Chapter Four

Such a Small World

The clocks marked three o'clock and the bell rang at the end of the final class period, signaling the end of the academic day at Nomura High School. Sora had broken off to meet his dad in the parking lot so he could go to his driving test, leaving Riku and Kairi to walk out together. As they passed through the front doors, they heard three voices snickering. Kairi quickly rolled her eyes, and she and Riku turned to locate the cartoon villains who were making the chittering noises.

A trio of blond-haired boys were pestering a bespectacled freshman boy. The bullies were of Riku's age, though two of them were three inches shorter than him and the third one, Lyle, who stood to the right in the trio, was barely taller than Kairi. The one on the left, Guinness, wore a knitted winter cap despite the fact that it was March and the islands never experienced winter weather. The one in the middle, Colin, had a messy hairdo and a devilish grin that looked more corny than cruel. However, with his size and his attitude, he had the younger student sufficiently scared.

"Well, come on, shrimp," Colin taunted. He was a complex and nuanced character like that. "Show it to me. Either you pay it up here, or you just pay the same amount for a new pair of specs. Your choice." Guinness laughed and reached toward the kid's glasses, forcing the freshman to back away from him. However, he was up against the wall and could not go much farther.

Riku and Kairi approached the four students. He grabbed Guinness' hat and yanked it off of his head. The bully was confused and felt around his head to figure out what was wrong, then he wheeled around to see Riku and Kairi, glaring at him. He elbowed Colin to get his attention, and he and Lyle turned and were taken aback to see who was there.

Colin quickly regained his composure. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the wanderlust punk who let us all fall into darkness," he taunted. Riku maintained a straight face, masking his annoyance at the fact that people had spread more word about what he and his friends had been doing over the last two years than he would have liked.

Lyle approached Kairi. "And little Miss Princess of Heart," he teased with a whiny tone. "You want a dolly?" Kairi shook her head in pity.

Riku clapped his hands slowly, sardonically. "Bravo. New material," he snarked. "What's next? A joke about one of us being 'dead meat'?" He shook his head and smirked. "How are you doing in your classes? Think you're going to get somewhere with your lives?"

"Well, at least we've actually gone to class," Colin retorted, less amused.

"You missed five days and have a C in history," Guinness interjected weakly.

"Shut it!" Colin shouted.

Riku pretended to ignore the comments. "And here you are, tormenting a kid who's smaller than you and can't defend himself? Really? Do the three of you have no better way to support your egos?"

"Uh, well, erm…" The bullies were at pause, trying to come up with a suitable comeback. In the meantime, the freshman had slipped out of the corner in which he had been driven. The fear in his eyes was fading away. Colin stopped stammering and raised his hand to silently tell his friends to quiet down as well. "So how did you support your ego, huh?" he shot back. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you ran away and threw your buddies aside to prove yourself to the big leagues!" In an attempt to emphasize his jab, he gave Riku a shove. Lyle interjected a "Yeah!" much to Colin's annoyance.

Riku regained his footing and stood unperturbed while Kairi was making yammering motions with her hand and the freshman was waving to someone across the courtyard. Riku shrugged in response to Colin's statement. "You're right," he said. "I'm one of the kind of people who liked to look up and see if there was a shelf they could reach, and I reached for the wrong shelf. But at least I'm not one of the people who look down and are overjoyed when they think they see someone beneath them."

It took a few seconds for the bullies to realize what he was saying. "Mister Big Shot over here," Guinness shot back, not even trying to conceal his anger. The freshman looked worried that a fight was about to break out.

"Yeah. Big Shot in a small world. A small world filled with small-minded people."

Colin drew his arm back, his hand clenched into a fist. "Why you—" he began.

The stock incomplete threat was interrupted by an "Ahem," which drew everyone's attention. The freshman smiled. A teacher had noticed what was going on and had approached them while Colin was getting ready to attack. The teacher made eye contact with Colin, looking at him disapprovingly. "Is there a problem here?" he asked, dryly.

