Chapter 2

They were walking together the next morning in silence, as usual, though Naminé was hardly perturbed by it now. Riku's hostile attitude was upsetting at first, but as the hours had passed, she grew more angry than upset. She had apologised sincerely, and been as polite as she could be. What more could she do? If that was the way he was going to be, she wasn't going to waste her time with him.

Naminé caught Riku throwing a surreptitious glance her way every now and then. By the fourth look askance she was genuinely curious about what he was reluctant to say.

"What is it?" she prodded.

"What? Oh, it's nothing," he lied.

"I don't believe that," she argued.

"Why?"

"You keep looking at me."

"So?"

"You have something to say."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"It's not important."

"I'm making it important."

Riku stopped. So did Naminé. He glared at her. She matched his; staring furiously into his angry blue eyes. If he wanted to be rude and mean and obstinate, she could be just as good at it. Riku was first to break contact, rolling his eyes and walking forward again.

"This is stupid," he declared. "You're being stubborn."

"You didn't answer my question," she insisted, running the few steps to catch up to him. "Why were you looking at me?"

"It's seriously nothing important."

"Riku."

He looked at her. Her voice was firm, unwavering; filled with a resolve he'd only met with one person before. Well, maybe two, but that guy was such a clown. Riku's lips curled into a sneer.

"Hmm," he started. His snide, derisive tone was unmistakable. "Maybe it was how stupidly childish you looked sulking on the floor last night."

Naminé scowled and glared at him as he walked away laughing; he was the obvious victor in this battle. There was a look on his face that knew he'd caught her out as well. He was right, of course. Naminé was speechless. No worthy riposte could snake its way into her mind, much less her mouth.

"That's not funny," she eventually said. The words sounded pathetic, even to her. Riku didn't reply. There was considerable distance made between the two before Naminé realised she wasn't moving.

"Wait!" she called. "I said wait!" Despite her yell, he didn't stop. She ran and caught up with him. She walked alongside him, trying to keep to his pace. It was difficult, and Naminé had to wonder if he was doing it on purpose.

"Fine, I'll drop it," she relented. "But I will find out sooner or later." His pace slowed a little, much to her relief.

"Not unless this mouth can speak by itself," he said.

"It's called sleep-talking," she retorted.

"...shut up."

She did. It was an uncomfortable silence as the two walked on. They both cleared their throats more than once. Riku wished he could have some music in his ears. On the island he always had it. Sora and Kairi often had to bellow to get his attention, and afterwards Kairi would gently admonish him; saying that one day his eardrums would burst. What he'd do to be back there now, instead of here. He hadn't heard Kairi's voice in a long, long time. Well, there was that time in Castle Oblivion, but that wasn't Kairi, that was her.

Naminé wondered why Riku was so against her as a person. She knew they hadn't got off to the smoothest of starts, but still he continued to be rude to her, despite her attempts at being friendly. Was he actually that mistrusting? It wasn't just because of what she did, was it? It wasn't like she was proud of it. If it had been her choice...

But she did choose to do it. Even though the Organisation threatened her, it was still up to her in the end, and she did it. She knew what the consequences would be, and she chose to do the wrong thing because she wasn't strong enough. Maybe this was what he meant about taking responsibility. If she was in his position, there was a good chance that she would feel the same. Perhaps Riku had every reason to hate her.

"Naminé?" Riku said pensively. The silence was broken. She was shocked he even spoke.

"Yes?"

"Why do you draw? Is it for a purpose?" His gaze continued to focus straight ahead.

"No..." she hesitantly replied. "Well, yes... I don't know really. I'm not sure." Riku heaved an exasperated sigh at the lack of information he'd just received.

"That leaves me no wiser. Let's see..." He thought for a moment. "Do you draw because you want to, or because you have to?"

"That's a hard one," Naminé mused. She folded her arms in thought while she walked. Riku waited expectantly for an answer. "There are times... when I need to, and for those times I have to draw so I can be sharp and ready for that."

"So you have to," he concluded.

"Not exactly. When I consider some of the times I have needed to draw, some of them I wanted to do it to help someone so..." She laughed. "It's complicated."

Riku scratched the back of his head, slightly bewildered. He looked at her questioningly. "Do you even like it?"

Naminé shrugged. "It's okay, I suppose, though it lost its novelty a long time ago."

"Why?" he pressed. She looked away.

"That's none of your business." Her remark wasn't made angrily. To Riku it sounded like she genuinely didn't want to disclose that piece of information. Nevertheless, it had a definite way of cutting the conversation.

"Oh," was all he could think to say. He didn't think she'd be so touchy about a simple question. In a way, he wanted to keep the conversation going, but he couldn't think of another topic. Fortunately, Naminé could.

"Do you know any spells?"

"No," he admitted. "I was always a bit more brawn than brains. How about you? Do you know any?"

"Basic ones. Very basic. Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Cure. Not any of the level two or three spells, I never really bothered to train much. I'm not much of a fighter to begin with, and battle doesn't interest me."

"Do you know Aero?" She shook her head.

"Doesn't matter," he continued. "It's helpful you know even that much. You can make a fire, since we've no matches or firewood, and you can cure. That should be enough."

"We're going to run into some heartless on this road, without a doubt," she warned. "We're lucky we've gone this far without seeing one. When Axel brought me to Castle Oblivion, there were so many... but he was the type of guy that just went looking for them. Maybe he cleared the way by fighting them all."

"Axel?"

"One of Organisation XIII's members."

"Right. Don't even try telling me the rest of them, I won't remember anyway."

Naminé raised an eyebrow at him, slightly amused. He looked back at her with a shrug. She shook her head.

"Okay then."

Naminé was right. It was sometime toward the end of that day when a swarm of heartless appeared from the ground.

