Upon the semi-full exploration of the large home, Riku had taken an hour or two at the minimum. The home was a lot larger than he originally perceived. He'd become slightly peckish by the 'extensive' searching he'd done; a majority of his wandering was testing locked door handles and wandering around the rooms that he was able to get into. At one point, he'd come across some sort of library. He spent a few minutes there pulling every book halfway off the shelf and pushing it back in. A long time ago he recalled hearing a story that sometimes, if you pulled a book out of the bookcase, a new room would be revealed. He had been disappointed when there was not a single bookshelf-door in the room.
Riku had somewhat lost his way in the large home. He hadn't known that it was so large on the inside; there were many rooms simply hidden about the hallways. Rooms that led to rooms that led to even more rooms. It was slightly eerie to the boy that he hadn't encountered a single person during his exploration.
Riku was walking down the opposite hallway of the one that he had entered into when originally arriving at the gigantic building. He had walked down the hallway, going into every room he could until he made his way down to the very end; the end room he had just exited was not very interesting. A bed, a dresser, a mirror, a desk… he'd seen at least ten rooms like that just within the hour. The only thing that seemed different about the final room was that there was a door on the wall. None of the smaller rooms, he noticed, had no doors inside of them. All but that one. He could not get into the room within the bedroom, however, as it was locked. The silverette simply assumed it had been a bathroom and moved on.
The youngster was now able to see the stairs that went up to the second floor. He smiled slightly at the sight and began heading towards them. His legs ached from walking around for so long. He was nearly out of the hallway before a somewhat raspy, male voice questioned "What are you doing?", startling the young boy. Riku turned quickly to see who had spoken to him.
A rather tall man wearing a suit had apparently just been in one of the rooms that Riku passed by earlier. Riku couldn't remember if he'd opened the door that the man came out of or not; he didn't remember seeing the somewhat startling adult, so he assumed the door had been locked. "U-uh…" The silverette stammered slightly.
The man stepped over to the boy quietly. The stranger's bright red hair nearly looked both unruly and proper at the same time, hardly-natural bright green eyes accentuating his odd appearance. Along with the already odd profile, the man had two teardrop tattoos underneath both of his eyes. Upon looking at Riku closer, the man suddenly made a slight smile. "Ah. Sora speaks of you often to me."
Too startled to respond, Riku simply gaped at the man. Up close he had to have been a few feet taller than him at the very least; he had to look up to make eye contact. "I-I…" He was at a loss for words. "… Sora?" He asked, confused by the mention of him.
The man nodded. "I am his personal servant. My name is Axel." He stated. He reached out and touched Riku's forehead with the tip of his finger, giving the boy a short grin. "Got it memorized?"
"Uh… I think…" The silverette responded somewhat slowly. The attitude of said Axel confused him slightly; he didn't seem proper one single bit, very different of how Sora would for the most part act. Maybe it was one of those 'opposites attract' situations, Riku decided. The servant removed his hand and put it back to his side. "Are you looking for Sora right now?" He questioned.
Riku nodded in response. Although he still felt that there was more to explore in the home, he decided that it could be saved for another day. "I know how to get back to his room, though." The youngster pointed towards the stairs. "I go there, and then I go up the spinny stairs." He very briefly described the path to get to the bedroom.
The redhead watched with interest. "Really, now?" He questioned. "How about you show me the way?" He smiled. The youngster felt slightly panicked on the inside, his expression matching the feeling. "… O-okay!" He stuttered slightly. He turned and walked quickly towards the stairs, climbing up two stairs at a time despite how he struggled with his short legs to get up that way.
Axel followed at a much slower rate, taking the stairs just one step at a time unlike the younger of the two. He didn't entirely need to hurry since he already knew where Sora's room was.
Making his way to the luckily correct door, Riku opened it and pointed down the hallway. "It's… this way?" He said in a more questioning than definitive voice. Once receiving a nod that it was the correct door, he grinned happily and headed to the end of the hallway quickly. The door was closed, but he was certain that the circular staircase was behind it. He pushed the door open and was glad to see that it was. He climbed up them quickly, stopping when he was close to the ceiling of the floor that they were currently on. "And then it's this way!" He sounded much more confident in his directions now.
