The Start of a Relationship

Set Before the Events of the First Kingdom Hearts

Riku walked along the dirt path leading up the tall hill on the island and took a deep breath of the salt-tinged air. He was the only one out on the road as the sun was barely peeking up from the horizon to start the new day. Small orange flowers were scattered along the sides of the path, beginning to unravel their petals and awaken from their slumber. Reaching a familiar neighborhood, Riku looked up at the rows of wooden homes. The glass windows in every home were darkened as the residents inside still slept away. He continued to walk, glancing absently as each house; mentally keeping count of how many he was passing before he reached his destination. He stopped in front of the sixth home; a one story building with light-blue planks of wood along the exterior. A small smile appeared on his face when he noticed a dim light emanating from the front room's window.

"Good, she's up." He mumbled to himself, feeling his heart beginning to beat just a little bit faster.

Pushing past a black metal gate, he walked past the front garden and jogged up the small set of stairs leading to the front door. He lifted his hand and quietly knocked on the brown door. Every second he waited his nerves gradually grew. Soon the doorknob turned and Hinata opened the door. She stood in front of him with a small smile. Her long red hair done up in a tall ponytail, falling to her waist. A turquoise blue tank shirt fell loosely over her chest and the color set off her golden eyes and complexion beautifully. The black pants tightly fit around her legs going down to a pair of white tennis shoes. Riku opened his mouth to compliment the way she looked but instead cleared his throat and went to business.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked her.

"Well good morning to you too Sunshine." She rolled her eyes and teased. Walking outside and closing the door behind her, she answered. "Yeah, let's get going."

Riku smirked at Hinata's teasing. He was picking her up so they could do some shopping for Kairi's birthday. Hinata wanted to pull together some sort of surprise party for her and had somehow roped him and Sora into it. Not that he truly minded though; Kairi was one of his best friends and he could always use an excuse to spend time with Hinata. Sora's job was to keep Kairi occupied the whole day while he and Hinata put everything together for the party later that afternoon.

Putting his hands in his pockets as they walked he asked, "So what do you want to buy?"

"I'm not really sure yet, I have never been to that party store in the strip mall, so I don't know what's there." Hinata admitted, "Have you ever been there?"

Riku shook his head, "Never had a reason too. I don't usually put together these types of things."

"We have to take the ferry to get to the strip mall right?" Hinata asked after they walked for a couple minutes in silence. "I think the store we need to get to is on Shima Island."

Riku nodded, "Yeah, I got you early enough that we should be able to get seats and won't have to stand the whole ride."

"I don't know, I kind of like being able to stand at the railing." Hinata shrugged, "The ocean breeze is really nice."

"Well we can stand if you want, but it's like a ten minute ride." He replied.

"I'm fine either way." Hinata smiled, "Thank you for coming with me. I know you weren't too excited to have to help with the planning."

"I don't mind that much." Riku admitted, "Not if it means I get to spend some time alone with you."

Her eyes momentarily widened and she felt her face warm with blush. Pushing a few stray strands of her long red hair behind her ear, she replied. "I'm glad we have some alone time too. It's been a while."

Riku rubbed the back of his neck and smirked, "Although, if you really feel bad about making me go shopping you could just pay me back by sparring with me later."

Laughing in response, Hinata agreed, "You're on! We'll see how fast we can finish the preparations."

They continued walking down the dirt path out of the neighborhood, chatting and laughing with each other until they reached the beach.

"Here we are." Riku spoke up as they approached the white and blue ferry.

Hinata watched the long boat bob up and down on top of the clear ocean water as Riku got the tickets from the wooden booth. It was mesmerizing really; it was mostly off white spare for a bright blue stripe going across it and a blue railing along the edge. Five rows of hard seats were in the center of it on top of a wooden planked floor.

Riku came back to her holding the tickets in his hand smiling, "You ready?"

Hinata smiled and nodded as she followed Riku onto the boat. He sat down in one of the seats in the front row while Hinata headed to the front and placed her hands around the railing. Riku watched as Hinata closed her eyes to feel the sea breeze. She had some odd appreciation for every new thing she saw on the island. It both bothered and intrigued him. He didn't understand how she could keep finding things she enjoyed and loved about the island even after being there for six months. To him, the longer he stayed on the island the more trapped he felt. To see someone else enjoying it so much was off putting to him; but he couldn't help but also smile that Hinata turned into something akin to a child when he would show her something new.

He began to wonder where he wanted to go with Hinata and not just as in actual places; but in their relationship. It had been almost six months since he admitted his feelings for her and their friendship hadn't changed in the slightest. At first he was fine with that, but he was beginning to ponder if he wanted something more. They got along well enough and just within the first month of knowing her she had become one of his best friends which just did not happen with him. His heart began to beat faster when Hinata peeked over her shoulder at him. That's when he knew; he didn't want to keep his feelings for Hinata hidden from everyone, he wanted to let everyone know she was his.

