There wasn't a railing between him and the ground. But that was the point- feeling like you were at the top of the world, with only the sun's rays and a stray cloud above you. Like Sora was invincible.

His feet swung back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...

"Hey!" Riku smirked at him as Sora protested. "You didn't teach me this!"

Riku put his fingers to his lips. "This is supposed to be a test. No talking- and besides, we're in a library."

Sora bit down a hateful response and Riku chuckled. His pencil scratched along the surface of the test, branding it with unsure responses and questionable choices. As he handed his "test" to Riku, he released the argument that had building up inside of him while he answered the unfairly hard questions that Riku conjured up for him. Tutoring my ass, Sora thought. More like torturing. Not that he minded Riku's company, or staying even later after school.

"You haven't taught me how to solve problems like this yet! How am I supposed to know how to figure out how many handshakes happened if there were 13 people missing and that 20 percent of the population were dogs! It doesn't even make sense!" Riku paused, looking at the younger boy.

"Does it really matter if you've seen a problem as hard as this? Life doesn't follow the rules, and neither do math problems. If you know the basic skills to solve the problem, then you can solve even greater ones on your own. It's not a matter of having seen the problem before, but knowing what to do with it."

Sora's mouth opened in shock, losing whatever response he was about to make. Riku was right, after all.

"Close your mouth or someone's tongue is going to fly in there." Riku winked and tried not to laugh as Sora flushed and quickly closed his mouth- accidently biting his tongue in the process.

"Owugh" Sora slurred loudly at the pain on his tongue. Riku couldn't hold back anymore, bursting into laughter at the once-quiet library.

Sora rubbed his tongue against his cheek, trying to sooth it. It ran across his lips, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...

Sora's hand reached toward the sky. His hand could almost touch the sun, if only he pushed a bit farther, a little higher. He could almost feel the heat in his hands, warming up his achey body.

"You're going to fall off if you keep that up." A voice thundered behind him. Sora jumped in his unstable seat, nearly falling off the ledge before a hand grasped his shoulder. Sora held back a wince of pain as a student pulled him up. The boy had an air of regal authority and a sweetness to him, scary but kind. It was as though he were searching for something that he knew he might never find, but tried anyway.

Sora smiled at him. "Thanks! I'm Sora." Sora stared at the boy as he brushed past him and walked to the ledge that Sora had nearly fallen off of. It was one near death experience after another, Sora thought.

"I'm Cloud." Cloud stared at the sky. There was a silence broken only by a warm breeze of air before Cloud began to speak again. Sora sat down at the ledge, watching the same sky as Cloud. It's funny, Sora thought. We all live in our own worlds, but we're connected under same sky. A never ending vast expansion of beautiful blue. "I was destined to live in the sky, only pouring rain and making other miserable. Reflecting all the weight of my own pains onto the world around me until I was empty and free, floating above the destruction without a care." Sora's eyes widened at the confession. Had me met the boy before? Why was he telling him all this? "But gazing down on the sunny world below, it was worth it. My destruction made the world so much more beautiful when I was gone. It was all worth it, for moments like this; the sun glistening over the rain I made happen and making the world sparkle."

Cloud looked down at the boy. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. You thought leaving Riku would stop you from remembering your past. It only made Riku remember his." Cloud's soulful blue eyes stared into Sora's, and he crouched down so that they met eye to eye. "You can make up with him, or you can live without ever seeing him again."

Cloud stood up and walked away. "Don't be a cloud. Don't love the destruction you make, because you'll never be able to fully enjoy the beauty afterward. Kairi told me about this; she's a good kid. Don't regret your life, Sora. Those that do don't live for very long."

Sora rested on the small expanse of cement on the school before returning inside. Lunch as almost over, anyway.

...

"Why did you say anything?" Sora isolated Kairi at the bottem of the stairwell before the basement. Rarely anyone came down there; it's only occupants were a stray couple making out, but they weren't there today. Sora had serious business to settle, and this was the best place to do it privately.

"I- you were going to die, Sora! And Riku saves you and suddenly what, you can't stand being near him?" She looked at him desperately, holding his hand. "You should've seen his face. You were torn away from him and he ran up onto the pier, racing against the current pulling you away until he dived in and dragged your lifeless body onto the sand. He looked so sad, so heartbroken, yet so strong. Like he wouldn't believe that you would die. Like he wouldn't let you."

She sighed, rubbing her forehead against his. "You're the closest thing he has to a best friend. He may be beautiful but you can't just push him away because you like him!"

Sora yanked his head away, eyes wide. "You... you think I like him? As more than a friend?"

Kairi bit her lip. "You're happy with him, Sora. Happier than I can make you, happier than anyone can. And that's all I care about." Kairi smiled softly at him.

Sora agreed instantly. It was a better lie than any one he could come up with right then, and he wouldn't tell her why he had really pushed away from Riku. "Please don't tell him." Kairi nodded. "But... why did you tell Cloud?"

Kairi looked away. "Sora... my life isn't in the best of places right now. With you almost dying and things at home," Kairi paused. "I needed someone to talk to. And Cloud's amazing, he's a great listener. Will you at least try to bring things back together with Riku? If only as a friend? I really like him."

Sora nodded, losing his will to fight back. Kairi needed stability right now- with her mother having Dissociative Identity Disorder, Kairi never wanted things to change. It was always so painful for her, and she tried so hard to work with her mom through it. Her eyes were the ocean and Sora was her anchor. And if it took him becoming friends with Riku again, he would do it. Sora wondered lightly if he really did like Riku, but stomped on the thought as it entered his mind. He couldn't fall in love. It would never be real.

And Sora wasn't willing to pay the price of privacy.

...

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