Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Spring break was over, and the monotony of school made the days go by quickly. April was quickly coming to a close, and in a few weeks school let out. Thanks to the intense heat of the Islands and the unwillingness of the school board to install air conditioning, the summer heat forced Destiny Islands to close their schools earlier than the mainland schools. In the meantime, the students coped with overheated schools by breaking the dress code in every way they could. Girls wore more revealing or thinner clothes like camisoles and mini-shorts, and Riku saw Tidus the other day wearing a yellow vest with nothing on underneath. Wakka went through almost all of his classes one Friday without a shirt on before he was finally sent to the office by an irritated teacher.

Riku, despite the wishes of his fan girls, kept his shirt on.

He tapped his pencil against his desk, checking his phone periodically to see if Dana, his latest passing interest, had texted him back. She was a bit of a tease, but other than that, she had nothing in common with Riku other than being hailed as one of the popular kids. Either way, exchanging flirtatious messages with her was far more interesting that being told that the inside of the Earth was a little warmer than the average moron would expect.

Xion wasn't in class today to pass notes and distract Riku from his boredom. She was meeting with the physical education director and the junior she had selected to be the next captain for the girls' soccer team. He tapped out another response to Dana, absently complimenting her hair as his thoughts strayed.

Xion had been acting weird lately, even for her. Ever since their first 'friendship marriage talk' on the Secret Island, Xion had been alternatively avoiding him and seeking out confirmation that they were "still cool". Riku had never dealt with something like this before. Their friendship was easy and not forced, and this reaffirmation made Riku more than a little anxious.

If they were truly best friends, would Xion have to ask so many times?

Later that night, he was reading quietly in bed when there was suddenly a tap on the window.

"Psst. Riku. Hey Riku, open the window!"

Riku raised an eyebrow. Xion's face was pressed against the glass, creating two-dimensional circles where her normally round cheeks were. He slid a piece of paper in between the pages he was reading as a temporary placeholder and got up, setting the book aside. Xion grinned up at him when the old-fashioned window was unlatched, but made no move to climb from the tree she was in to the bedroom.

"Riku."

"Xion," he said evenly. "Why are you outside of my room, in a tree, at," he checked the digital clock on his desk, "11 at night?"

The girl in the tree pretended to pout. "You're not happy to see me?"

Riku crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Fine. I wanted to be a spy, but I'm pretty bad at it. Your dad saw me and gave me a weird look."

Riku laughed, and sat down next to the windowsill. "I'm going to hear about that tomorrow."

"He still likes me better than Sora," Xion said, kicking her legs idly. "What did you do today? I had to clean my room, including my closet. Mom wants me to move out now that I'm eighteen."

"Not much. Roxas, Sora, and I hung out after school. My dad's been hinting at me getting an apartment in Radiant Garden. I think he wants to make my room into an office. I caught him looking up office desks online a few days ago, and there's no room in the house for the type he wants right now. He's trying to be subtle about it, but was measuring out the size of the corner where my bed is when I got home from school yesterday."

"Your dad kinda scares me," said Xion. "That's funny though. I bet my parents will want to at least keep my bed for guests. Your dad's probably going to get rid of yours. There's no way you can take a bed with you to Radiant Garden."

"Yeah. At least he might help pay for furniture. Have you figured out what college you want to go to yet?" Riku was going directly to college after the summer ended, while Xion would be taking a gap year, visiting relatives in the Land of Dragons and giving herself time to figure out which university she wanted to attend.

"I'm crossing Hearts University off the list. Axel said that Wonderland has a bad reputation of having all of the druggies."

Riku snorted. "Anyone could have told you that. Heck, I told you that."

"What? No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did, and you said, and I quote, 'Shut up, Riku! Their mascot is so cute!' Then you submitted your application to the school for recreational abuse."

Xion sulked, obviously remembering the conversation. "It was a cute cat," she said in defense.

"No. There is no way in hell that thing with the creepiest smile I've had the displeasure of seeing is cute." Riku shuddered in recollection. "It stared at you, no matter what angle you were looking at it."

"Its smile was adorable," said Xion with a sniff.

"Its smile was drawn by an art student on a bad trip."

"You can't draw while tripping."

"And you're an expert on tripping?"

"Why yes, in fact, I'm taking a trip around the world soon."

Riku groaned. "That was bad."

Xion stroked her chin, pretending to think about it. "Maybe," she conceded. "It wasn't too bad. Hey, Riku?"

"I'm giving it a -5 out of 10."