"Good, good." Axel said. He followed after the silverette once again, this time making sure to take the stairs one step at a time. Due to the staircase being in a spiral, the steps were in triangular shapes, the thinnest part being close to the base of the stair and the widest being furthest from the base that it was wrapped around. He had stumbled up the ridiculous build multiple times before and did not want to make a fool of himself around a child.
Once in the oddly placed greeting room, Riku hurried over to the door of Sora's bedroom in a near-running pace. He felt no need to knock on the door and instead burst right through. "I found it!" He announced happily.
Sora had most certainly been dozing at the time, and had woken to Riku's shout with a start. He stared at the silverette with a both confused and slightly displeased expression. "What was that for?" He asked. "I was having a nice daydream." He stated.
Riku looked over to Sora and grinned sheepishly. "I was showing Axel that I knew how to get here." He said. "And I did~" He nodded his head vigorously to add on to his sentence. "Axel is here?" was Sora's only question, seeming a bit more interested with him than with Riku at the time.
"I am, sir." Axel had walked into the room rather solemnly all of the sudden, confusing Riku quite a bit. His attitude had totally changed once around Sora. Axel smiled just slightly and gave a curt bow to the brunette. "Do you want anything?"
Sora thought for a minute. "Warmed milk and chocolate." He said rather randomly. He then made a shooing motion with his hand to dismiss the servant, whom of which left when told. Riku wandered over to the brunette's bed and sat down on the edge of it. "What was that for?" He asked.
"Dipping chocolate in warm milk melts it slightly melted. I like the taste of it on the occasion." Sora responded as he studied his nails. They were getting a little long, he noticed. Riku made a frown at his friend. "No, not that. I meant how you seemed kinda mean to Axel." He said. "When you did this." He mocked the shooing hand gesture that Sora had done moments before.
"Oh. I normally do that." Sora said with a slight shrug. "I'm impatient when I want food." He said. The silverette sat quietly for a few moments before sliding off the bed and deciding to sit on the floor. "I like Axel. I met him in the hallway." He said, going slightly off topic.
Sora watched the boy before laying flat on his back on the bed. The covers were still well made, only wrinkled slightly from Sora having laid on top of it. He hadn't gotten underneath the blankets at any point of time, it seemed, during the couple of hours that they had been at the home. "He introduced himself to you, I am assuming?" He questioned.
Riku nodded. "He told me what his name was and then he poked my forehead." He said. "He's kinda weird. I like that." He grinned happily. "And his hair is real cool, too. Is it real?" He asked. He received no response for a few moments. "… It is real." Sora said a bit absently. "He does everything I tell him to except for cutting that bloody shag. I've given up on trying to convince him to get a more professional hairstyle, but he won't change his hair until I change mine." He said. His brows furrowed as he spoke. "I like my hair as it is, so I'm not changing it." He said in a stubborn tone.
Riku giggled slightly. "Both his hair and your hair is real interesting. I don't want it to change." He said. "It's a lot better than most people's hair… everyone that is back at my home doesn't have hair near as interesting as yours. Does anyone else around your house have hair like that?" He asked curiously, sitting up on his knees and peering over the edge of the bed to see what Sora would respond. He was just tall enough to see right over the top of the mattress.
"I don't believe so. I know a few people with interesting hairstyles, but they don't live here. It seems that it's usually the more valuable or special people can afford to have such an odd style, instead of just leaving it down like commoners." Sora said.
Riku glanced at his own hair from the corner of his eye and felt slightly disappointed at the thought of being just a normal person. "Oh." He said shortly, sounding ever-so-slightly downhearted.
"Your hair is very unique!" Sora said quickly. "I've never seen a child with white hair. That's special enough to not need some crazy hairstyle." He told the younger boy. Riku's disappointment vanished at Sora's compliment and he grinned happily. "Oh. I haven't seen any kids with white hair, either. I guess that is cool." He giggled. Sora simply felt relieved that he saved himself from Riku being all sad and wanting to make his hair different in some way.