He smiled at Hinata as he stood up from his seat and began walking towards the front of the boat beside Hinata. Placing his hands tightly around the railing once he was next to her, he looked absently at shimmering ocean around them as small silver fish periodically leaped out of the water. The heat from Hinata's body was resonating into him as her arm brushed against his. Closing his eyes he tried to figure out what he should say. Now was as a perfect time as any to ask her, he just didn't know the right words.

Hinata lightly nudged him, "Are you alright?"

Opening his eyes, he turned around and leaned back on the railing. His hands still grasped the blue bars as he softly rocked back and forth on his heels. Looking down at his feet he muttered, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

When Hinata didn't answer right away he shot his eyes up towards her to see her once clear face reddened as she quickly avoided his gaze. "Do you even have to ask?" She asked in quieted voice, before forcing herself to look back at him. "Of course I do."

His eyes slightly widened at her response and he felt his cheeks heat up. Looking away, he thought of what he should say next. They stood in silence for a couple minutes both with flushed cheeks as the tension steadily began to rise. When Riku couldn't take it anymore he cleared his throat, "So… what do we do now?"

Without thinking, Hinata began to laugh. At first Riku gave her a weird look, but soon felt the humor the same way as her and joined in. Hinata chuckled, "We really are clueless about this stuff."

Riku scoffed quietly and looked embarrassed out at the ocean. "I guess we are."

After a moment of silence, Hinata noted, "So does this mean we are officially dating now?"

Shrugging, Riku said, "Yeah, I would think so, why?"

Grabbing her long hair and fiddling uncomfortably with it, she admitted, "Well, Kairi and Hana have been making bets on how long it would be until we started dating."

Embarrassed, Riku clung onto the railing. "What? Why were they doing that?" He asked incredulously. "And how did they know what was going on between us?" When Hinata didn't answer right away he sighed, "You've been telling them, haven't you?"

"Kairi found out about how I felt about you before I even told you." Hinata admitted, looking away to avoid his gaze.

Riku's eyes widened, "Really? How long did you like me before we told each other?"

Hinata shrugged, "As long as you I imagine. It wasn't until you grabbed my hand that night that I realized how I felt."

"What, did you go inside and tell Kairi that night?" Riku asked.

Slightly pushing him with her shoulder, she scoffed and confessed, "No, it was when we all went out to lunch at Daisy's Café. She noticed that you and I were acting strange and asked what was up."

"And you told her?" he asked in surprise.

"It's not like I'm very good at lying." She pointed out, "Plus it was nice to get it out. You didn't tell Sora?"

Crossing his arms and turning around to lean his back against the railing, he admitted, "I don't think Sora even knows we like each other."

"Oh," She whispered, "Did you not tell anyone?"

He shrugged, "I didn't have a reason to. You knew and that was all that mattered. Sora didn't need to know."

Looking down at her fidgeting hands she asked, "You aren't going to keep stuff from me are you?"

Riku glanced over at her and assured her, "I promise. I won't be like that with us."

"So… what do we do now?" She asked, accepting his answer. "Is there some initiation into a relationship thing we have to do?"

Chuckling in response he shrugged, "I don't think so… I think we just act the same way we have been. Just now everyone else can know that we like each other."

"And we can hold hands at the mall today?" She asked, holding out her hand.

Riku felt his heart jump as he looked down at her outstretched hand; suddenly feeling nervous. Reluctantly reaching forward and grabbing her hand, he stammered, "U-uh yeah. We can do that whenever you want now…"

Hinata smiled and admitted, "I'd like that."

They stood the rest of the ride in silence holding hands and quickly left the ferry when it had landed at the dock. A large stone courtyard made up a majority of the small island. Around the stone stood lines of different shops just opening for the day. Leading the way, Riku walked past a few clothing stores, stopping abruptly in front of the party place Hinata wanted to go to. The windows were decorated with large stickers of balloons and presents and along the top of the glass doors were red letters spelling out 'Party Planet'.

"Party Planet?" Hinata read aloud with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Seems a little small to be an entire planet."

"I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a joke." Riku corrected her.

Hinata glanced over at him. "I know, I was just saying… are you alright?"

"Yeah," He told her quickly, shaking his head to clear his mind. "Just… suddenly nervous."

Lightly squeezing his hand, she assured him, "Don't worry, I am too honestly." Rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand, she assured him, "We'll figure out this whole dating thing; but let's try to make sure we don't overthink it. We're the same friends we were this morning, just holding hands." She shrugged with a small smile. When Riku only smiled in response, she motioned her head towards the shop. "Come on, we need to get stuff for the party."