"I wasn't going to ask that."

"Okay then. 'Sup?"

"Riku, we're friends, right?"

Riku tensed, but from her position in the trees and the lower lighting, Xion wasn't able to see Riku well enough to read body language. He didn't reply.

If they were truly best friends, why was Xion asking for the fifth time that week?

Was it something he had done? Riku skimmed through the memories of the past few weeks. He had been acting per usual, it was only Xion who was having erratic changes in her behavior. Was there something wrong with Xion? Nothing added up, and asking Xion would get him nowhere if she wasn't in the mood to share.

"Yes, Xion. Please stop asking that," said Riku, forcing himself to remain polite.

"Friends through thick and thin?" asked an oblivious Xion. Riku felt a brief surge of anger.

"Yes," he ground out.

"Promising to never – "

" – give up on each other, despite our mistakes, yes, yes, and yes," said Riku. This time Xion could hear the snap in his voice.

"Jeez, Riku. Okay, the pun sucked. No need to get so worked up about it."

One…two…three…four…five…six-seven-eight-nine-ten.

Riku counted and exhaled slowly. He was an adult now. He wasn't a 13 year old kid with a temper anymore. Asking in a nice tone would be the best way to get answers from Xion. With that in mind, he calmed himself down enough to say, "Yeah, I'm overtired," and manage a smile. "Why are you asking? Is something wrong?"

Xion shifted in the tree. "Of course nothing's wrong, Riku! That's silly." She gave a light giggle. "I just…wanted to make sure, you know?"

"No," said Riku. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

"No particular reason," said Xion flippantly, and unwrapped herself from the tree limbs she was holding onto. "Well, I'll go now so you can sleep. See you later, goodnight!"

"Night," echoed Riku. Xion shimmied down the tree, and was soon nothing more than a dark blob in the distance, crossing through the neighbors' backyards and hopping over fences.

As soon as she was out of sight, Riku let out a sigh and cradled his head in his hands. He thought he understood girls. Wasn't that why he was such the lady-killer? His eyes flickered downward, staring at his knees from where he sat Indian style. He had tried confronting Xion and gotten nowhere. He flipped open his phone. Perhaps he should get a second opinion.

Xion vaulted over the low garden wall in her backyard and quietly slipped through the backdoor. Once in the safety of her bedroom, she flopped down onto her bed and gave a short scream of frustration into her pillow, not caring if her parents would hear it or not. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep tonight.

She changed into her pajamas and pulled her laptop onto her lap, opening it up to the email account belonging to Oni Lavent, online publishing literacy agent. Three new messages were bolded at the top, matching the rest of the emails in her inbox – From: Bashwords.

If Riku didn't write poetry, Xion would have never had realized how many people still read poetry. Heck, she liked it. She read every poem Riku would let her. She knew that she wasn't the only one, and that other people liked it as well. But the sheer amount of people who regularly read poetry was more than she expected. Not even two weeks after she first published Riku's poetry, there were over twenty reviews and critiques on his book.

Journey Through the Dark, written by R. T. Dawn and agented by Oni Lavent, had sold its fiftieth copy not an hour ago, sending Xion into in alternating fits of happiness and guilt. Riku should be there, celebrating with her at his first landmark selling besides the first copy. This was rightfully his work, his victory, not hers. With each new deposit in her account, she had second thoughts about keeping it secret for as long as she had. Riku should be the one reading over the critiques, arguing about the usage of this abstract idea in that stanza and why it shouldn't be that word in this line.

She pushed the laptop to the side and buried her head in her pillow. This wasn't the way it was supposed to work. She was supposed to tell Riku right away, let him get over it, and then publish books like no tomorrow. The only problem was telling Riku. When in one of her braver fits of happiness she had trekked over to Riku's to tell him the good news, late hour be damned, she couldn't get the words past her mouth.

'Hey Riku, I know we're friends and I made you swear we'd be friends forever, but you know that poetry that you entrusted to me? Yeah, that? I published it online and lots of people have read it. In fact, your fiftieth copy just sold. Sorry about that, my bad. Nice weather we're having today - want to go to the beach?'

She got to the "Hey, Riku," part, but never more than that. She had thought about the consequences of doing this for a while, but…oh man. Xion scowled at her pillow. This was too much. She needed some advice.

