Chapter XXIX: In the Radiant gardens part IV
Nozomi and Riku both sat together upon a bench (that Merlin had provided) to the right side of the Hollow Bastion restoration committee's base room. The other members as well as Merlin, King Mickey and Cait sith had gone together to make use of the Valkerie seedling that she had found upon some piece of equipment.
Nozomi was bored as she sighed out loud saying as she stretched her arms back, "man, I wish we could go too… it's really boring just sitting here waiting."
Riku his arms folded looked at her as he replied, "well what ever they have to discuss is obviously something important, besides… I'm sure they'll let us in on it at some point or another."
Listening to him as she then let her arms fall back, then replied though still sounding a little disappointed, "yeah but still… it's not fair besides, if there's one thing I don't like it's being bored! … And being bullied too." She ended a little grimacing.
Riku looking at her was silent for a moment as he then replied to her, "you're referring to me there aren't you?" He asked her.
Nozomi looked at him baffled as she showed as she blinked a little, then she replied shaking her head a little, "no, not really."
He was a little bit surprised at this as he then said, "really? I thought that… you've been bullied?" He asked her.
Seemingly unaffected Nozomi nodded, "yeah… well me and Wairu were," thinking of her old friend though she felt that little pang of pain again in her heart, as she looked a little sad.
Riku then looked at her a little concerned as he spoke to her again, "why were you two bullied?"
Nozomi then replied as she recounted her childhood memories with Wairu, "well, it was because I was his friend… he was an outsider, he and his mama originally came from somewhere else, she was a travelling performer and eventually she'd just had had enough of travelling and wanted to settle down… so she chose Bamboo town."
She paused for a moment as Riku soaked in the information before she continued on again, "because of that… a lot of people in the town weren't keen on them, I think they thought that she and him had some weird curse or something… but I was with Wairu ever since I can remember and he never did anything really bad, well except…"
Nozomi was quiet for a moment as she wondered then if it would be a good idea to tell Riku, she had known him for a while now and as she looked at him she saw his concern again.
Riku spoke again as he broke the tension, "except what?"
She looked down as she thought it would be alright to tell him, for she was sure Wairu wouldn't mind, "well… he wanted to be a magician ever since we were little, he could cast spells and magic, he'd often when we were little do things like make rainbow's for me, freeze a bit of the river so we could practise sliding around, and he would also make bonfires at night so we could cook marshmallows and stuff… he could do so much… but whenever he tried to do anything like attack magic and stuff… it would always backfire."
Riku hearing this listened fascinated as she told him more about her childhood friend and smiled at the happy memories, but the minute she spoke of the spells he then enquired sounding confused and concerned, "backfire?"
Nozomi nodded as she told him though a little sadly, "yeah… he could never protect himself properly against the bullies and other stuff like that, we could never find out what the cause was at all… it was because of that too he got bullied quite badly, and I decided it was my duty to protect him, which then caused them to turn on me."
Riku listened to this sadly with concern as he imagined of how she must of protected her poor friend from so many others but then he stopped as she continued on, "but it was never too terrible, cause as long as he was with me as my friend then I could cope with anything… even the loneliness."
There was then more silence between them as Riku took this in and he noticed then that Nozomi did look really depressed as she had her hands held together as she squeezed them tightly, he decided it was his turn to speak, "are you still bullied now?"
At this though Nozomi's attitude changed as she replied with a sigh slightly as she put her hands to the back of her head as she then replied, "no, well not as much… but one group that still did was Reno's."
Riku then blinked as he asked confused, "Reno?"
Nozomi nodded then as she continued on looking up to the ceiling, "yeah, well it was mainly him and Rufus sometimes a bit… but me and Wairu knew he was just being childish cause he was just taking his frustration out on us, since he had a crush on Elena."
Riku then looked at her queerly as he asked her, "a crush? That's why he picked on you two? Why what was wrong exactly?"
Nozomi let a little laugh come out as she told him, "well she had a crush on Mr Tseng, our Physics teacher and she always looked at him with these loving eyes, and me and Wairu could always see Reno look really irritated beyond degree, it was kinda funny at times though actually!" She laughed at this memory as she remembered the Physics lesson she had before she'd been sent on this wild adventure.
Riku as well couldn't help but smile as well at the idea of something so silly but then it reminded him once again of his own heartache that he had in the past that stopped the smile in moments.
