Demyx's word of the day: Noodles, curtsey of Number XVI.
Let's get things started~!
"Sora! It's time to get up honey, come on." Lee Mei said shaking her son's shoulder. But he just continued to snore softly with his mouth slightly open and a bit of drool collecting on his pillow "Oh honestly this boy, he hasn't changed a bit." She commented "Sora get up. Riku's here and he's waiting for you." Sora murmured something and turned over so that he was facing his window.
"Lee Mei, let me try something." Riku said coming into the room with an ice cube in hand.
"Just make sure he doesn't jump out the window."
"No worries." Riku pulled back the collar of Sora's night shirt and dropped the ice cube in it then counted down in his head, '3…2…1…'
"! COLD! COLD! IT'S COOOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDDD!" Sora screamed jumping up from his bed and running around the room.
Riku and Lee Mei had only started laughing at the sight "Well we had to get you up somehow!" Riku said.
The ice cube finally dropped out of Sora's shirt and he glared at it then at his best friend, "I hate you and your methods of torture. Making me all cold and everything."
Riku calmed from his laughter and smirked in his usual way, but Sora saw something different flash in his eyes but it disappeared too quickly for him to try and make out. He couldn't think about it anyway considering suddenly Riku was in front of his with a strong arm around his waist, "If you're so cold, how 'bout I warm you up then?"
Sora shivered, and it wasn't from the cold! Riku's voice, it sounded like someone else was speaking through him, making his voice sound seductively smooth. Shaking his head he pushed Riku away from him, "C'mon man! Get off me!"
The silverette released him and stepped back laughing again "How about you get ready to go? We have to go to the school, remember?" he said walking out of the room with his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Gimme ten minutes." Sora said going to grab his clothes from his dresser. He noticed something about his clothes though, they all looked like the outfit he wore during his second journey, and there was a note with them.
Sora, these are a gift from the fairies you met at Master Yen Sid's tower. You also may have noticed, some of them look like your battle forms so you have a variety. Keep in mind they have powers too so be careful in your day-to-day life. King Mickey.
'I wonder how Mom reacted to a talking mouse?' he wondered as he put the note down and pulled out his outfit. After longer than he requested in time to get ready (twenty minutes) Sora and Riku finally headed out of his house, each with an egg and sausage English muffin sandwich from Lee Mei, and were headed for the school "Think people will be surprised to see us?" Sora asked taking a bite of his breakfast.
Riku shrugged, "It's likely, even though you've been forgotten for a while. Maybe after we sort things they'll let us hang around the campus and we can see everyone again."
"Then I suggest you brace yourself. You know you're gonna get bombarded by the whole female student population." Sora snickered as his friend cringed.
"I don't want to deal with them. I really don't want to deal with them."
They heard a loud crash as they passed Riku's house, "Decided ta run off again huh ya lil' son of a bitch!"
Riku shook his head, "Getting drunk already. Typical. I hope I don't have to clean glass out of my room."
"How do you deal with that every day?" Sora asked as they continued on.
"Very carefully." The older boy answered earning a giggle from his friend.
After about another ten minutes of walking and joking they reached the school, Destiny High, and went to the front office. "Well, look how's decided to grace us with their presence! Sora and Riku are here!"
The office was suddenly in an uproar; the boys were surrounded by staff members and asked questions like they were on the news after a major incident, "Where have you been?" "What's happened to you?" "Did you do any of the homework you were given before you disappeared?" etcetera.
Once things were calmed down they went to the principal's office to work out getting back into school and making up a year's worth of work. That, and Riku had to see about getting a student worker's permit (A/N: Those do exist). It came down to them being able to start school again the next week, being given an assessment test in the time in between then and now, and Riku only needing to get his father's signature for the permit.
"Why do you want a job anyway Riku?" Sora asked as they walked down a hall.
"We can't live of our savings account forever Sora. I know my grandmother has an account for us to use incase that one runs out but I want anything from the bank to be for emergencies only. So I gotta get a job." Riku explained.