The new day arrived far too quickly for Xion's liking, and with it, school. After an atypical light soccer practice for a Friday morning, peppered with dozens of reminders about the upcoming tournament, she pushed past the heavy, wooden front double doors that made up the entrance to Destiny Island Academy. A group of kids half her height pushed past her. Over their heads, she could see her classmates rushing to their first classes, wherever they might be. She wadded her way through the midgets and prepared for another boring day.

She perked up after she finished half-heartedly taking notes in French second hour and was sprinting her way to science. Luckily, from the looks of the notes that Olette had copied for her the other day, they weren't learning anything new, so she could safely spend her time making jokes and passing notes with Riku.

She entered the classroom, and there was Riku calming sitting in his usual seat, tapping away at the phone hidden by the bag on his desk. Xion pulled the desk to his right over a little and sat down.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting," was the brief reply.

"Who?"

"Mariah."

"Mariah…?"

"Rottweiler. She's a cheerleader."

"Ah." Xion tried to match the name to a face, but couldn't remember anything. At that moment the teacher entered the classroom, picking up a piece of chalk and silencing the talkative class as he began the lecture.

Xion took out a blank sheet of paper and scribbled a quick line on it, and checked the teacher to see if the coast was clear. The teacher was too occupied with the diagram of the Earth he was drawing to notice any note-passing. Then she reached out, intending to tap Riku on the arm so he would take the note, but paused.

Riku had stacked up his textbooks in front of him so he could continue texting with his backpack on the floor, and was also copying down notes from the board. He was slightly turned away from her, and although he no longer had the long hair to hide his face, Xion could see the small frown of concentration he wore. The small, one-foot gap that served as an aisle between desks had never been so far apart, and despite the temperature in the school, she suddenly felt cold. Her hand retracted almost by itself, gently placing the unread note back onto her desk.

She spent the rest of the class period aimlessly doodling on the same sheet of paper she almost gave Riku, drawing under the words Riku, we need to talk.

"Good afternoon, class!"

Riku sat down on the orange carpet next to Xion in his usual spot, giving her a nod when she shot him an odd look. Riku figured it was for arriving a little after the bell had rung. He had met Zana in the hall, and well, Zana was a sweet little thing.

"I'm so glad our sharing circle has been working," said the teacher. She smiled proudly. "This class's average rose by a full letter grade in the past four weeks. We're going to have one last project on the poetry unit, and then we'll be finished for the school year."

"But we still have three weeks of school left, ya?" said Wakka. The students did their best not to look too hopeful. Ms. Gainsborough smiled.

"For the remaining schooldays, we'll have a study hall."

The class cheered, and Ms. Gainsborough looked pleased at her sudden popularity in her most difficult class. "I know this class is mainly seniors, but for the juniors in here who have to take final exams, use your time in this class wisely. Today we'll be discussing the project. Each of you will write a report on poetry and then present to the class."

Another student spoke up. "Like, the history of poetry, or what poetry is, or what?"

"That's up to you," said Ms. Gainsborough, and took out a stack of papers to be passed around. "It can be about your favorite type poetry, how we use poetry today, about a famous poet, or yes, the history of poetry. In university, they aren't going to pre-approve your topics, so I'm not going either. Therefore, choose wisely. Make sure that you select something that's relevant and interesting to you. We'll be meeting in the computer lab in Room 107."

There was mix of groans and more cheers as students mentally calculated how far they would have to run or walk to the computer lab from their previous class. Next to him, Xion fist pumped the air.

"I've got PE fourth hour, it's literally three doors up the hall," she told Riku.

"Now, if everyone's gotten a rubric, let's go over what I expect to see from your presentations and essay."

"I love Ms. Gainsborough," said Xion, and polished off the last of her apple. "This is the easiest project ever."

The group was outside for lunch that day, eating in the shade of a grove of palm trees. Growing up on an island made one accustomed to sprawling out in the sandy grass like they were doing now. Riku leaned back on the trunk of one of the trees, eyes closed as he listened to his friends chat idly about school and gossip.

He felt a finger poke him in the arm but refused to move. "Hm?"

"Riku, are you going to help out next weekend?" Riku recognized Kairi's voice.

"For what?"

"He's going to be a guide for some of the teams and students in the morning." That would be Xion. Olette, Roxas, and Xion started another conversation on the tournament. Riku, who had heard enough about it, allowed himself to zone out until another Kairi poked him again.

"I got your text last night. You said you wanted to talk?"

"If you're not too busy today, yeah."

"It's no problem," said Kairi. "I've got my free period after lunch, what about your study hall?"

Riku had a study hall, but rumor had it that there was a sub today. "I'm fine. I'm 18, they can't get me in trouble for skipping study hall. It's not a credited class in the first place."