Nozomi feeling better from the conversation then turned to Riku, not noticing his mood change as she lowered her arms from her head as she asked him a question that had been on her mind for a long while, "do you know someone called Sora?"
Riku blinked out of his melancholy as he asked her a little surprised as he asked her, "Sora?"
She nodded, "yeah he's been mentioned a couple of times, first by Pence, Hayner and Olette in Twilight town, and then king Mickey... And when he mentioned him I saw you making a strange face so I thought that must mean you know him."
Riku listening and watching her then turned his head, closing his eyes as he smiled again as he replied, "well done miss Sherlock."
Nozomi brightened as she felt pleased for getting it right and continued again, "so who is he?"
Still looking away his eyes closed as he told her, "he's my best friend from home, he's also a keyblade master too."
Listening to this Nozomi was fascinated as she then spoke again, "wow! So he must have had big adventure too like us, huh?" She asked.
Riku looked at her smiling again as he replied, "you don't know the half of it! But yeah he has had a lot of adventure… more than me in some ways…"
He then felt a little disheartened again as he remembered the past and some things that he'd rather stayed forgotten. Nozomi hearing this couldn't really understand why he looked depressed as she saw his smile leave, but then instinctively she put her hand on his shoulder as she told him, "well I think right now and in the future you'll have a whole load, so you can boast to him about it when you see him again." She finished with a smile.
Riku startled at her touch lowered his arms suddenly as he stared at her perplexed for a few moments, but then he relaxed as he heard her and smiled again as he replied, "yeah that'd be good to do."
Nozomi smiled brightened more as she removed her hand from her shoulder and back onto her lap to her other hand as she then moved onto her next question, "and… this is probably kind of weird of me to ask, but… does he have blue hair?"
Riku then looked at her really surprised as he asked her, "what blue hair?! What makes you think something like that?"
She replied telling his innocently thoughtfully, "well cause you have white hair… and Sora means sky which is blue right?… So I thought he might be unique like you, so that's why I asked."
Hearing this Riku was silent for a moment but then laughed out loud, as this was one of the weirdest questions he'd ever had, Nozomi on the other hand was perplexed as she then got a bit annoyed slightly thinking he was making fun of her. But then after a few moments Riku recovered as he told her, "well… he does have something about him that's blue… but I'm not telling you what it is."
Looking at him again Nozomi's annoyance then evaporated as she saw his happy smile and then inside she felt happy then too as she knew he meant it in a friendly way, "I'll have to figure it out then!"
They both continued to smile again as silence drifted between them once more, this left Nozomi looking at the ceiling again as she breathed in again deeply feeling at peace.
Riku looking at her again for a couple of silent moments then lowered his head to look down at his feet as he said to her, "you know… I have been rude to you a couple of times before haven't I?"
Nozomi hearing this then turned and looked at him again as she looked puzzled for a few moments but then she replied, "Yeah that's true… "
Quiet again as she finished he then continued, "well I was thinking that… and also because you've saved me a couple of times… I was thinking that it'd be only right for me to give you a reward for it and… to say I'm sorry too."
Hearing this Nozomi then really was startled as she heard this, "a reward?" She asked her eyes widened slightly.
He nodded, "yeah, so… if there's anything you want, I'll get it for you."
Hearing this Nozomi then looked at her hands that were on her legs, 'anything I want?' She thought to herself. Was there was anything she did want? She was quiet as she thought about it and then suddenly it came to her.
Nervous slightly she turned to him as she then spoke to him, "um, Riku?" She asked him.
He turned and looked at her as he asked, "yeah?"
Nozomi was quiet again as she felt shy asking this, thinking it was a bit stupid but he did say anything, so she thought it'd be okay, so mustering her courage her heart thumped a bit more as she then spoke, "can I, can I…can I touch your hair?"
Riku was really shocked as he saw her reaction and heard her request he then asked her loudly, "what?! Hair!? Why do you want to-"
Nozomi interrupted as she told him, "well it's just that… when I first saw you, I thought… it was really pretty and…"
Riku then was blushing himself as he heard this coming from her and had gone quiet. Nozomi taking this awkward silence as a no then spoke though embarrassed as she then said, "oh! Forget it, I know it's stupid and stuff and-"
However Riku interrupted her, "it's all right."
Nozomi then looked at him really surprised, "are you sure?" She asked.
Looking at her blushing slightly as he walked over to her side then sat in front of her on the floor in a kneeling position as he closed his eyes.