"Right," He agreed, following her inside the shop.

Their nervousness was quickly brushed away as they combed through the aisles of the store searching for things to buy for Kairi's party. They argued on what theme they should go with; Riku wanting something simple and blue while Hinata wanted to go all out with decorations. They ended up meeting in the middle and eventually left with arms full of stuffed bags. Chatting about the different things they were going to put together when they got back to the main island; they took the ferry and made their way to the island clubhouse. It was a large hexagon building made of dark wood that stood in the center of the main neighborhood. Hinata had been saving up her money from a small part time job so she could rent out the building for Kairi's special day. Riku and Sora split the cost of paying for the supplies. As they entered the clubhouse, a large glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling immediately lit up. The room was bare but regal in looks, with hardwood flooring throughout the entire space.

Riku looked around as they walked inside and asked, "How much did this cost you?"

With a shrug, Hinata put down the bags in her arms and rubbed her hands together. "Let's just say I'm not doing this every year."

He chuckled I response and placed his bags on the ground as well. "Better get started with decorating. Knowing Sora by the time it passes lunch he won't know what else to do to keep Kairi busy."

Hinata laughed and then asked, "Speaking of lunch though; do you want to go eat something?"

"Like a date?" He asked, uncomfortably fidgeting his hands.

"Well not really." She replied, eyeing him. "We would have gotten lunch even if we weren't dating." She walked towards him. "Are you sure you're ready for us to be together? You've seemed really uncomfortable about it."

"Yeah of course I am." He stood up straight and shrugged nonchalantly. "I was just asking."

"Because if you're not ready, I don't mind waiting." She offered.

He shook his head and assured her, "Seriously, I was just asking."

Hinata sighed, "You know, if we are going to do this; you're going to have to start telling me how you're actually feeling."

"I am telling you," He defended, "I'm fine."

"Alright, fine." She resigned with a small huff. Grabbing his hand, she began walking towards the exit. "Then let's go on a lunch date."

Before they got to the exit, Riku asked. "Do we have to call it a date?"

"No, you can call it whatever you want." She shrugged with a tinge of annoyance in her voice, "Why does it matter?"

"Because I want our first date to be special." He blurted, blushing when Hinata looked at him surprised.

"You do?" She asked, stopping in her tracks as her frustration instantly vanished. "What did you have in mind?"

He averted his eyes and told her, "I don't really know yet; but I'll think of something. There has to be something fun to do in this place."

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled, taking a breath when Riku gave her a confused look. "I've been misjudging you today. I think us being in a relationship now is going to take some getting used to."

"Let's just get some lunch." He told her, leading the way again out of the clubhouse. "We can talk more when we've had some food."

They went out to lunch and then came back to the clubhouse to put together Kairi's party. Within the following hours they transformed the blank space into a fun celebration. Streamers and blue balloons were tastefully placed along the ceiling and walls. Round tables the clubhouse provided were set up, each with a different shade of blue table cloth as the center of the area was clear for dancing. Punch tables filled with different types of food were around the edge of the room as upbeat music was already playing through speakers hung on the wall. The two of them stood back and admired their work.

Hinata rested her head on Riku's shoulder. "Finally…"

Riku smiled and felt his heart race as Hinata leaned against him. Finding his voice, he told her, "Kairi's going to love it."

"I hope so." She admitted, fighting back a yawn. "I could go for a nap about now."

With a small chuckle, he reminded her, "But the party is about to start. People should be getting here any minute."

Grumbling under her breath, she resigned, "Alright, I'll stay awake. I'm just going to get myself a cup of coffee."

He felt a small amount of sadness as she pulled away from him to head to the clubhouse kitchen. His shoulder and arm were still warm from her touch. A sigh escaped him as he looked over everything they had just put together. "We make a good team." He muttered to himself with a smile.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door to the clubhouse swung open. He turned around to see Kairi's friends Tidus and Wakka walk in. Riku got along well enough with them and smiled as they came in.

"Hey," He greeted them.

"This is Kairi's party?" Tidus asked in near disbelief as he looked over the entire room.

"Ya man! This is amazin'!" Wakka agreed; his bright orange hair bouncing as he spoke.

"Hinata is mostly the one that put it together." Riku informed them.

"Is she here?" Tidus asked, instantly straightening out his yellow vest and fixing his hair. "Where is she?"

Riku gave a small frown at his reaction and for some reason suddenly felt a tinge of protectiveness spread through him. "She'll be out here soon." He told him shortly.

Wakka laughed and ruffled Tidus's blonde locks of hair. "Oh please man, I keep tellin ya that she isn't into younger guys."