The bell rang, and Roxas, Xion, and Olette ran back in to the school. Roxas and Xion were racing, but Olette, despite her hurry, found the time to give Kairi and Riku her best disapproving glare.

Kairi laughed, and Riku snickered quietly along with her. "Oh, Olette. She must think we're such delinquents right now." She scooted next to Riku, leaning against the same tree with their shoulders touching. "So, what's been going on with you and Xion?"

"It's that obvious?"

"You've been acting weird around each other. She didn't steal your lunch today, complain about your ego, or talk about soccer with us. She's been flipping between spending all of her time with Olette and I to disappearing at your house for days. Xion might be a little eccentric, but she's reasonable and rational. This isn't like her."

Riku ripped up a few blades of grass, then rested his hand on his knee and closed his eyes again. "She's been my best friend for a long time, you know?"

He could feel her shoulders shrug. "I know, and Sora and I know that more than anyone. We grew up together, remember? Xion was our friend, but it wasn't until we were 12 and 13 that you started spending all of your time together. Before that, it was us three, you, me, and Sora." There was almost a wistful tone to her words. "Don't get me wrong though," she said, hastily correcting herself. "I like Xion, and I'm really glad that you two became so close with her after Sora and I started dating way back in seventh grade. But I haven't seen a lot of you lately, and you didn't decide to go to Twilight with us, and I've been missing the three of us."

"I'm sorry about that," said Riku honestly.

"It's fine. Xion said you wanted Sora and I to have some private time and didn't mean anything by it. I appreciate that, but...tell me next time. Go on about Xion?"

"She told you that? And I don't know. It's been weird. She keeps asking if we're friends, and then going through some sort of 'friendship ritual marriage ceremony' or something like that. She'll hug me and then apologize right afterwards, and has been just…I don' t know how to describe it. Weird is the best word I can think of right now."

Kairi laughed, a slightly strangled sound. "Riku, maybe she likes you."

"What?" Riku sat up and looked around the tree at Kairi, glaring at her amused expression. "You're crazy."

"No, I'm not. It's obvious." Kairi changed tactics when she saw Riku's disbelief. "Look, has she asked you about your flirting habits lately?"

"Skills," corrected Riku. "Flirting skills."

Blue eyes rolled. "Fine. Has she asked you about your flirting skills?"

"No," said Riku quickly. "Well, actually, kinda. She asked who Mariah was."

"Mariah Rottweiler?"

"That's the one. She didn't pass me any notes later that class, and the teacher was watching me the whole time, so I couldn't do much."

"Wait, Mariah was passing you notes?"

"No, Xion didn't talk to me during class through notes."

"See, she was jealous," said Kairi, confident in her deduction. "She's got a crush on you."

Riku swore.

"Hey, no need to say that. I think you and Xion would be cute together."

"Xion's my best friend," Riku said, stressing what those two words meant. "I can't reject her. She'll be hurt because of me."

"Why would you reject her?" asked Kairi. "I meant what I said. Don't you like her?"

"I like her," said Riku, "as a friend. Best friend. Not girlfriend. I would have to reject her, and no matter how many times I've done that in the past, it's not easy, not even to people that are practically strangers."

Kairi sighed. "You know, I was kind of hoping that one day you and Xion would have what Sora and I have, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon." She stood up and brushed off the sand clinging to her legs and shorts. "What are you planning on doing?"

He got to his feet as well, but stayed leaning against the tree. "I don't know. Avoid it. Avoid the subject. Avoid her. Anything to make sure that conversation doesn't come up, ever."

"Are you sure?" Kairi looked up at him.

Riku took a deep breath. "Yes," he said firmly. Kairi nodded.

"Okay. Then you have to promise to spend more time with Sora and I."

"I spent time with Sora yesterday," he pointed out. Kairi shook her head, red strands of hair flying in every direction.

"That doesn't count. It was you, Roxas, and Sora, not you, Sora, and I. I mean time with Sora and I alone. You won't be a third-wheel, Riku. We're not little kids anymore. We won't treat you like that again." She held out her hand, and Riku, after a moment's hesitation, shook it.

"Do you think Xion will be alright if we do that?"

"Of course she will," said Kairi. "Roxas has been moping around since Axel left, and she and Olette have been going along so well they have inside jokes that I don't know yet. Roxas, Olette, and Pence can keep Xion occupied until this blows over."

And there was such conviction in her voice that Riku couldn't help but to believe her.