"Finally!" Riku grinned and charged forward. "And here I was thinking you guys were never going to show!" His Soul Eater appeared almost effortlessly in his hand as he ran. He jumped and swung the blade from below, slicing the first one easily in two, dispatching it immediately. There were about twelve of them, all small fry. It wasn't going to be tough.

"Don't bother using magic, Naminé," he yelled. "I want to take care of them myself!"

Naminé hung back as told, and watched Riku fight. He was remarkably skilled. Well, he was supposed to be the first keyblade master. She wondered if Riku was ever jealous of Sora because he'd taken that honour from him.

Riku spared a glance behind to see how Naminé was faring. She was fine. Why didn't any heartless attempt to attack her? Maybe she was lucky, the next ones might not all go for the biggest threat. Heartless were usually less organised and would steal the easiest heart they could. Were they being controlled by something else? Could it be her?

He spun in a circle, taking out four more Heartless. That left seven.

No, it couldn't be her. That was ridiculous. They had been on the road for almost two days now, and if she had that ability she would have used it now. She would have sent wave after wave after him, sending him towards exhaustion before finishing him off herself.

Then if the heartless were not being controlled by someone else, why was his heart more appealing than Naminé's?

Riku threw the Soul Eater forward and ran after it. The flying blade took out six heartless before he caught it and jabbed it deftly behind him, finishing the last one that dared to attack him from behind.

Naminé looked at him, slightly spellbound by the spectacle she had just witnessed. He managed to defeat six of them by just throwing it. It was obvious to her that Riku loved to fight, but it was slightly more than that. He fought with...a grace, as if it were a dance, and each enemy deserved to die with the respect of being beaten so...beautifully. It was like nothing she had ever seen, but held a magnificence she couldn't describe. It enraptured her.

Realising there was no longer any threat, Riku straightened up and turned to Naminé.

"It's late, let's camp here for the night." He stretched his arms up towards the black sky. She couldn't help but notice the smile that lingered on his face. "That was fun. I'm beat."

Naminé used a fire spell on the middle of the path in front of her. It sprung up instantly and crackled as if it were really burning something. She took out her sketchbook and started to draw scenes from Riku's battle. The thrill he must have felt, every muscle tensed and ready for any onslaught, the triumph of each fatal execution, the skill to move...no, to flow exactly how he wanted to. She realised what it was. When battle arose, Riku became something akin to water. He was allowed to move freely without ties or expectations. He could choose to be gentle or devastating, complicated of simple, anything he wanted to be. There was nothing that couldn't be dealt with; confrontation like this was simple to conclude. When he was finished he could just wash his hands of it. Not like decisions outside battle. They were full of deception, betrayal and hurt. There was the possibility of giving in; that emotionally, he might not be able to overcome the enemies that could not be fought by physical means.

Satisfied that her picture was finished, she closed her sketchbook and looked up. Riku had sat down and had stretched his hands out to the welcoming fire. His eyes were closed, and Naminé could almost see the warmth seeping through his body. Was she reading to much into the actions of his fight? Maybe he just thought of it as a way to burn off excess energy and release a little stress. Admittedly, it was an unorthodox way of doing so but...to each his own, wasn't that what they always said? Right now, as she was looking at him, a contented smile shadowed his features. Maybe he had his issues, but it didn't mean he was plagued by them, had them haunting him every single day. After all, Riku did have an almost unyielding will. He had given himself over to darkness but managed to keep his body, and he had confronted and beaten his inner darkness by choosing to accept it as a part of who he was. Not even Sora understood that to walk in light meant he had to realise the existence of darkness as a counter-balance.

Still, no matter how hard she tried to shake the feeling off it kept coming back to annoy her. There was something more to Riku that intrigued her, but as the status of their 'relationship' was now, she didn't think she'd be finding out about him anytime soon.

Happy that he was warm, Riku lay down with his hands interlaced behind his head. Strands of rebellious silver hair poked into his face. It was getting considerably longer, especially his fringe. Not that he minded; he had always wanted his hair to be a little longer. His parents hated it that way though, so to avoid arguments he kept it at shoulder length, a happy compromise. He stared upwards at the darkness. Was it even day or night? Time was just so meaningless here. He hoped they would get to Twilight Town soon.

"Hey Naminé?" he called, turning his head to the side to look at her. "Sora's...safe, right?" The question caught her by surprise.

"Well, yeah. Why?"

"Will restoring his memories...hurt?"

"No, it's just like going to sleep. When he wakes up, it'll be like he never was in Castle Oblivion."

"So, you-" he started.

"He won't remember me either."

"And the others?"

"Nope. Nothing."

"Won't that be bad?"

"He'll wonder how he got so tall, but as for wondering where all the time went, he'll just think it was in that pod sleeping."

"And is there any chance that he'll remember something?"

"No. That chain of his memories won't be linked, so he'll be fine. No psychological damage or anything."

Riku scoffed. "He's psychologically damaged as it is."

Naminé hid a smile. "I don't think-"

"But, psychologically damaged or not, he's still my friend." He looked up at the sky, if you could call it a sky. "If anything happens to him Naminé..."

He didn't finish, but Naminé understood all too clearly what he meant. "I know."

"Haven't seen him in a while," he murmured to himself. "I'll be wanting a fight." Riku closed his eyes. Naminé lay down and did the same, though it took her considerably longer to drift into slumber.

Author's Note.

Thank you everyone for your reviews, watches, and favourites! I'm really REALLY grateful!! I hope you all got your replies, but still, hugs to you all! I suppose I should say this now. I'm not a fast updater. But I'm going to try and update every three weeks. Again, the key word in that sentence was try. I'll do my best! Thanks for reading, reviews appreciated!

LastCetra.