped. "Eh, no offense."
Riku had to hide his smile. He had no idea that Sora would easily get drunk by only a few gulps. At first, the boy seemed to be having fun, getting easy drinks from strangers. That was when Riku discovered that Sora was opened to anyone. Anyhow, Sora was literally groped by someone else. While, Sora expressed that he didn't like it, Riku was outright fuming. He agreed immediately when Sora had asked if they could leave.
Therefore, they were heading back to the main town. Sora staggered, having Riku's arms on his waist, and his arm, draping over Riku's neck for support.
"To tell you the truth, I don't like that kind of place," Riku trailed off. When given a questioning look from Sora, he said, "I hadn't finished my answer earlier. Well, most vampires do. But not me."
"I see, you didn't look like you were…enjoying at all." Sora's nose took a few sniffs. His brows creased. "Oh no, I smell like…smoke and alcohol."
"You look like one too, drunk boy," the vampire commented with a chuckle and received a glare in return.
"My parents will scold me for sure, what's worse is Roxas will probably kill me," the brunet said with a tone between a joke and being serious.
"Sora, you still have some time. Why don't we go to the sea?"
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The night was quiet as it always had been for Destiny Island at such an hour.
Their feet passed the yellow sandy beach that sloped down into the ocean. The brunet brightened up at the sight of the sea, he motioned for Riku to let go so he could run down to the sand, laughing along.
"You look like a five year old," Riku commented bluntly.
"I'm already fifteen!" The brunet yelled back, laughing still.
To Riku's surprise, the boy didn't stop when he reached the edge of the sea, Sora continued dashing and going directly into the water. Then it seemed that the boy's feet had given out or something, causing him to land with his face into the ocean.
"Sora!" Riku hurried after.
To his relief, the boy's head swiveled out of the water, a huge smile still plastered on his face. Sora grinned back at him and waved. Perceptibly, he was still a little drunk, but the action was on purpose. Riku waited patiently until Sora came sloshing back up and only then did he get an explanation.
"I…don't smell like smoke and alcohol anymore." The boy clambered to the shore and plopped himself down on the sand.
Riku found himself laughing again. Not smiling, not smirking, but actually laughing, something he wasn't so accustomed to lately, up until he met Sora.
The soaked boy glared at him playfully. "What's so funny, Riku? You laughed once before, I don't see anything funny!"
Letting his laughter die down, yet Riku didn't answer. Sora forgot about it and clasped his hands to cushion his head.
"Hey boy, you can't sleep here. You need to get home first. You'll get sick if you don't change."
"I never got sick running around with wet clothes from the ocean since I was young."
"Okay, but you still need to get home if you want to sleep."
"What time is it?"
The vampire tilted his head up, oceanic green eyes gazed at the moon attentively, and he said, "Seven, thirty."
"You know the time by looking at the moon?" Sora turned his wide eyes to Riku in awe. When Riku nodded, he 'wow-ed,' and looked up at the starry night. "Still have some time. Don't know when I'll ever see you again."
The words created butterflies in Riku's stomach; he looked down at the boy and asked playfully. "What? You like me that much?"
They both knew it was just a joke, so Riku was caught off guard when Sora regarded him with a serious expression for the second time to day.
"You'll think it's funny…but…being around you gives me this funny sense of…nostalgia." The boy frowned slightly, at himself. "Have we…uh…have you ever come to this island before?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure, but it feels familiar," Riku slowly replied, carefully thinking through every word.
Aware that the other was thinking about the matter, Sora rolled to the side, facing Riku. "Hey, Riku. What did you want to tell me back at the Kendo Club Room? You know, before Kairi came."
"…Well, that…I think we…" 'have met? How could that possibly be? I have no recollection of that, and I've never forgot anything since then.'
From words, they crafted an image in Riku's mind: there was a boy, clad in white shirt and red pants, brown-haired, and blue eyes.
"Riku," the brunet's voice cut in Riku's thought. He watched as Sora pushed himself up and didn't care to dust off the grains of sands. "I think it's time I should go."
The vampire nodded, realizing that he had taken too much time in answering that, Sora must have taken it that the answer would never come. But that was only because Riku himself didn't know the answer too.
"Right."
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"Wanna come in?"
"Better not. You know how parents won't let there kids be friend with Vampires," Riku said between a cracked smile.
"Ha ha, right." Somehow, Sora already knew Riku's answer, as well as the real reason. Sora pulled the doorknob open. "Well, bye."
"Sora!"
The brunet turned.
"At the island, between the small cliff leading to the tree house and the waterfalls, there's a thicket covering the entrance to a small fissure that leads to the cave inside. I am there when I sleep, most of the time."
For the first time that day, Riku saw a delighted expression on the boy's face, followed by a huge sunny grin. Then Sora gave a hearty nod, showing that he took a great pleasure in receiving that information.
"That cave?" Sora knew that cave,but before he could say anything, Riku jerked his head to the side where the path was.
"I think your brother's coming, I'll take my leave."
The boy's eyes went wide slightly and nodded. They exchanged last waves; whatever was left to say must have to wait. Sora hurried in the house while Riku disappeared into the night.
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Kairi has a good sense in seeing through people, I believed. She goes with Donald and Goofy without any question, not knowing them at all; she gets along with Pluto and go with him and not going with Axel. She goes with Namine and not with Saix. And she knows it's really Riku despite the outer shell of Xehanort's heartless.
I don't know much about writing fighting scene and all, so I've just written down what I saw on games, hope it was okay at least.
I'd figured that some hobby is needed to link Roxas and Kairi to Riku (since I made the two initially hate Riku). What would it be? Books! Roxas has books in his room. As for Kairi, she writes the letter to Sora in KHII which is written in poem, figures she must like text too. And Riku as well, is given the room in Hollow Bastian which contains an amount of books.