Axel had returned rather quickly with the snack that Sora had requested. On a small platter he had a cup full of milk, visible steam rising from the liquid's surface inside. Along with that there was a little plate with neatly stacked squares of chocolate. Each piece of chocolate was five connected blocks; on the plate, there had been five chocolate bars per layer, and about three or four layers total. The bars crossed over one another in a waffle shape, almost. "Here you go~" The redhead said as he walked over to the bed, setting the platter next to Sora gently. After doing that, he left.
Sora looked towards the food and smiled happily. "Oh, good." He sat cross-legged and pulled the tray just in front of him, picking up one of the squares of chocolate and breaking off a row. Once doing that he set down the larger piece of chocolate and then placed the five-long row of chocolate into the cup of hot milk.
Riku watched with curiosity. He climbed up onto the bed and looked into the cup of milk and was almost confused as to why Sora had wanted it. "Hot milk doesn't smell good…" He said, leaning back and away from the food. Sora looked up at the youngster with a rather confused expression. "You don't like it?" He asked. As he spoke, he was stirring the stick of chocolate in the milk. "I find it pretty tasty." He said.
"Well… the milk its' self." The youngster responded to his elder friend. "The chocolate isn't so bad. Why are you putting that in there, anyways?" He questioned, not understanding Sora's motive for wasting perfectly good candy on grody hot milk.
"It makes the milk also taste like chocolate." Sora said. He pulled the stick he had out of the milk. The part of it that had been under the white liquid was now very melt-y and nearly looked to be a liquid, its' self. Along with that, it had left a little dot of chocolate on the surface of the milk; the chocolate was warm enough to be dripping, so a few more droplets would fall down to the milk periodically. Sora raised the chocolate up to his mouth and took a bite off of the end, making a little smile as he chewed. He found it very tasty.
Riku gawked at the sight of the chocolate and quickly became jealous of Sora eating the chocolate. "I want some!" He said. He crawled over the bed and sat on the opposite side of the platter as Sora, on his knees instead of cross-legged like Sora was.
"Would you eat it if I gave it to you?" Sora questioned, suspicious that Riku would be a picky eater and would decide to not want it only after it was in his mouth. Riku nodded confidently and reached to grab his own small bar of chocolate, but was stopped by Sora.
"My bar is still fairly melted. Just eat this one." The brunette said, holding his piece of chocolate out to Riku's mouth. "Oh, okay~" Was the youngster's response. Riku leaned closer and ate the rest of the melted chocolate, getting a little bit of it on his lips when he ate it. "It's good!" He said as he chewed.
Sora broke another row off of the block and set it in the milk and watched Riku with a small smile. "Did you like it enough to want another?" He asked. The youngster finished chewing his piece of chocolate fairly quickly since it was melted and he nodded. "Uh-huh." He responded with a nod.
Sora watched Riku for a moment before smiling a bit again. "You have some on your face." He said. "Let me get it off for you." He reached out and gently grabbed Riku's chin to inspect the chocolate a bit more before suddenly leaning in and kissing Riku on the lips.
Riku was slightly startled by the kiss, blushing and closing his eyes. He neither accepted nor rejected the simple peck, as he was too embarrassed to really respond. Once Sora pulled away, the elder snickered softly. "That chocolate is persistent. It's still there." He said.
Riku opened his eyes and looked at Sora. His blush remained on his face as he suddenly made a giggle. "And now it's on your lips, too." He said. Sora attempted to look down at his own lips but to his avail had quickly failed. "I do?" He asked. "Shame that Axel didn't bring us any napkins. I suppose the only solution is to kiss and kiss until it's all gone." He said. "How… disappointing." He smiled.
Riku's blush quickly deepened after hearing Sora's suggestion. "I…" He said. "I guess so." He glanced away sheepishly. He and Sora had most certainly already kissed before, but he always got embarrassed when they did. Before today, Sora would normally kiss him when they met in the forest. Riku's excuse for embarrassment was that someone may have been looking at them at the time, even if they were in the cover of the undergrowth. He had no excuse now; … unless someone was hiding under the bed or in the closet, that is.
Sora was easily able to see how shy Riku had been about the somewhat intimate request. "If you don't want to, you don't have to." He gave Riku a quick pet on the head and kissed his cheek, thankfully not leaving any chocolate there. He sat up straight and stirred his cup of milk with the one-by-five chocolate bar. The end of it was already rather melted.