"And just what do you think you'll do, huh? Huh?"
"I dunno. I might check out some of the cafés, maybe work in one of those places by the beach. Hell I might try the library and see if I can do anything there."
Sora nodded and they walked in silence again. The brunette was tense, Riku could tell; now the problem would be getting it out of him "Talk to me Sora, what's your deal?" he asked.
"You could always tell." Sora said nervously.
"For as long as I've known you, of course I can."
"Well, it's just that," he swallowed thickly "I was thinking about… asking Kairi out." Riku stopped in his tracks and Sora's hands flew to his face "I knew I shouldn't have said anything! I'm sorry Riku, I know you like her too and that's why I didn't want to say anything in the first place! I just won't do it okay because then you won't have to hate me for anything and I don't want to lose my best friend! I won't ask her anything."
Riku looked on at his friend as he went on his rant more shocked when he heard the words 'hate' and 'lose' down the line "Whoa Sora, cool your jets. I won't hate you and you won't lose me. Jeez, what goes through that spiky head of yours?" he said.
Sora looked back at him with those bright blue eyes, "Don't you want to ask Kairi out too? We've both liked her for years so I thought…"
"Ah Sora, that's not the case." The older said tussling his friend's rebellious hair "Go ahead if you want. I fell out of all that a while ago. It's just a shock that you want to be so bold all of a sudden. I'm use to you being the shy guy all the time. This new you is gonna take some getting used to is all."
Sora stared up at his like a wide-eyed puppy, "That's it? Really?"
"Of course! C'mon Sora." Of course Riku was lying. His halt was because even though he expected to hear such a thing, his heart cracked. That was one of the things that bothered him about his heart; it knew that no matter how much he loved Sora his happiness came first. And if Sora was going to be happy with Kairi, Riku would have to let it be, if he would be able to see the smile he loved on the brunette's face. Even if it caused him pain.
[You're not the only one suffering Riku. I share your pain.] Yeah, Axel was hurt too. Sora plus Kairi equals heartbroken Riku and Axel.
"Hey Riku, wanna know something funny?" Sora said with a smirk; he sensed the depressing mood and decided to lighten things up.
"It isn't a lame joke is it?"
"Nope! Roxas told me something about the Organization's leader; it has to do with his name."
"What about his name?"
"If you rearrange the letters, you get Mansex." Sora whispered in Riku's ear.
Riku had to bite his lips together to keep his laughter from echoing and disrupting whatever classes were in session, "Now I know where that new mind of your comes from, Roxas took over."
[That's my Roxie.] Axel said proudly.
"Yeah, he says the Organization wasn't all that insane when they weren't wreaking havoc everywhere." Sora said.
"I believe that."
"Eh? How?"
"Gut feeling. C'mon let's get going. I gotta get home and clean the house." Riku said starting down the hall again.
"Huh? But I thought we were gonna stick around and see everyone?" Sora whines following after him.
"That was before I remembered the mess my dad made over that past year we were gone."
"Well, would you like some help?" Sora offered.
"Hmm. Let's get to my house first, then I'll answer you on that." Riku said exiting the school building and leaving the campus with his friend. They walked to Riku's house in silence, and uncomfortable silence they wished they could break, but at the same time couldn't for a reason they couldn't name. They finally got to Riku's house and the silverette told Sora to wait for a minute while he went it.
[Ya know something's strange about Riku.] Roxas said.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Sora asked quietly.
[I first noticed it this morning when he joked about warming you up after putting the ice cube in your shirt, for a second his eyes weren't his own. Same with his voice; it sounded like him, but it also sounded as if someone were speaking through him.]
"Well I saw that. But he does that sometimes, that's Riku for ya."
[That's not all. When you told him about how you wanted to ask Kairi out, something else flashed in his eyes, as if he were hurt.]
"Hurt? But he said he got over Kairi."
