Uhuhuhu.
Riku had taken a bit of time to recover from the nasty kick he'd received from the horse. He wasn't angry at all with the creature for injuring him, however. It had been a few days since he'd gotten out of his room, and he was starting to become slightly stir-crazy. There was a bad hoof-shaped bruise going around most of his rib area and he was pretty sure there was also a bruise on the back of his head, but it did not matter to him anymore. He was sitting up in bed and was bouncing on it just a bit out of boredom.
Sora walked into the room after a few minutes had passed. He smiled over at Riku. "I see you're already awake~" He said. He walked over to Riku's bed and stood at the side of it. "How about you get dressed and we go outside so you can see that horse?"
Riku seemed a little surprised that Sora would let him go see the horse. He grinned happily. "Really?" He hopped off of the bed and went over to the door. "I wanna go now!" He insisted. He was no longer wearing the clothes that he had worn before he was injured; he was wearing a loose, white nightshirt that was much too big for him. Along with that, he wore some light blue pants made of similar fabric to the shirt. It was all rather comfortable to wear and Riku didn't want to change into other clothes.
Sora watched, glad that Riku was so excited to leave. He made a slight sigh, however. "You won't get changed at all? Not even into some other pants?" He questioned. Riku quickly shook his head. "Now!" He said again. He went over to Sora and grasped his hand tightly, going back over to the door and moving into the hallway. "It's not out in public, so it doesn't matter, right?" He grinned up at the brunette.
Sora had to think for a few moments before letting out a small sigh of defeat. "… I suppose." He said. "You've got to get into the habit of changing your clothes, however. Especially if there are guests in the house." He said. "I will! I just wanna see the horse now!" The silverette responded. Not wearing any shoes, he walked out of the hallway and headed towards the stairs. He climbed down them quickly, still holding Sora's hand and having to tug on it occasionally to get Sora to keep up his pace. "Wouldn't it be cool if I learned how to ride horses, and then I went home riding on one? I bet mama would be so impressed!" He giggled. "I only have a little bit more time to learn to ride one, right?" He was fairly quickly getting to the back door of the house, wanting very much to go outside. "It shouldn't be too hard!"
Sora snickered a little bit. "Well, I wouldn't mind you staying a few extra days." He said. "You can properly learn how to ride a horse instead of just jumping on his back and hoping you don't fall off. Sound good?" He suggested. The youngster pushed open the back door and went outside, pulling Sora with him and grinning happily. "It does!" He said cheerfully. "And I still need to get mama a gift, too. Can we go into a town to find her one? I've never been in a town!"
Riku seemed rather excitable today, Sora noted. "Of course." He smiled. "Maybe once you've learned to ride a horse. I don't think you'll be able to ride the brown one just yet, but you will be able to one day. For right now, he may just be a bit too wild." He said.
The silverette was undeterred by Sora's words. "I'll be best friends with that horse!" He said. Once he made it to the barn, he went inside quickly. There were large doors for the enterance of the barn, and inside of it there were two carriages simply sitting in the middle of the large pathway. One of the carriages was the one that Sora and Riku had ridden in, the second carriage being a much smaller, one horse carriage. Stalls lined along each of the walls, a few horses poking their heads out of the top part of the door and staring at Sora and Riku curiously.
"Where is my horse?" Riku asked, looking around for the brown one that had kicked him. He went over to the stall doors and tried looking inside of them, however was too short. He pointed up to the door and looked at Sora. "Who's in there?" He asked.
Sora snickered a little. "Just a horse." He said. "I'll tell you if I see yours." He said. The silverette tried jumping to see inside of the stall. He was only able to catch a glimpse of grey fur. That was all he needed to see, as he knew for sure that 'his horse' did not have grey fur. He walked over to the next stall. "What about this one?"
The same process repeated over and over for quite a bit. They had finished with the one row that they began with, and had gone to the other side of the barn to see which horses were on that side. Luckily for them, the horse was in the second stall that they looked in on the other row.
Riku was happy to have found the horse. "Can I see?" He asked happily to Sora. The brunette smiled slightly and lifted Riku up to see the horse. "There~" He said. Riku looked over to the horse in the stall happily. "Hi!" He greeted the animal cheerfully.