Nozomi was quiet as she saw him do this but then heard Riku again, "just do it alright! Before I change my mind."
Taking this Nozomi looked at him a bit disgruntled as she then said to him, "alright, alright! Don't bark at me! You're the one who said it's okay."
With that she was quiet as she then slowly and gently reached her arms forward and then put her fingers in his silver locks. Riku jumped a little bit at her touch as he felt her hands in his hair as she stroked him gently and caressingly.
Nozomi was astonished at its softness as she then smiled in awe, "wow… it's really soft."
Hearing this Riku replied to her, "As it should be."
She smiled at this as she continued to stroke his hair more gently, feeling it's softness and sleekness, Riku was quiet as he felt her and couldn't help but notice her fingers as his heart beat a little more. He then asked her, "doesn't anyone where you come from have hair like mine?"
Nozomi shook her head as she answered him, "no… well unless you count the elderly, but that's not the same thing."
Riku feeling this nodded as he then felt her fingers go deeper as they were now touching his head, still gently and slowly in a massaging manner that he was enjoying.
Wanting to know more she asked him, "do you have to wash it everyday?"
Riku then replied, "Yeah… when I get the chance to, it takes a lot to keep this shine."
Nozomi let out a small laugh at this, "I can imagine."
It was then quiet for a moment as Nozomi let her hands still wander in Riku's soft hair as she gazed at it and felt it she thought to herself, 'it's so beautiful and shiny… it's lovely.'
"You know I'm so jealous of you, I wish I could have hair like this, you're so lucky." She told him.
Riku smiling happy with the comment replied, "thanks," his eyes still closed.
Nozomi then in her thoughts again began to think more deeply as she felt her heart thumping more, 'I wonder what the girl he loved was like? I bet I wouldn't be able to compare to her… I wish I could know more.'
But then suddenly as this thought came to her mind she immediately blushed scarlet red as she removed her hands immediately from his hair and covered her mouth as she thought to herself, 'what am I thinking about!?'
Riku suddenly feeling her retraction looked up at her startled, seeing her blush made him feel strange inside, Nozomi then feeling him looking at her then looked back.
There was a deep silence between them as though something was going to occur until-
"OY! Lass and Laddie!"
Nozomi jumped as well as Riku as she turned around and saw Cait sith had appeared along with everyone else, Yuffie and Aerith smiled and waved to them while Leon simply had his eyes closed. King Mickey entered as he came walking over along with Merlin toward the two of them.
Silent for a few moments feeling embarrassed for some strange reason, then laughed aloud as she scratched the back of her head, "uh, hi guys! Um did you have a nice conversation?"
Merlin and the king reaching them along with Cait sith who had jumped and now sat himself on her left shoulder, it was Merlin then who spoke, "yes we did, and now I need to give you lass a little bit of a spell casting lesson."
Nozomi then feeling the awkwardness vanish then asked him, "spell casting?"
Merlin nodded, "yes, his majesty has told me you are not adapt at magic, and you'll need to be for your future battles, so it is necessary to give you the basic introductions."
Hearing this information Nozomi was silent but then acknowledged it as she replied, "okay then, we better get to it then!" She added with a small smile.
Merlin happy at her attitude gestured for her to come over, doing that she did and just before she vanished in a puff of magic to the training room she then told Riku, "and thanks snowball for the reward it was great!"
Cait sith still on her shoulder asked, "hey and what reward might this be hmm?"
Nozomi looking at him only lifted her eyebrows slightly as she told him with a grin, "not telling you."
With that the three disappeared before Cait sith could continue anymore. Yuffie and the others went back to their workstations as they left the king and Riku together.
Mickey walking over to Riku was about to speak but then it was him who spoke instead as he sat on the bench again as he spoke, "you're majesty I can't believe her at times… one minute she irritates me to kingdom come, the next she makes me laugh to no degree and then she asks the most weirdest of questions!" He then finished with a laugh as he had one of his hands over his eyes as he laid back against the bench.
The king though looked at him a little surprised and then became saddened as he told him, "Riku…"
At this he looked down at the moue king who then told him, "You mustn't get too close to her."
Riku was shocked as he heard this as he remembered what he'd been told about her in Notre dame, the king continued to speak, " you know I don't want to say it but… if you do, you'll just get hurt… and she as well even more when she learns the truth."
There was then a deafened silence as the happy feeling faded away and Riku was left with the heavy reality of what she really was…