The young Riku was relieved that he needn't kiss Sora. He did admit that he liked Sora and had some puppy love for him, but the thought of kissing would always make him rather embarrassed. He simply watched Sora quietly, deciding in his mind on if he should eat any more chocolate or not. He licked his lips briefly to see if he could taste any more chocolate on them; he could not.
Once all of the chocolate was eaten and the milk was drank, Riku had been lying flat across Sora's bed with his eyes closed. "That made me feel sleepy…" He mumbled. It was more of a groggy, good feeling sleepy than just a persistent and annoying tiredness. The couple had been in the room together for about forty-five minutes now. Exploring the house had worn out the child, as well as the travelling they had done that day, despite how he had slept for well over half way of the journey there.
"If you are tired, you can nap in here with me, if you'd like." Sora offered. He moved the platter with its' empty cup and plate onto the small bedside table and pulled the blanket up and over so that Riku could crawl underneath it.
The silverette was glad that he wouldn't have to go to another room to nap. He got underneath the blankets and quickly tugged them over himself. Once under the layers of warmth, he curled into a fetal position, resting his head on just the corner of one of Sora's pillows. He quickly made himself at home and was almost immediately at content with his position, as he comfortably stayed there to go to sleep.
Sora watched with a smile. Despite how he was still wearing the same clothes as he had been wearing that day—he typically changed into other clothes for sleeping-, he also got himself under the covers and he laid next to Riku. It was somewhat late; about the time that the sun would be setting. No sun shone through the windows, however, as the clouds had returned once again and blocked out the ever-expansive sky. The two fell asleep roughly at the same time, both warm and comfortable next to one another.
Riku was woken up by a light nudge. "Riku, it is time to wake up now." Surprisingly, it was morning. Sora and Riku had slept for quite a while. The youngster woke to the sight of the servant, Axel. He was just slightly confused as he looked around for a moment; Sora was not next to him anymore. "Where did Sora go?" He questioned.
"Sora had work to finish." Axel said. "He missed out on a lot of working yesterday by sleeping in the carriage instead of taking the documents along with him." He said. Riku seemed slightly confused, as he didn't understand what that kind of work was; the only work he knew of was physical labor. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Oh. Okay." He responded to the redhead in more of a mumbly voice. "For how long?"
"For a while. He's fairly behind on it. He told me to wake you up once he was gone." Axel said. "Would you like something to eat or drink before I also have to go?" He questioned. Riku randomly made a frown and yawned just slightly. "Where are you going?" He didn't want to be left alone all day and wasn't keen on being by himself.
Axel made a soft sigh. "I have to monitor the stablemen with a new horse. They have to handle a rather wild stallion. Whoever sold it to us obviously didn't work hard at making him the least bit calm, and now we have to deal with it." He said.
Riku was almost instantly curious. "I wanna go!" He said. "Can I?" He grinned happily. Despite how he lived on a plantation, he hadn't seen a horse close up. His request gave Axel a hesitant expression, the elder deciding quickly on if he should allow Riku to go with him. "… You may." The redhead eventually said. "But you cannot tell Sora about it. Promise?" He questioned.
Riku nodded quickly. "I promise!" He said. He climbed out of bed quickly and hopped over to the door excitedly. "Right now?" He asked. Axel followed after him not as excitedly, going to the door and opening it. The youngster went through the greeting room and down the stairs quickly.
"Careful, now." Axel warned the younger one, quickening his pace to keep up with the silverette. "I don't want you injuring yourself any while we are out. As far as Sora knows, you're still in his room." He informed. Riku was already down the hallway and was waiting impatiently for Axel; his warning had gone through one ear and out the other. "Hurry up!" He insisted with a grin. Once Axel had gotten close to him again, he went out the door and scuttled over towards the other stairs, going down them quickly. "We go out that one door?" He called to Axel, pointing down the left hallway.
Once Axel had gotten to just the top of the stairs and saw Riku's pointing, he simply didn't respond. Not until he got down to the bottom of the stairs and had caught up with Riku. "Calm down." He said. "The horse isn't going anywhere."