The horse had been quietly munching on some oats that hung in a bucket against the wall. The horse lifted his head and looked over to Sora and Riku momentarily before turning and continuing to eat. Riku didn't seem to care that the horse had basically ignored them and instead had giggled happily. "The horse is a boy, right?" He questioned. "I want to name him!" He said.
Sora smiled a little. "I don't believe he has a name. We got him only just recently." He said. "What would you like to name him?" He questioned. "I want to name him George." Riku responded quickly and confidently. The elder brunette was ever so slightly confused at the somewhat uncreative name, but had brushed the thought away. "Nice choice." He said with a little smile to Riku. "Can I set you down now? You're kinda heavy." He said.
Riku pouted a little bit. "Okay." He said. Once Sora set him down, he stood on the tips of his toes and tried to peer into the stall. "Is there anything to stand on?" He asked, looking around for a moment.
Sora looked around for a moment as well before walking over to a somewhat odd looking box object. "When you get on a horse, you're supposed to use this box here." He said, carrying it over to Riku and setting it in front of the stall door. "Since horses are too tall for most people, we gotta have a little boost. I don't normally use it because it's too much effort to go get it." He made a little sheepish grin.
Riku got onto the box and tried looking into the stall again. With the added height of the box and once again standing on his toes, he was able to see George just fine. "Ooh, it works perfectly!" He said cheerfully. "It's like a step stool, almost~!" He reached into the stall as if to try and pet the brown horse, but his arm was much too short. "I'm excited to pet him." He grinned happily.
Sora had to think for a moment, watching both the horse and Riku. "How about you go in and pet him jut for a little bit?" He questioned. "Since no one else is around and he seems fairly calm, I think it's safe to do so." He said.
Riku looked over to his friend in an astonished way. "Really?!" He asked happily. "Thank you!" He grinned. He jumped down from the box and pulled it out of the way of the door. "Open the door, please~?" He asked.
Sora smiled and moved closer to the door. All there was, was a simple latch to hold it shut. He moved the small bar to open the door and slid it open just enough for Riku to fit inside. "I can't open it all the way just in case he tries getting out." He said. "But you can go in and pet him~" He said.
Riku went into the stall happily. "Hello, George~" He said. He walked over to the horse, however moved along the wall when doing so. Some gut instinct of his told him to not just approach the horse from behind. The equine stopped eating his oats once again to look at Riku, seeming a little confused as to why there was a tiny human in his stall.
Riku reached up and gently touched George's muzzle. He smiled and giggled at the feeling; he hadn't ever touched a horse before. "You aren't mean at all." He said. He then ran his hand down the horse's face, stopping at the circular cheek bone. "You have nice fur." He commented despite knowing that the horse would not understand him.
George simply disregarded Riku and turned his head away. He was nearly out of oats by now but went on to keep eating them. When his head was turned away, Riku ran his hand down the equine's neck. The strong muscles of the animal interested him. The silverette stroked the horse's neck a few times before moving down and touching his shoulders curiously. They also felt very strong and interesting.
Riku had decided to not touch George's legs with the slight worry that the horse would become cross with him. The youngster ran his hands over the horse's ribs, just able to feel them underneath the layers of muscle and fat. The horse was apparently a nicely fed one even though he'd only been at the barn for a few days at most.
Riku didn't go near the horse's flank and instead went back up towards his neck. He lightly patted his neck and eventually had reached up to touch the mane curiously. To Riku, the mane felt almost just like normal hair. He smiled a little bit and ran his fingers through the slightly tangled locks and he petted the horse with his other hand.
Sora was a bit surprised to see how friendly the horse had become after its' solitude in the stall. Well, either that, or the horse was simply ignoring Riku. Either way, the brunette was glad that the beast didn't react negatively to the young Riku.
A few more minutes of the stroking and caressing went on before Sora decided to step into the stall. "I believe it should be about time to leave him alone now." He said, holding his hand out for Riku to take. The silverette looked towards Sora with a little pout. "Do I have to?" He asked disappointedly.
"Well… you don't have to, but don't you think it'd be nice to let him be while he eats?" Sora asked. "You can meet some of the other horses for now. Maybe the younger ones will want to play with you a bit." He said. Riku's mood seemed to change at the mention of playing and he grinned happily. "Really?"