[I don't think that's what hurt him, I think it could be you.]
"Me? What do you mean me?"
[Sora, how long have you two been best friends?]
Sora thought for a minute; as far back as he could remember he and Riku have been inseparable as friends, according to his mother it's been longer "All our lives really." Sora finally answered.
[And before Kairi it was always you two right? I think that's why he's hurt. If Kairi agrees to go out with you that means you guys won't spend as much time together like you use to. And that can be a pretty hard blow especially if you two have barely been reunited after a year.] Roxas explained.
Sora looked to the ground, "Oh, I get it. I'm rushing all this. Ah man! People have always said I was oblivious, and now I've gone and proven them right!"
[Well, just give yourselves time to get back into the swing of things here then you can think about asking Kairi out.]
"Hey Sora! Come on!" Riku called from the doorway.
Sora ran up to his best friend and stopped, bouncing in front of him "I've come to a decision!" he exclaimed.
"Oh really? That's a first." The silverette joked.
"Laugh all you want!" Sora pouted "But I think it's best for our sakes that I not ask Kairi out yet. I mean come on! We just got back right?"
Riku nodded, "Yeah, and? Why are you letting that fact stop you?" not that he cared really, he felt his heart jump at Sora's decision to not go after their friend just yet.
"I don't wanna rush anything. So we'll get comfortable then I'll see if it's still a good idea." Sora said with his bright smile.
"If you say so. C'mon, we'll be at work for a while." Riku said turning back into the house.
Sora followed him in feeling a lot lighter than earlier; little did he know Roxas was lying about Riku's reason for feeling hurt. "So, what do you want me to do?" he asked looking at the messy living room.
Riku looked around as he tied back his hair "Well, we gotta get the trash outta here first. Once that's done we can go from there." He said.
"What all do we need to clean besides the living room?" Sora asked taking off his gloves and putting them in his pocket.
"The kitchen's not as bad so we can save that for last. Everything else is fine."
"Where's your dad?"
"I'm guessing he went to a bar or something. He isn't anywhere else in this house. Granma's upstairs in her room so we don't have to worry about her unless she wants something, which is rare." Riku took off his arm warmer and Sora gasped.
"Riku what happened to your arm!" he cried.
"What? Nothing!" the silverette said quickly hiding said arm behind his back.
"My ass! Let me see Riku!" Sora demanded pulling his friend's arm out for him to see. Running at a diagonal from the palm side of his wrist to halfway around was scar; the healed skin was pink and stood out against the rest of the pale flesh. It looked like a burn scar. "So this was why you always wore that. Who did this to you?" Sora whispered.
"You really want to know?" the brunette nodded slowly looking into aquamarine eyes "Roxas did it, the first time we encountered each other, while you were still asleep. He hit me with Oblivion."
[Oops.] Roxas said.
[Roxie did that to you? Damn!] Axel commented.
Both Keybladers told their "inner minds" to shut up.
"Well let's get to work huh?" Riku said taking his arm back.
Sora nodded numbly. His heart suddenly hurt, Riku had gotten hurt and it never healed properly. But why? What was the reason behind all of it?
"Earth to Sora! Anyone in there?" Riku called knocking on the brunette's head.
"Arhg! Get offa me!" Sora cried batting the hand away.
"Well you spaced out. You expected me to just let you stand there and let rats crawl over your feet?"
"Rats? Oh gawd!" Sora shrieked and looked around on the floor.
"Kidding. C'mon, grab a garbage bag and get to work. I want to get done before tonight." Riku said starting to pick up empty alcohol bottles and cans.
Sora did as told and started picking up trash, "You're treating me to lunch. I don't work for free."
"Yeah I know." The silverette said waving a hand dismissively.
After the trash was picked up Sora vacuumed, then they had to take off their shoes and socks to put in Riku's room because Riku had to clean the carpet as well. Sora washed the walls and cleaned the kitchen while Riku ran the carpet cleaner to wash and dry the living room floor stopping for lunch once mid-afternoon rolled around. Sora's mom called once asking where her son was; as if she needed to though since she knew he was most likely with Riku.
