Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do own, however, a magnificent room to sulk in when things don't go the way I like. Envy me!

Warnings: This fiction contains and is not limited to boy/boy moments, the use and abuse of stereotypes, hints at original pairings, very despicable people, emo-Riku, lustful teenagers, underage drinking, a mix of the last two points, questionable situations, morally ambiguous choices and a few, occasional and really shy attempts at humor.

Chapter 35: Shattered

Riku's life was officially over.

After having spent the rest of the night walking home from Larxene's house, he had let himself fall on his bed, where he had incidentally spent the following two days, refusing even to eat.

It was only on the dawn of Monday that his mother had kicked him out of bed and forced him to go to school, after having uselessly tried to understand what was going on.

But Riku didn't have any intention to obey: the risk of crossing Sora or Roxas was way too high on school grounds and that was the last thing he wanted at the moment. Instead, he thought that if the two of them were at school, the arcade was a safe enough haven where he could've spent a few hours, before going back to bed.

He checked his phone: he had something like fifty missed calls and several messages, all received in the last 48 hours, but he didn't bother to check them, being pretty sure who they belonged to.

When he finally reached the arcade, the first thing he noticed was how empty it was... which made sense at that time of day. He walked straight towards the closest table he could find in the bar area and sat there, ordering a coffee when Cid came check on him.

He didn't know how much time he spent there, his chin resting on crossed arms while looking at the wall and thinking of nothing, but when someone touched his shoulder in a friendly way, he was pretty sure it must have been hours.

He turned slowly his head, not really feeling like seeing anyone, but couldn't hide his surprise when he realized who the person was.

"Hi Riku, don't you have classes today?"

"Hey, uhm... Naminé, right?" he asked, a little bit uncertain. "I could ask you the same, you know?"

She didn't answer immediately, probably waiting for Riku to invite her to sit. When she realized that it wasn't going to happen, she asked it. "May I sit with you?"

At that moment, the last thing that Riku wanted was company. That said, he couldn't bring himself to deny a place to the girl. "Sure." he muttered apathetically. "Don't think I'll be of much company, though."

"It's not a problem for me." she answered politely sitting down. She then proceeded to take out his drawing album. "I have some drawings to work on, but if you feel like talking, feel free to say something."

The two of them spent a couple of hours in a comfortable silence, Naminé drawing, Riku loafing. At least for the first ten minutes: then he thought that it was kind of ridiculous to stay there like that in front of someone, and so he started reading the only book he had on him: his chemistry textbook. He started flipping the pages without really being able to read them.

Towards midday, on Naminé's input, they ordered something to Cid and ate it: Riku had to admit that he really needed to put something in his stomach after two days of fasting. And he really appreciated that the small blond girl didn't force him to say anything more than what was necessary.

It was only towards three in the afternoon that she spoke the next few words. "The others will come in half an hour."

She said it in a simple, natural way, as if she was merely stating something. Riku realized that the message behind it was probably: 'if you're not in a talking mood, you'd better run away fast'.

And Riku wasn't in a talking mood. Especially because, while 'the others' probably meant Naminé's friend -what were their names, again? Tidus, Selphie, Pence and Olette if he remembered correctly-, there was no guarantee that Sora would not come to the arcade after school.

"Thanks." he simply answered, before putting back his stuff and standing up. Just before walking away, he looked back to the girl and asked, hesitantly: "Will you be back tomorrow?"

She nodded, and Riku simply walked away.

Tuesday morning would've been similar to Monday: Riku arrived at the arcade towards eight and Naminé reached him an hour later. Just like the day before, they exchanged greetings before going back to their respective business.

Riku had started to study for real, thinking that if he really was going to play hooky, it would've been wise to at least use that time doing something useful instead of ruminate over what had happened.

It was around midday that something changed. He was eating his sandwich peacefully when Naminé spoke. "Sora came searching for you, yesterday."

To that, Riku didn't really know what to answer: he was still hurting too much to really ignore that sentence and, at the same time, he couldn't deny to be curious about that. He settled on a neutral: "Really?" before giving another bite to his lunch. She didn't add anything else.

It took Riku two whole hours before talking again. "What did he want?"