Riku pouted and began to go down the hallway. "This way?" He asked. "Is it this way?" He watched Axel for a moment and waited for a response. "It is. Go to the last door and wait for me." The servant said. Once receiving approval that it was the correct hall, Riku walked down it. He tried walking at a slower pace so that the redhead wouldn't become annoyed with him running around so much. He still got to the end of the hall fairly quickly and once again had to wait for Axel to catch up.
"Go ahead and go outside. Head towards the barn, but don't get too near, in case the horse is outside." Axel said once he was a few feet away from Riku. The young silverette giggled excitedly and opened the door, going outside and halfway jogging towards the barn. There was some amount of distance between the barn and the mansion, but the width of area left Riku undaunted. He stopped about fifty feet from the barn to see a tall, light brown horse being held back by five men. Riku stood and watched curiously.
The horse snorted and pawed at the ground in an agitated manner. Three separate ropes were tied around its' neck, as well as one of them just above his hind knee. They did restrain the stallion somewhat, but most certainly did not disable him. Rather abruptly the horse had jerked the ropes out of the men's hands, bucking and screeching wildly. He kicked out his back legs in the attempt to get that one rope off, spinning and jumping around angrily. Before Riku realized it, the horse was very close to him; too close. Before the youngster could make any sort of response, Riku had become within range of the horse. He was abruptly kicked right in the middle of his chest, knocking the air out of him easily and pushing him to the ground. The horse paid no mind to Riku afterwards and galloped away in a panic.
When Riku was thrown to the ground, he also hit his head. He made a startled, breathless gasp for air. He felt a terrible, aching pain in both his chest and head. The pain ebbed away as his vision darkened and he passed out.
Still with a terrible, throbbing pain in his head, Riku woke up in a slightly startled manner alone in a bedroom. He was not in Sora's bedroom, and had to have been in a different one. His head and chest hurt enough for tears to well up in his eyes, however not enough to fully begin crying. He didn't feel that he could sit up without hurting himself, so he didn't. He couldn't fully comprehend what had occurred; he could hear a voice outside of his door.
"Why weren't you with him?!" Sora's voice questioned angrily. His voice was stifled by the wall and door separating him from the brunette. "You idiot! You're absolutely useless!" Sora had shouted. "He could have been killed because of you! Have someone find that horse and shoot it at once!"
Riku frowned and closed his eyes, the action causing the tears in his eyes to slip down the sides of his face. "N-no…" He mumbled quietly, shaking his head just slightly. He attempted to get up, however struggled when doing so.
The door of the room he was in opened just a moment later to the sight of a fuming Sora. No one else was near him at the time. The brunette walked over to the side of Riku's bed with a scowl. The sight of his friend startled Riku just slightly; he closed his eyes with a frown, disliking Sora's angry mood. He hadn't ever seen him mad before until then.
Sora's expression softened at the realization that Riku was awake. "Oh. I didn't realize you had woken up." He said with a considerably quieter voice than the volume he had previously been using towards the person Riku presumed to be Axel. "You needn't worry about the horse that injured you anymore." He said. "You will be able to safely visit the barn in a few hours or so at the least. I ordered that the horse be killed." He said.
"D-don't ki-kill it!" The young silverette said all of the sudden, looking over at the elder with a pleading expression. "The st-stable workers, t-they—" He was suddenly having quite a bit of trouble breathing and speaking so hurriedly. He was worried that the horse would be killed rather soon; something that he did not want happening.
"Calm down." Sora said. "The workers in the stable know what they are doing. Since the horse kicked you, it was obviously already a violent animal. It would have been killed anyways." He said. "Besides, we can use the meat. We'll have a nice meal in a day or two because of it."
Riku began crying more. "N-no!" He cried. "T-they were scaring the horse!" He insisted. "It doesn't deserve to die!" The elder brunette stared in confusion at the younger one. "… What do you mean?" He questioned. He had a slight frown on his face, a bit displeased that the boy wanted the unruly equine to live.
"T-those men that were handling the horse…" Riku said. He had to let out a shuddering breath; it was still fairly difficult for him to breath in and out. There must have been a large bruse on his chest by the time he had woken up. "They had a bunch of ropes on him and were being mean to him." He said. Now with his panicked breathing and somewhat-continuous speaking, he was making himself become lightheaded. "T-they—"
His speech was abruptly cut off by the sounds of loud thunking and a whinny. There was a small crash sound and a gunshot. "Who the hell is shooting a gun in the house!?" Sora turned and shouted once again in an angry fashion towards the door. He began walking over to it. "Nevermind this conversation," He said to Riku. "We can talk about it later." He left the room.