Then Kairi called asking if they wanted to go to the Play Island "Sorry Princess, no can do today." Riku said.
"Well pooh to you (A/N: My friend Xie said that a lot ^_^)! You better come tomorrow, everyone wants to see you!" Kairi said before hanging up.
As the sun got halfway behind the horizon the boys finished up the house work, Sora flopped onto the couch with a tired sigh, "Damn your father. You're brave, you know that?"
"Yeah right." Riku said handing his friend a glass of water "And since when do you use such language? People expect that from me."
"Blame Roxas." Sora said before gulping down the cold liquid "And you are, if you've been putting up with that man for so long. I would have hightailed it for the hills long ago if it were me."
Riku sat next to him with a chuckle, "Well I have thought about it. But the reason I stayed was because of you. You're my best friend after all, I couldn't leave you here by yourself. You might have drowned in that spring on the Island I bet."
Sora hit the silverette's arm with a pout, "I would've not!" but still, he felt his heart flutter a little at hearing Riku stayed for him.
The front door opened and Riku's dad stumbled in looking at them with a drunken expression, "The fuh-*hic* uck? How'd the house *hic* get clean?"
"Me and Sora cleaned up." Riku responded as if it should have been obvious.
"Whoopdie-do." The man said walking towards the kitchen, almost falling over.
"Dad maybe you should go to your room and sleep for a while." Riku suggested.
"D-don't t-tell me what to *hic* do. I'ma go ta sleep." And with that Riku's dad stumbled off into his own room down the hall.
"Again, you're brave for putting up with that man for so long." Sora commented.
"If I don't, no one else will." Riku responded.
A comfortable silence fell between them and Sora couldn't help but feel drowsy, the next thing he knew he drifted off with a strange dream in his head.
Sora's eyes opened slowly and saw a smirking redhead looking at him with acid green eyes, someone he recognized, Axel. But why was he looking at him like that? Where was Sora anyway? It didn't look like Riku's house. Then he noticed Axel leaning closer to him and felt an arm around his waist.
"Glad you're finally awake Roxas, you've been asleep too long." Axel said.
Sora was confused, why had he been called Roxas? He was about to ask but he felt himself smile instead, "I'm sorry Axel, I don't know what happened." That wasn't his voice!
Axel brought him closer so that their foreheads touched, "We gotta a lot of time to make up for."
"You and your dirty mind! Though, it sounds like a pretty good idea right now."
"…a… ra… ora… Sora!"
Sora's eyes snapped opened and met the worried gaze of Riku "Jeez you probably needed more sleep than you got last night." The silverette said.
"Sorry. But… I had the weirdest dream." Sora said putting a hand to his head.
"Hm? What about?"
"I guess I was in Roxas's mind. Axel was there too and he was really close. I don't know what was going on."
"Huh. Well c'mon, I'll walk you home."
"Okay." Sora stood up with his friend and they went to get their shoes then started for Sora's house "Ya know what we should have one of our sleepovers one of these days! We haven't done that in a while." He said as they walked down the street.
"Aren't we getting a little old for that?" Riku questioned.
"Aw come on!" Sora whined pulling on the silverette's arm "We both lost a year of our youth! Don't you think we deserve to be our old selves again even if it's just once?" that irresistible pout adorned his face and Riku sighed in defeat.
"Alright, alright. Let me do what I need to do and I'll get back to you on when I can come over to your place." He said.
The brunette crossed his arms with that accursed pout still on his face "What's wrong with tomorrow?" he demanded.
"I'm going to get my uniform then I have to look for a job."
"Crap the uniform! I have to get mine too! Crap."
Riku laughed, "Wow Sora, no matter how much danger you put yourself in or how many near-death experiences you have you're still your oblivious self. At least not everything about you has changed."