Colin noticed that his fist was still raised and promptly dropped it. He and his lackeys forced a nervous smile. "Uh, nope. No problem here," he lied. Lyle and Guinness nodded in agreement.

The teacher raised one eyebrow. "I would suggest that you three head home and study for your test on Friday." The bullies got the hint and ran off without a word. The teacher turned to the freshman. "Thank you for calling me over here. Is everything all right?"

Riku and Kairi nodded an affirmative. "It is now," the bespectacled student answered. The teacher smiled and walked off. The freshman turned to Riku and Kairi. "Thanks for getting those guys off my back."

Riku smiled. "Nothing to worry about. Those three are just a bunch of small-minded lunks."

"They used to give me and Sora trouble a couple years ago," Kairi added, "but Riku showed us they were all bark."

The younger teen grinned. "Well, I should get going," he said, hoisting his backpack and turning to leave. "See you later!" He waved good-bye as he walked on home.

Riku and Kairi laughed and waved back. Kairi picked her handbag back up and Riku secured his backpack and they continued on, heading home.

Riku and Kairi's paths diverged at the same stop where the three friends had converged each morning, and they each had gone home. As Riku approached his house, he saw a red Audi convertible pull up the street. As the car came to a stop in front of him, Riku could see that Sora was in the driver's seat, still wearing his school uniform, and his father was relaxing in the passenger seat, his hands crossed behind his head and the seat set so he was leaning back. Sora parked the car and waved.

Riku smiled, excited at the sight, particularly by Sora's trademark dorky grin. "You passed?" he asked his best friend.

Sora nodded. "No trouble at all," he bragged.

Kumo waved hello to Riku. "They'll be mailing his license in a few days," he explained.

"That's awesome!" Riku congratulated. He remembered how he received his only a few weeks before, as he had earned his permit when he was fifteen but had spent more than a year and a half off-world, so he was so far behind that he got the provisional license at around the time when he normally would have obtained the unrestricted license. He was still lined up to get it in a few months, however, but that did not cover how he was no farther ahead of Sora in some respects.

"So, what made you get here so late?" Sora asked, noting that Riku had only just gotten home when he should have already been back for a few minutes.

"Kairi and I were helping a freshman with a minor problem," Riku answered with a sly smile. "Those problems being Colin, Lyle and Guinness."

Sora laughed, and Kumo let a snicker escape. "Oh, I should have been there! Granted, I wouldn't have done much more to take them down a peg, but come on!" Sora reigned in his laughter and let out a sigh. "Well, see you later?"

Riku nodded and waved as Sora drove off.

After Riku had changed into his regular clothes, he had pulled out his algebra notebook and textbook and began to work on his homework. Twenty minutes later, he heard the front door open and glanced toward it.

His father, Chikyu, had returned home from the station, still wearing his police uniform and hat, his breast adorned with a badge identifying him as Captain. He held a cane in his left hand and walked with a limp, but in a way that made it almost seem natural to him, putting most of his weight on his right leg. He had his silver hair neatly combed, but his bushy moustache was less well-kept.

"Hello, Riku," Chikyu greeted in a stern but warm tone as he entered.

"Hey, Dad," Riku returned. He looked back at his homework and began solving another problem.

"How was school?" his father asked.

"School was fine. Sora just got his license. I stood up to a few bullies." Riku mentioned this with less of a smug tone than when he told Sora. Nevertheless, his father knew who he was referring to.

"Those bullies?" he pressed, an eyebrow raised.

"Yup." He looked up, trying to think of the equation to use, then returned to writing.

Chikyu grunted as he smiled in amusement. He went upstairs to change out of his uniform into more casual clothes. When he came back down, leaning on the banister for support, he asked: "Your mother still at the office?"

Riku nodded. "She is," he answered. "Probably finishing up her case work for the day." His mother, Iwa, worked as the district attorney of Destiny Islands.

Chikyu nodded, understanding. "She ought to be back in time for dinner. You plan on going to the islet later?"

Riku looked up and answered "Yeah."

Chikyu nodded. "Tell Sora I sent my congratulations," he requested. He took a glance at Riku's homework and pointed at one of the problems that he had done. "Check your chain rule, son."