Riku quickly scrambled to get out of the bed. It pained him a lot to get off of the bed, but he most certainly had not wanted the horse to be injured in any way. He stumbled at first as he began to quickly move towards the door. "W-wait!" He said. He almost fell a few times just trying to leave the room. Once he got out, Sora was already gone. He was in the hallway that led to the spiral stairs and Sora's room. Riku walked down the hall to the door that lead out to the main area. He looked around in a panicked manner, desperate to find the source of the sounds quickly. He was fairly sure that because of the mention of killing the horse, and the sound of guns shooting inside and all the other scary sounds, that the horse must have gotten inside somehow.
Riku clambered down the stairs as quick as he could manage without collapsing and falling down them. He saw a strange, burly and frightening looking man with a gun walking down the hallway somewhat quickly, along with a dog and Axel. The same brown horse was at the end of the hallway and had kicked at the wall, tearing the wallpaper as it did so. The equine still had all of the ropes around it's' neck and the one around his back leg. It neighed and paced around the end of the hallway fearfully, cornered in the spot as the ugly human closed in on it.
The dog that had been with the man ran over to the horse and snarled viciously. Its snarl was quickly silenced as the horse stomped his hooves near the dog, causing the canine to yelp and scamper away a few feet. Once close enough, the man loaded the gun quickly and pointed it right at the horse.
"Don't you dare shoot it inside." Axel growled, whom of which was still nearby the man. "Blood is a terrible thing to get stuck in carpets. If you damage or dirty it, you will be fully responsible for it." He said, eyes narrowed at the man.
The man glared at Axel. "Fine." He stated. "But if that horse tries biting or kicking, I am shooting it." He said. With his gun still aimed at the horse, he began to approach it with somewhat caution. Riku abruptly began running, desperate to get to the horse before the man. He passed by Axel, who had suddenly gotten a slightly startled expression by the youngster showing around so suddenly. "Don't go near that horse!" He said.
Riku ignored Axel's command. Once he got past the man and the dog, he stopped between them and the horse. He was panting softly and had become incredibly dizzy and exhausted from the over-exertion of himself. "St-stop!" He said with the strongest voice he could manage. Tears were sliding down his cheeks. "He doesn't deserve to d-die!" He wailed.
The man turned his gun away just slightly so that it was not pointing at the young boy. He looked over at Axel to see if he'd have some sort of approval to shoot the horse anyways. Sora had suddenly shown up behind Axel. He was frowning. It was rather unclear who he was frowning to; the horse, to Riku, or to the man and his dog. There was a silence for a few moments before Sora said, "Leave." To the man.
The burly man scowled and fully lowered his gun. "Fine." He growled. He grudgingly began to walk quickly past the two, his now cowardly dog following behind him with his tail between his legs. The horse was no longer as frightened of the man and simply stood at the end of the hall silently, ears slightly lowered and head down. His tail flicked and his foot stomped just lightly on the floor.
"T-this horse…" Riku suddenly realized how exhausted he was once his adrenaline started calming down. "P-please, don't k-kill it." He whimpered. He suddenly collapsed to the floor, dizziness overcoming him fairly quickly.
Sora went over to Riku in a now worriedly way. "Why are you up?" He questioned. "You should have stayed in bed! You're hurt!" He said. His mood had completely changed from angry and agitated to concerned and worried for Riku.
Riku was now on the verge of passing out once again. He simply shook his head just a bit. Now he wasn't totally aware of what was going on and couldn't control himself. "… D-don't…" He said shortly before he simply went unconscious.
Sora watched Riku on the verge of fright. He looked over towards Axel quickly, losing his complexity at an instant. "Wh-what happened?" He questioned frightfully. The servant walked over to him and crouched down. "Don't worry, all he did was faint. If you'd like, I will take him back to his room and then take the horse outside." He said. "Do you still want it to be shot?" He questioned.