That last sentence made Sora blink, "Maybe… But a lot about you has changed, even though you've mostly stayed the same."
The silverette stopped walking and looked at the younger boy, "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean! Ever since you let yourself be taken by the darkness you've changed! You always use to accept my help when I offered it. Now you mostly rely on yourself, just to beat yourself up over that decision you made a year ago. You punish yourself even though everything isn't entirely your fault. I know it's partially mine too, if I had been a better friend and paid attention. I'm going to take responsibility Riku, I promise." Sora said.
[Hey, maybe he does feel the same way.] Axel commented.
If not for the situation Riku would have scowled at the words, but he just looked on at his dear friend with guilt. Just how much had Sora been hurt by the decision Riku had made? They had to fight each other three times in all the chaos that had ensued over their time away from the Islands and after they sealed Kingdom Hearts the first time Sora was forced to travel around looking for him instead of going back home.
When they found each other again, Riku tried to walk away, out of shame of himself "Sora, you have nothing to take responsibility for." He said.
"Wha? But Riku!"
"But nothing! None of it was your fault, it was mine. All mine. Help me deal with it if you want, but none of it whatsoever was your fault. Now let's get you home before your mom get's the whole neighborhood involved in looking for you." Riku said and started walking again.
Sora followed after him silently; it didn't matter what Riku said, he still felt guilty. In all honesty Sora was stubborn when it came to such things.
"Sora! Riku!" they looked ahead of them to see Kairi running towards them with another girl.
"No way! You guys are really home! I'm so happy!" the other girl said glomping both of them to the ground.
"Nice to see you again too Selphie, now will you please let us up?" Sora groaned.
The brunette stood up with a "meep", "Sorry guys. It's just been so long, I'm a little over excited."
"A little?" Sora, Riku, and Kairi questioned at the same time.
"That's an epic understatement Selph and you know it." Kairi said.
Selphie ignored her friend and studied the boys, "Wow, Sora you've gotten so cute! You look grown up. And Riku, you're gonna be bombarded when you're back in school, I can tell."
Riku shuddered, "Don't remind me."
"Oh just wait until Tidus and Wakka see you guys! They're gonna have a field day!" Selphie squealed jumping in place.
"They're already excited to see you both. So you better come to the Island tomorrow, both of you!" Kairi ordered with a hand on one hip and a finger pointing at them like a mother scolding her children.
"Sora probably will. I might be really busy tomorrow. And with that fair ladies, we will be on our way." Riku said dragging Sora behind them continuing to the brunette's house.
"You're not charming yourself out of this one Riku! I better see Sora and you at the island tomorrow! At three o'clock!" Kairi called after them.
"Kairi got scary." Sora commented with a slight shudder.
"That's what happen when girls grow up, they become women and get scary. So we better listen to her." Riku said.
"I have no problem, you're the one who made plans for yourself." Sora noted.
"I'm not the one who forgets easily though." Riku retaliated; that made Sora shut up for the rest of the walk.
They got to Sora's house and were greeted by Lee Mei with warm hugs, "Your both just in time for dinner."
"Yay! Foooooooood!" Sora cheered running inside.
Riku shook his head at the boy's antics, "I'll have to pass Lee Mei. Thank you though."
"I understand dear, that's why I have this ready for you. I hope you all enjoy it." The woman said handing Riku a plastic bag with a few Tupperware's in it.
"Aw you're too much." Riku smiled taking that bag.
"Well who else would look out for you while you look out for everyone? Be careful getting home Riku." She said.
"No problem. Tell Sora I'll see him tomorrow!" he responded starting to walk back to his house.
Quickie, no Sora's not falling for Riku… Yet. If that were the case there'd be no story whatsoever.
I should let you readers know I am making up the beginning as I go, I already got the main plot planned out though so when I get there it should be no problem.
Sora: If Animesaki is lacking in updates it may be due to her family on the only computer with internet access in the house or her rekindled love for drawing.