Riku looked back at the problem, and noticed his mistake. He muttered thanks and started erasing his work from that point and redoing it.

Kairi cut and ate a piece of her ham dinner. She chewed thoroughly and swallowed, then ate some green beans.

"How is it?" the man sitting across from her asked. He was in his late forties, and had blue eyes and brown hair bunched into a small ponytail. He wore a grey long-sleeved shirt with a beige hood attached and a design consisting of circles and lines on the front, a pair of blue jeans, and gray shoes.

"It's good. Thanks, papa," Kairi answered, smiling as she took another bite.

Braska smiled, satisfied with the answer, and himself with the meal. He was not Kairi's real father, but he had taken her in after she washed up on the island as a child twelve years ago, when he was in his second year in office as mayor. While at first he had merely let her into his home out of convenience while the grown-ups tried to figure out where she came from and what to do with her, Braska had grown to care for her like his own daughter, and eventually filed the adoption paperwork, and he became her official legal guardian.

"I am very impressed with your grades," Braska said. Kairi smiled shyly at this commendation. "Not only have you caught up with the months you missed and are keeping up with your classes, but you have straight A's in all of them." He took another bite and waited until he finished that piece before continuing. "I'm glad to see that you have been adjusting well since your return, and that Selphie has been able to help you with your studies." He paused and remembered what Kairi had told him when explaining what happened while she was gone. "Well, her and, what was it, Naminé?" Kairi nodded affirmative. Braska sighed in exasperation. "I am still trying to wrap my head around what you told me last year about the other worlds and the Heartless and whatnot. And now, I have no idea what to make of you having a Nobody who lives in your heart and helps you with math. Do you know what I mean?"

Kairi wagged her head from side to side as a way to concede the point. "That seems to be the typical reaction. I'm still trying to make sense of how Naminé even exists; it gives us both headaches." She laughed a bit to lighten the mood. "And a double headache in one head is not very pleasant," she joked.

Braska let out a laugh, waiting until he was done before he put in another bite of food. "I guess we do what we can," he decided. Kairi agreed.

When they finished their dinner, Braska took the dishes to the sink to wash. Kairi offered to help, but her father figure assured her that he had it handled and she was free to go to the islet. Kairi thanked him and went up to her room to gather her stuff, then she was out the door in a jiffy.

Kairi greeted Craig at the boathouse. She noticed that five of the boats were not in the shed, meaning that not only was she the last one to cross over but there were three others on the islet with Sora and Riku. She set the boat in the water and grabbed the oars. Rather than a side pouch for her drawing pad, she wore a purple backpack. She set that down in the boat, not wanting to deal with any unnecessary weight on her back and shoulders, sat down in the boat, and started rowing over.

When Kairi docked at the pier on the islet, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Sora, Riku, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie playing catch with Wakka's Blitzball. The Blitzball was a white water polo ball with a watery blue design encircling it about one axis.

Tidus wore an open yellow shirt with white sleeves and lining and yellow hems, a pair of navy pants that had the right leg extending past his knee while the left leg only reached his mid-thigh, and black sandals with black straps and a yellow pad under the middle part of the straps. Wakka wore baggy yellow pants whose legs each bore black X-shaped straps and closed up halfway down his lower legs, a pale yellow tank top with black lining, a pair of green sandals, and blue wristbands. Selphie wore a cropped yellow dress with overall straps and a large pocket on the chest, brown sandals, and a small brown belt strap which was around her left wrist, and she also had a jump rope tied around her waist.

"Take this!" Wakka shouted, and he threw the Blitzball overhand in Selphie's direction, not yet noticing Kairi on the pier far behind her. He threw it too high and despite jumping to try to grab it, Selphie missed the ball. Kairi saw it coming straight for her and caught it with both hands, pulling it toward her chest and backing up a step to drain out its momentum.