Sora hesitated in response for a moment, unsure of what to do. "… Let it live." He said finally, still seeming rather hesitant on his decision. "If Riku wanted the stallion to live, it may." His voice had lowered to more of a mumble than it was full-on speech. "I can take him to his room. You take the horse." He motioned to the four legged giant that was still standing against the wall.
"Yes, sir." Axel responded with a slight nod. Sora picked Riku up and carried him bridal-style, turning and going back to the large staircase. He didn't watch to see how Axel would handle the horse and was much more focused on Riku at the time.
As Sora managed to get back into Riku's new room (of which hadn't been clarified to Riku that it belonged to him now), the young boy was beginning to wake up. "… Wh-what did I do…?" He questioned, unsure as to why he wasn't in the same hallway with the horse anymore.
Sora went to Riku's bed and laid him down on top of it. "You passed out." He said. "What do you remember doing?" He asked. The silverette looked around in an almost confused fashion for a moment before letting out a sigh. It felt that he had been holding his breath, nearly. "I-I…" He stuttered. He was in thought for just a few moments. "I told you to not kill the horse…" He said. He looked away slightly and was unsure if he'd actually told them to not kill it. "In the hallway." He described.
"You were only out for a minute at the most." Sora said. He seemed rather relieved that Riku was awake. "I'm glad that you've come to so quickly." He said. He reached out and touched Riku's forehead to see if his temperature was high for no particular reason. "The horse won't be killed."
Riku felt relieved almost immediately. He made a slight smile. "R-really?" He asked. "Can I go see him?" He tried to sit up, but was quickly stopped by Sora gently pushing down on his shoulder to keep him lying on the bed. "Not right now." The brunette said. "You need to rest. You got out of bed when you weren't supposed to and that put some strain on your body." He said.
Riku felt disappointed that he could not go and see the stallion. "… Okay." He mumbled now with a saddened and quiet voice. Sora felt slightly guilty, but brushed off the feeling. "You can see him later. You have to rest because you're hurt." He said. "Would you like some medicine? I can get Axel to bring you some." He said.
Riku didn't know what medicine was, however made a slow nod. "O-okay." He said again. He closed his eyes. Now that he wasn't busy running around after a horse, he had the realization that his head ached. Badly. He made a soft moan of pain and turned his body to face away from Sora. "Wh—" He couldn't finish his sentence for a moment and had to pause to breath inwards. "Why does it hurt so much?" He asked.
"Is it just your chest that hurts?" Sora asked. The silverette shook his head, reaching up and touching the back of his skull. "T-this hurts too." He said. His elder friend watched for a moment before frowning a little. "When the horse kicked you, you got a bad bruise on your chest. Don't take your shirt off and look at it; it might frighten you. Okay?" He questioned.
Riku nodded just slightly. He wasn't keen on seeing anything disgusting or scary looking and had decided he'd seen enough of that for the day. "Can medicine make it feel better?" He asked in a mumble.
Sora nodded. "It will. It might not help the bruise its' self, but you won't be able to feel as much pain. It can help the pain in your head, too." He said. "I can try to go find some, if you want. I don't really know where it is but I'm sure it isn't too hard to find." He said with a slight grin. He was trying to lighten the mood by smiling; he hoped that Riku would also smile.
Riku didn't even see Sora's smile. He just nodded once more. "If I fall asleep, can you tell someone to take the ropes off the horse?" He asked. "He didn't like them." He said. "And I think that's why he was kicking. One was on his leg."
Sora listened and made a slight frown. "They tied a rope around his leg?" He questioned. He suddenly seemed a little annoyed, but not at Riku. "What idiots, those workers. I'll find whoever did that and tell him that he can say goodbye to his job. Sound good?" He asked to Riku. The youngster then made a slight smile, glad that whoever was at fault for the whole thing would not go unpunished. "Yeah." He responded.
Sora stood up straight. "I'll go fetch that medicine for you now~" He said, seeming pretty happy now that Riku wouldn't have to worry about the horse. He turned and began heading towards the door. Once in the doorway, he stopped for a moment. "Oh, by the way, this room is yours now~" He said. "Later today or tomorrow we can talk about if or how you want to decorate it." He smiled. Riku didn't respond, but made a happy little smile. He'd always wondered what it would be like to have his own bed, and now he did.