"He said that he had to tell you something." Naminé answered, immediately picking up the conversation from lunch. "But when he found out that you weren't here, he simply left. He said that he was going to call you, didn't he do it?"

"Who knows?" Riku answered, pretending not to really care. "I didn't check my phone."

"Did you two have a fight?"

"Not really." he answered elusively and was glad that she didn't ask for more details.

On Wednesday, Riku was waiting for Naminé to arrive. The moment the girl sat, he started talking.

"We had a fight." he said immediately, looking at her and waiting for a reaction. When it didn't come, he kept on talking. "He never was my friend! He... used me, made fun of me. All the time he spent with me... it was only a lie."

The blond girl didn't answer. Instead, she offered him her drawing album.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Look at it."

Riku took the small sketchbook: it was opened to the last page and was depicting none else than himself, a perfect portrait drawn in hard pencil. He looked at the girl, surprised, and she couldn't help but blush a little.

"I made this drawing yesterday, while you were studying."

He started flipping the pages, each one filled with pencil drawings and... they were all really good. The barman Cid intent on cleaning a glass, her friends Pence and Olette bickering and then...

He stopped at the fourth page and his heart skipped a beat: he was staring at another portrait, this time depicting a couple of boys. They were smiling and seemingly having fun. He recognized himself immediately in the one on the left, with his shoulder-length hair and sharp eyes. And he also recognized the other boy, with his spiky hair and his kind look. He stared at the picture, silently.

"Why did you show me this?" he finally asked, desperately holding back the tears. His hands were slightly trembling, but he didn't let go of the book.

"I drew that picture the day we met you and Sora" she calmly explained. "You two seemed really happy together."

Riku couldn't object: the drawing was in front of him, mercilessly remembering him that, yes, he was happy when Sora was around.

"I don't know what happened between you two, but it's difficult to believe that someone smiling that way was only pretending to be your friend all of this time."

He didn't know how long he stared at that picture, but he hastily closed the album and gave it back to its owner the moment he realized his eyes were getting wet.

Another comfortable silence fell upon the two of them. Once more, it was Riku who broke it.

"What... what should I do?"

"I can't take a decision for you" the girl answered honestly. Then, she put the sketchbook on the table and opened it again. "But I can tell you that running away doesn't seem to be the right solution." Riku looked at the album: once more, she was showing him his own portrait realized the day before, and he observed more carefully the gloomy, sad picture on it. It was undeniable: he was totally different from the smiling, happy Riku from the picture with Sora.

"See? You're only hurting yourself this way."

Running away... those few words resounded strangely in Riku's head. And he realized that that was precisely what he had done all of his life: he had run away.

From Larxene's party, when Kairi had mercilessly told him about Sora's bet.

From the No Name, when he had caught Sora and Roxas kissing.

From his friends, when they had started avoiding him.

From Roxas, when he rejected him.

And... from Sora, of course.

Yeah, sure he could tell himself that they had abandoned him, betrayed him, made fun of him. It would've been the truth, after all.

But still...

He couldn't help but feel like that he had never really faced them head-on. In a certain way, he was glad that people had always acted that way, it gave him the perfect excuse to avoid any kind of confrontation.

But was that way of thinking making him feel happy? Did he feel better when he was all by himself, pretending that he didn't need anyone?

"...you're right." he finally said, and there was a certain finality in the tone of his voice. He took out his phone and looked at the missed calls and messages, but didn't open them.

"You're not going to check those?"

As an answer, Riku put the phone back in his pocket. He then looked back at Naminé and smiled confidently. "I don't need to!" The girl kept observing him as he stood up, stretching his arms behind his head. "Right now, I feel like playing a game or two, feel like joining me?"

If Riku had observed her closer, he would've realized that Naminé was smiling. But he was too taken by the realization that had hit him following her words.

And he couldn't help but smile when he saw the high-score list on the Pac-Man coin-op, the first place sporting in a golden yellow a few familiar letters.

S-O-R

End Notes: So, this chapter took me quite some time to write, but I'm quite happy with the result. I had this role in mind for Naminé from the beginning, even though I had to reduce her role in the rest of the story for... reasons. Eh, anyway, this chapter marks the beginning of the last part of the story. Hope you'll stay for the rest of the ride.

Preview: Back to school!

Next Chapter: Brand New World