Tidus's cheeks flushed, "Hey, you don't know that!" He stood up proudly and told him. "Besides, I'm feeling lucky today!"

His muscles tightening involuntarily, Riku tensed up and quickly turned around without saying anything. He walked straight towards the kitchen and entered to find Hinata stirring her new cup of steaming coffee. She looked up at him with a smile as she noticed him enter the room.

"Did some of the guests arrive?" She asked.

"Yeah a couple…" He stopped walking and looked her over. "Hey listen, I think you should go home and change."

She gave him a confused look and glanced down at her outfit. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing? I actually like this outfit; Kairi got it for me."

He rubbed the back of his neck and quickly corrected, "Never mind, it's fine. Just… don't leave my side tonight, alright?"

Hinata's cheeks flushed and she stammered, "Oh… alright. Why?"

"Just don't, okay?" He repeated.

Placing her cup on the counter, she walked towards him and crossed her arms. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Riku averted his eyes and was about to come up with a lie; but then glancing at Hinata he noticed the concerned look in her eyes. With a sigh, he confessed. "I just found out that some of the other guys around the island like you."

"Really?" She asked, her eyes momentarily widening.

"Well it was just Tidus… but I bet he isn't the only one." He continued his confession. "I guess I just never thought about it."

"Tidus?" She repeated not recognizing the name, "Oh wait, is he that one that fights with the same weapon you do in sparring class?"

Riku took a moment to realize what she was referring to and then chuckled, "Yeah, that's him. Is that seriously how you recognize him?"

"He doesn't fight very well." She remembered before blushing, "So wait… he likes me? I don't even know anything about him."

"That's what I heard." He told her.

"Why are you telling me about it?" She asked him.

"Well, because… I don't know." He stumbled over his words. "I was just worried I guess."

"Worried about what?" She asked. "I don't know anything about him other than what weapon he fights with… and that he isn't very good at it." She shrugged, "You don't have to worry about him."

"But he isn't the only guy though." He pointed out, not understanding why she didn't get what he was trying to say. "What about all the others guys that end up liking you?"

"What about them?" She asked.

He let out a slightly exasperated sigh and finally blurted, "I don't want any other guy thinking of you like that."

Hinata smiled and pushed some of her hair behind her ear before reaching forward for his hand. Holding it in hers, she told him. "Riku, you really don't have to worry about that. You can't make people change what they feel; but you don't have to worry about me." She waited for Riku to look up at her, before she continued. "You're…." She looked down at their clasped hands and took a deep breath. "You're the only one I want to be with. Those other guys can say or do whatever they want to get my attention; but they aren't going to change my mind. I mean, geez, we've liked each other for over six months and we are just now starting to date. If that doesn't show devotion I don't know what does."

Riku looked down at their held hands and let out a long breath. "You're right… I shouldn't be worried about that kind of thing. I just don't want them bothering you."

"Trust me; I can take care of myself." She assured him with a smirk.

He gave a small laugh, "Yeah I know." He looked up into her eyes and smiled. "Thanks. I don't know why I'm acting like this all of a sudden. I honestly wanted to punch Tidus in the face when I found out how he felt about you."

She snickered, "Yeah, try not to do that; especially before Kairi gets here. I spent a lot of money on this party, I don't want it ruined."

"I promise." He assured her. Giving her hand a small squeeze he asked, "Do you want to go on a date this next weekend?"

Hinata looked up at him surprised and blushed. "Uh… yeah, I'd love to. Where do you want to go?"

"I'll take care of it." He told her with a small smirk.

"Well alright." She replied, smiling back. They stared at each other for a moment, before Hinata cleared her throat, "We should probably get out there. We are the ones hosting this after all."

"You never drank your coffee." He noted, motioning his head towards the cup on the counter behind them.

She glanced back at it and shrugged, "I'm awake now." She turned back to him and smiled, "Do you still want me to stay by you tonight?"

"Oh… um never mind that. Just forget I said anything." He quickly told her. "You can go wherever you want."

Hinata chuckled, "Well alright. I probably won't leave your side much anyways; wouldn't want Tidus sweeping me away if I wandered too far off." She glanced over at Riku and saw the unappreciated look on his face and she broke into a short laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Shaking his head and attempting to hide the smile on his face, Riku led the way out of the kitchen towards the main foyer to celebrate Kairi's birthday with his new girlfriend.

*** Author's Note: This prompt was given by QueenMickey. Her original idea was to have Riku and Hinata's first date; but I just couldn't do it without first writing about how they started dating. So this will work into the next one-shot, starting right at the beginning of their date.

If you have any other ideas or prompts concerning Kingdom Hearts or any of my OCS, feel free to send me a message or comment! ***