Everyone turned to see where the ball went and finally noticed Kairi. They waved hello. Holding onto the ball with one hand, she put the other hand on her hip and gave them a look of mock disapproval. "What, you couldn't wait for me?" she scolded lightly. They all laughed and spread out to open a spot in the circle for her as she hopped off the pier to join them. She passed the ball to Sora as one would a basketball and joined the game of catch.

After a while, they got tired of throwing and catching the ball. Tidus picked up a red wooden stick that he had stuck in the sand nearby and brandished it as if he was ready for a fight. "Hey, how 'bout we go a few rounds?" he challenged. Sora and Riku took their wooden swords from a loop in their belts and Selphie untied her jump rope, flicked it to straighten it out, and grabbed hold of both ends.

"Think you can take a star player like me?" Tidus charged in to engage Sora. He delivered quick strikes, which Sora either blocked or parried, then did a backflip to get out of the way when Sora retaliated. Tidus blocked a downward strike from Sora, but due to the fact that his sword was bigger and the experienced hero was much stronger, even though he was holding back sufficiently, this caused a crack to form in the stick. Tidus dove to the side and ran around to strike Sora in the back of the leg while he was bringing his sword back up.

"That's right, keep it up!" Sora commended, turning around to block another strike. Tidus ran back and forth, strafing Sora and trying to land several hits, but Sora blocked most of them and ended Tidus' attack by striking him in the gut with the fat side of the sword, throwing him across the beach.

In the meantime, Riku was dueling with Wakka. Wakka was throwing his Blitzball at Riku, but Riku knocked it back with a swing from his sword. Wakka had finally learned from past experiences and caught the ball before it hit him in the head. He stayed at a distance, running or leaping backward whenever Riku got too close.

"Take this!" he shouted, jumping into the air and throwing the Blitzball down at Riku. Riku deflected the ball upward as Wakka landed, and as he was recovering from that, Wakka ran up and started throwing punches. Riku blocked some with his arms and returned a few blows himself, but Wakka landed a heavy hit on Riku's chest, sending him flying backward. Riku rolled onto his back and curled his legs to his chest, then kicked forward and launched himself at Wakka. Wakka, for his part, stepped back out of Riku's range and watched the ball as it came down. At the right moment, he spiked the Blitzball with his palm, hitting it into Riku's forehead, causing him to fall back down. Groggily, Riku got back up and charged at Wakka, who had stood by patiently waiting for him to regain his composure. He ducked under one of the athlete's punches and rose up behind him, landing a jab in the middle of his lower back, which caused Wakka to fall to one knee.

Kairi and Selphie watched from the sidelines as their friends sparred. Kairi could see Selphie's annoyance at being left out, and got an idea. She took her backpack off and dropped it in the sand, leaning it against the shed. She unzipped the main compartment and pulled out a wooden sword of her own. It was longer and thinner, for swifter strikes, and was free of cuts and nicks, being newly made.

"Hey, Selphie," she called out. Selphie turned her head to face her, wearing a quizzical expression. Kairi swung her sword with a flourish and held it out to her side. "Tired of being left out?" She smiled and raised her eyebrow to emphasize the duel invitation.

Selphie lit up and flicked the rope with a swish while still holding both ends. "Okay, don't hold back!" The two girls ran toward each other. Kairi swung her sword at Selphie's shoulder while Selphie cracked her rope like a whip and stung Kairi on the side. Selphie leapt back, rubbing her shoulder. Kairi took the opportunity to rush in and strike Selphie in the arm and side. The younger brunette swung her rope, wrapping it around the shaft of the sword, and yanked it to the side, pulling it out of Kairi's hand. She flicked the rope a few times to uncoil it from the sword. She swung the jump rope, again mimicking the use of a bullwhip, and nearly hit Kairi in the back as the redhead maneuvered around her to try to get her sword back. Kairi performed a cartwheel to clear the last few feet while grabbing the sword while she was upside-down, taking it with her as she came back up.