Sora nodded. "I know we have at least one filly. She's probably ten months old or so now." He said. He began to move towards the door of the stall. "You want to see?" He asked. The silverette nodded and followed after him. "Bye, George!" He waved at the brown equine for a short moment before heading out the stall door. "Are baby horses cute?" He asked curiously. "I saw a baby cat once. It was adorable." He said.
"She's still fairly young, but even young horses are still pretty big." Sora said. "She's almost as tall as I am, if I recall correctly." Holding Riku's hand, he walked down the aisle towards the stalls that were closer to the middle. About three doors down, he stopped and peered inside. He smiled and made a light clicking sound with his tongue. Riku looked up at Sora in a confused manner, unsure of what the clicking meant.
There was a happy little whinny and a small head poked just out of the bars of the stall door; the top part of the door was closed in this stall. The nose and mouth were a soft pink color, the fur around, a nice, clean white. "Move your nose." Sora snickered lightly and gently pushed the foal's head away. He opened the door to the stall.
All of the sudden, the filly had pushed her way out of the stall. She hopped onto the floor just next to Sora and Riku and snorted softly, assuming a rather playful stance and looking at the two curiously. Even though it was just a foal, it was already taller than Riku.
Riku automatically giggled and reached out to pet the filly, whom of which dodged away and whinnied softly. The filly saw it as a game; as did Riku. Riku stepped closer and laughed a little bit. "Let me pet you~!" He said. He reached out and managed to touch the horse just for a short moment.
The filly snorted and pranced away from Riku, going towards one of the carriages and hiding behind it. The foal peered out from behind the carriage at Riku and snorted again, staring at the similarly-young being. The foal looked rather odd, Riku realized, when he actually got to see. In the places where her fur was thin, like around her eyes, nose, and near her hooves, light pink skin was shown. Along with that, her eyes were red. "How come her eyes are like that?" Riku asked, looking towards Sora curiously.
"She's an albino, I believe." Sora said, stepping closer to the two. "She was born pure white. It's not very typical of any species to be like that." He said, reaching out and lightly pulling on a strand of Riku's silver hair. "Odd that you don't have red eyes like she does~" He said.
Riku studied the foal curiously, and then looked at his hair. "I am albino?" He asked curiously. "Interesting~" He smiled. He quickly disregarded the new-found fact because he was distracted with the filly. He snuck closer to the foal despite being in plain view of her, giggling a little and peering around the corner of the carriage. "Found you~" He said.
The filly jumped away from Riku and bounded over to the opposite side of the barn. Riku went between the carriages and followed after with a giggle. "She's so happy and playful!" He said. "What's her name?" He asked. He tried to approach the little horse but could not get very close, as the female hopped away and whinnied happily.
Sora followed after Riku and the foal to make sure neither got out of his sight. "She has a very unfitting name." The brunette said with a little snicker. "Her name is Shadow." He said. Riku laughed at the name. "Really? But she's pure white!" He said. He went over to the foal once again and reached out to touch her. Finally, for once, the snowy filly complied and let Riku touch her.
Shadow's fur and mane felt very soft for Riku. "She's so pretty~" He commented. He couldn't help but wrap his arms around the foal's neck and give her a hug, giggling a little bit when the foal nibbled at his hair once he pulled away. "I like her, too." He said.
"When she grows up, she'll probably pull one of the carriages with another white horse." Sora said, watching the two. "It's like my two Friesians. Usually when people have horses for carriage pulling, all of the horses look the same." He said.
"Are you sure you'd be able to find another horse like her?" Riku asked curiously. "You said it was uncommon." He said as he continue petting the young horse. The response he received from Sora was a nod of the head. "It is uncommon, but it isn't too difficult to find a horse like her." He said. "These kinds of horses are typically unwanted. None of the albinos that I've ever had were bad at pulling or working, though, so I haven't got a clue as to why they aren't liked." He said.
Riku gave Shadow another hug. "I like her! She's so happy~" He said. He randomly gave the foal a little kiss on her cheek. "I'm getting a little hungry, though." He said out of the blue. "Do you think we can go find something to eat?" He asked curiously.
