The sun was low in the sky, making its way slowly down towards the turquoise blue water, when Riku pulled up to the dock on the play island and tied off his boat. Sora and Kairi had arrived just ahead of him, and were already standing in the surf, laughing and splashing like little kids. They seemed oblivious of his presence, so he lingered in the boat for a minute, watching with amusement. These days they didn't come out to the play island very often, but just a couple of years ago they had spent all of their spare time here, sparring, swimming, running races, and building sand castles. Those were definitely some of his happiest memories. So when Sora had suggested that they all come out here after a long day of training, he had agreed without hesitation. Lea had opted to head back to his room and take a nap, instead, so it would just be the three of them, just like old times.

Finally Sora and Kairi noticed their friend, and began shouting and waving him over. Giving a laugh, Riku climbed out onto the dock and walked toward them, enjoying the feeling of the sand moving underneath his shoes.

"Come in the water with us!" Kairi called, kicking at the waves.

Riku shook his head and smiled. "Not right now," he said. He wasn't really in the mood to get wet, and besides, he knew that those two had had very limited time together lately. Ever since they had gotten back to the Islands, school and training had kept them all busy pretty constantly.

Crossing behind his friends, he climbed up to the wooden bridge and made his way to their favorite spot, the crooked palm tree. The wind off of the ocean whipped through his hair as he lifted himself up with his arms and sat on the trunk of the tree. It was ironic how, after all the time he had spent on these Islands wishing to be free and see the other worlds, this was now his favorite place to be. When he was out there, exploring new worlds and fighting Heartless, what he missed more than anything was the sights and smells and sounds of the beach.

Another sound, Sora and Kairi's voices, drifted up to him over the crashing of the waves. Glancing back over his shoulder at them, Riku smiled again at their antics, but felt a twinge of jealousy at the same time. He shook his head, feeling guilty immediately, and tried to pinpoint the cause. Was it because they were so happy and carefree? Maybe that was part of it, at least. They certainly seemed to have less weighing on their minds than he did most days.

There was something else, too, though. As much as he hated to admit it, he was jealous of them being together. He was jealous of Sora, for having Kairi. Not that he wanted her for himself, at least not anymore, though he had had a bit of a crush on her at one point in time. They were all three best friends, and he loved them both equally as such. There was no doubt that he was very happy for them that they had each other, but there was also a part of him that wished that he had someone, too. Sure, he had his whole life ahead of him to find that special girl, but it was hard to see them so happy together and not want that for himself.

Riku had gotten so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice to start with that the laughter down below had stopped. He was brought back to the present by the faint sound of footsteps crossing the bridge behind him, then crunching into the sand.

"Hey Sora," he said without turning around.

Sora appeared in Riku's line of vision and leaned against the tree trunk. "How do you always do that?" he asked, incredulous.

"Do what?"

"How do you know who's behind you without looking?" Sora explained. "I've seen you do it in battle before, too, like you can sense a Heartless is there without actually seeing it."

Riku shrugged. "I wore a blindfold for a year, remember? That has the tendency to heighten all of your other senses. When you're fighting blind, you have to rely on sounds and smells to know what your opponent is doing."

"Oh yeah," Sora said thoughtfully. "That makes sense. You know, you never really told me what that was all about. I know King Mickey said something about your eyes not being able to lie, but I still don't really get it."

The memories from that year began flashing through Riku's mind unbidden, and he sighed. "I was trying to hide the darkness that was inside of me from others...to hide the fact that I was giving in and using it. Then it became a way to help me keep the darkness at bay when I needed to." That was all he said aloud, but in his mind, he finished with, "Mostly I was just too ashamed of what I was doing to even look at myself."

"Gotcha," Sora replied. "Hey, maybe you should use blindfolds as a training exercise for Lea and Kairi. Teach them to rely on their other senses, too."

Riku laughed, shaking away his gloomy thoughts. "Maybe so. Where did Kairi go, anyway?"

"She fell in the water and got soaked," Sora snickered. "So she decided just to head home so she could change clothes."

"It is getting pretty late," Riku commented, nodding toward the horizon where the sun was dipping ever lower in the sky. "We should head back soon, too, if we don't want to cross in the dark."

Neither of them felt in a hurry to leave yet, though, and they remained in silence for the next couple of minutes, just staring out at the water. Riku's thoughts had returned to Sora and Kairi's relationship.

"You should ask her out, you know," he said finally.

"Huh?" Sora looked up at him, surprised.

Riku shook his head with a laugh. "You two...you both like each other, and you hang out together with other friends around all the time, but you've never actually been on a date. You should ask her out."

"Oh." Sora scratched the side of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Maybe you're right. But what would we do?"

"She won't care," Riku answered. "Just do whatever you would usually do together, but make it official, and do it without me and Lea around."

Propping his chin on his hand, Sora seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Yeah," he said finally. "I'm gonna do it! Thanks, Riku."

"No problem," Riku replied. "Somebody's got to tell you these things. You're too much of a dork to think of them yourself."

"Hey!" Sora protested, punching his friend in the leg.

Riku laughed, then jumped down off of the tree. "Come on, let's head home. Gotta get an early start again tomorrow." He paused, gazing out at the water for another moment. "Maybe I will get some blindfolds," he added, smirking mischievously. "For all three of you."

"For me?" Sora exclaimed as Riku began to walk away. "That's not what I said! Why do I need one?"

"Race you to the dock!" Riku threw back over his shoulder, ignoring Sora's complaints.

"You got a head start! No fair!" Sora called as they both broke into a run, laughing.