Selphie smiled, impressed. "Not bad," she commented. Then her grin turned to a fierce confident. "Are you ready?" she warned as she spun her jump rope above her head. Kairi smirked as she watched the rope carefully, specifically the flying end. When Selphie drew close enough, Kairi brought her sword up, hitting the handle and sending it flying until it extended to its highest point, where the rope was perfectly straight. Selphie stopped when this happened, befuddled, before the handle came down and conked her in the head.

They sparred until sunset, and at the end of it they were all covered in cuts and bruises. Kairi reached into her backpack and took out six corked, palm-sized jars filled with green-colored Potion. When the potions were swallowed, all minor breaks healed, up to and including cracked bones, though more serious wounds and fractures would require legitimate medical attention, as even Hi-Potions and Cure magic only caused tissue and bone to repair itself, and if bones were thrown out of shape or organs were ruptured, attempts at using this method would not cause the body to heal properly. After returning home, Sora and Riku, not wanting to be stingy with their curatives nor get in trouble at school or home for ingesting mysterious chemicals whenever they needed it, showed the potions to the local doctor's office and pharmacy and the school's nurse's office and supplied a list of (easily accessible) ingredients which Riku had obtained so they could learn to produce the potions themselves.

Kairi passed the Potions around and kept one for herself. Everyone drank the contents of the jars and their injuries closed up.

"Man, you've been training a lot, ya?" Wakka said to Riku, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

Riku returned the compliment. "You've been keeping up yourself." They shared a fist-bump.

"I guess I have a ways to go before I can beat you, huh," Tidus lamented.

Sora gave him a high-five. "You'll get there," he promised.

"Not at the rate you've been going, I won't. Months of fighting monsters consistently, you're way too far ahead and still going."

Sora sighed. "Those days are past," he said sadly. "I'm here now, at home, with my family. And you guys."

Kairi saw the look of longing on Sora's face. She could tell that he missed the high adventure, and he missed Donald and Goofy. She grabbed hold of his hand reassuringly.

"Y'know, I think I know what's eating you, brudda," Wakka stated, pensively. "You live here fourteen years, livin' the simple life, ya? You, Sora, you don't have much to define you, just your friends. Then Riku gets the idea to get outta here and go to other worlds and see where Kairi came from. You go along with it 'cause it sounds like a fun thing to do with your friends, ya? Then you find yourself with a new power, new friends, and a purpose. You got to see more of life than what you have on the islands. The two years since gave you more clear understanding of yourself than your entire life before. And now you're back here, and you don't know what to do."

Sora tried to protest, but Wakka continued. "Yeah, yeah, you got your old friends back, and you got back together with the bruddas you were trying to reunite with the whole time you were out and about. But out there, you had adventure. Your days were full of action and excitement. You grew as a person so much in those two years, that all your life here seemed next-to-nothing. Am I right, man?" Sora could only nod weakly.

Tidus started to see the picture as well. "So now, you're back in the simple life for three months. But you've been defining yourself by your adventures, by the power and purpose you've been gifted, with your…" He held his hand out, made a swish sound through his teeth and closed his hand as if he was grabbing something that appeared out of thin air. "Now you're out of that environment. The chapter's closed and the genre's shifted. You're trying to find the answer to one question: what is your story from here on out?"

Sora thought about what Tidus and Wakka said. "So, what should I do?" he asked.

Tidus looked nervous, as if he was taken aback by the question, or the fact that Sora expected him to follow up with advice. Wakka scratched the back of his head, clearly just as unsure.

"Oh, come on, guys! You've just been psychoanalyzing me. The least you could do is help me out with this," Sora joked.

Selphie cleared her throat to get Sora's attention. "Well, maybe you should keep that stuff in your heart and look forward to see if you find something new to commit yourself to. And, about your friends from outside, it's like you said," she began to reassure Sora, remembering the words he imparted some time ago, "though vast the distance between you may be, as long as you are a part of each other's hearts, they will always be here with you."

Sora laughed. "You may have butchered it a bit. But thanks. That helps. It really means a lot." This got her laughing, which in turn got everyone to start laughing.

A/N: You may have noticed toward the end, but I laid seeds for an internal conflict for Sora to figure out as the story progresses. Let me know what you think of it as it develops.