"Sure." Sora said. "Just bring her back over here and into her stall." He said. Riku made just a slight pout at the thought of having to leave Shadow. "You gotta go back to your stall now~" He said. He began walking over towards the stall and looked back to see if the filly was follong, whom of which was. He smiled a little and went inside the stall. He reached into another bucket that was hanging on the wall like the one in George's pen, taking out a handful of oats and holding them out.
At the sight of food, Shadow went into the stall almost immediately. She began munching on them out of Riku's palm happily, snorting softly as she ate and wriggling around a little bit for no reason. Once all of the oats were gone, Riku petted the little female's head, rubbing his hand past her ears and her short mane. "I'll play with you later, okay?" He grinned.
The filly simply snorted a little again and sniffed around, looking for more things to snack on. She wandered around Riku curiously and, once finding that he had no more food to offer, decided to scour the floor for oats that may have fallen down.
Riku watched for a moment before going out of the stall. "Bye bye~" He said. He waved at Shadow like he'd waved at George. Once he fully exited the stall, Sora shut the door. Riku began heading towards the entrance of the barn and he grinned a little. "What do we get to eat?" He asked curiously.
Sora thought for a moment as to what they would eat. "Perhaps some bacon and toast for now?" He asked curiously. "We'll have to wait a bit for the bacon, but we can have the toast whenever you want. It is still fairly early in the morning." He said.
The two walked outside of the barn and began heading back towards the house. Riku didn't like the idea of having to eat outside and suddenly had a rather brill idea. "What if we ate outside?" He suggested with a smile. "We never really truly got to picnic that one day because it rained. Today is perfect, though!" He said, pointing up at the sky. There were just a few clouds up in the air and the sun had just risen an hour or two ago, making the temperature nice and cool, perfect for eating outdoors.
"Ooh, nice idea." Sora responded with a smile. "How about you stay out here and I will go get the food?" He asked. "I can also bring a little blanket for us to sit on, so we don't have to sit on the grass." He said. He began to walk towards the house. "Just stay there~" He said.
"You have a bit of jelly on your lips." Sora said. The pair were sitting outside on a blanket and had been eating some biscuits after their meal. The brunette leaned close to inspect Riku's face and he made a slight smile. "May I clean it off like I cleaned that chocolate off?" He questioned to the youngster.
Riku blushed softly at Sora's words. "You can." He said simply. He was sure that Sora meant to kiss him, and sure enough, he did. The brunette had moved close to the boy and kissed him on the lips for a few seconds. Sora pulled away from the kiss for a moment to see if there was any more jelly on Riku's lips. He kissed his lips again after a moment, slowly moving in front of Riku and between his legs rather than at his side.
Riku's blush became deeper at the position they were in. Sora had never kissed him for so long before and it was starting to become embarrassing for him. Before he knew it, his back was against the ground and Sora was on top of him. He had no clue what to do, so he simply laid there.
Sora smiled at the seeming willingness of Riku to be kissed. He closed his eyes and kissed him more, moving one of his hands down and sliding it up Riku's loose shirt. First he touched his stomach, moving upwards to the boy's chest and lightly running his thumb across one of the youngster's nipples. As he did that, Sora had pressed his tongue into Riku's mouth.
Abruptly and painfully, Riku had suddenly bitten down on Sora's tongue, causing the brunette to jerk back at once. "What the hell was that for?!" Sora asked angrily, bringing his hand up to his mouth. Riku had bitten him pretty harshly on accident. A bit of blood dribbled out of the corner of Sora's mouth. "Y-you stuck your t-tongue…" Riku whimpered a little and hadn't entirely realized the pain he'd suddenly caused Sora. He could taste a bit of his blood in his mouth.
Just as abruptly, Sora slapped Riku across the face. "Don't you ever do that again." He growled. His eyes were watered and a bit more blood had dripped down his chin as he spoke; he looked incredibly angry. He turned and walked away from him quickly, going back inside the house and slamming the door.
Riku had been knocked back slightly from the slap. He trembled and brought his hand up to his cheek gingerly; the skin was already reddened from the impact and stung bitterly. The little scene had happened so quickly that it took him a moment to register what had happened. Both the pain of being slapped and Sora's anger made him begin to cry, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them tightly.
A few minutes passed of the boy being alone outside before someone had walked up and touched his shoulder. Riku had still been crying as he looked up to see who had been near him. "W-what?" He questioned. The person that had interrupted Riku was Axel, who had gotten down onto one knee in a kneel. "Sora was very displeased when I saw him. Is everything alright?" He questioned.
Desperate for some sort of comfort, Riku quickly got up and hugged Axel, crying into the sleeve of his shirt. "H-he was k-kissing me and I-I bit h-him." He explained, beginning to cry more. "S-so he hi-hit me and l-left." He cried.
Axel frowned at Riku's explanation. "It's alright." He said, stroking Riku's hair softly. "That is how Sora typically is. I suppose he was happy for a short while because you had shown around, but he isn't so pleased anymore." He said. "It's not you that's the problem. He simply gets angry at things." He said.
Riku trembled and moved closer to the adult. "I-I didn't know h-he'd kiss me l-like that…" He said. He coughed lightly as he suddenly felt himself be lifted from the ground; Axel was carrying him now. "Don't worry about that little mishap." He said. "I'll take you to your room and you can rest there for a little. Alright? I can also get you some medication if he hit you hard enough to hurt real badly." He said.
Riku shook his head slightly and closed his eyes. "I-I'm okay." He said softly. "I-I think I'm just going to lay down for a little while…" He mumbled. "Alright." The redhead responded, making his way to Riku's room. The two were quiet after that.
Once left in his bedroom, Riku laid on his bed quietly for a few minutes. Once he was sure that Axel wouldn't be returning, he climbed out of bed and went over to the door. He felt hesitant to go, but decided to anyways. He pushed his door open quietly and went to the spiral stairs, climbing up and sniffing occasionally. His intent was to go and apologize to Sora.
Once Riku got close to the door, he hesitated. He stood there in silence before pushing the door open and peering inside. He assumed that Sora was in his bed when he didn't see him. He closed the door quietly and went over to the bed, crawling on top of it hesitantly. Sora had been laying on the bed and was already facing away from the boy.
"… C-can I sleep with you?" Riku asked timidly to the brunette. He moved a little closer. "Go away." Sora responded shortly in aggravation. "You've done enough to annoy me today." He said. The silverette trembled a little and looked away for a moment. "B-but I only did that one thing…" He said.
"That 'one thing' was enough to piss me off." Sora said. He sat up and glared at the youngster and shooed him away. "Now get off my bed and go." He growled. For no particular reason, Riku had suddenly gotten a bit braver with his words. He frowned and let out a slight huff. "I don't have to go." He said. "You aren't my father, so I don't need to listen to you. You and I are only friends." He said defiantly.
Sora was almost immediately more agitated by Riku's words. He sat up quickly and glowered at Riku menacingly. "Of course I'm not your father." He slurred. He suddenly grabbed Riku by his wrist and pulled him closer. Once he was close enough, he hit him a second time, causing Riku to make both a pained and scared wail. "All you are is a slave." His voice had raised. "A slave does not command his master!" He suddenly shouted.
Riku raised his hand to his cheek to try and get the pain to go away. He began crying again. "I-I'm not a slave!" He wept. "Yes, you are!" Sora responded, pushing Riku down onto the bed and keeping a tight hold on his wrist. "Your mother was one, therefore you are one!" He said.
Riku cried harder. "I-I'm not!" He wailed. "I-I'll never b-be one, either!" He said. He let out another pained cry when he felt Sora's nails dig into his wrist. "You are a slave." The brunette confirmed with a growl. "You're my slave. You belong to me!" He said.
The silverette tried pulling his wrist away from Sora's clutch, sobbing and trying to struggle away once again. "You are a slave, your mother is a slave, your grandparents were slaves; you descend from a whole line of slavery. You are no different than they are." Sora muttered to the boy. "I-I did not! I'm a normal person!" Riku responded.
"You lived in a one-room shanty with a dirt floor and a single bed, just like every other slave on that farm. The poorest farmer lived better than you did." Sora spoke harshly. "All of you slaves are bought and sold like property. I purchased you from your owner and took you from your home; you legally belong to me and you are now nothing more than my new toy." He said.
Riku finally managed to tear himself away from Sora's grip. He climbed off of his bed and ran out of the room, wiping his eyes and crying and coughing. He wanted nothing to do with Sora for the rest of his life, it felt like.