The wind swept across the pond in the forest clearing the grass and leaves seemingly dancing with it. Riku sat on a hollowed log overlooking the sight and with the never ending twilight of the town it looked rather peaceful. With Xehenort gone and his gang of... himself dealt with and friends rescued, it should be calming and peaceful. Unfortunately for Riku he was on edge and fidgeting with anything he could get his hands on. Riku had come with purpose, a mission of sorts, and this one was making his insides feel like they could do backflips.

A keyblade master… prodigy… you're scared… of this?

"Riku? Is that you?" Riku turned his head to the sound of the voice. It was Naminé, just the person he needed to see.

"Yeah, it's me." He tried to sound nonchalant, like he did not just travel through the deep blackness of space to see her. Though, he supposes he never did tell her to meet him here so she would not have known anyways. He was supposed to have met her at the Old Mansion where the rest of his friends were staying in Twilight Town (barring Hayner, Pence, and Ollette who had parents) to talk about what he needed.

Naminé had brought her sketch pad and pencil case, an old one Riku had got her during her previous stay in this world so she could always be efficient in her efforts to help Sora, or so he rationalized. She was wearing her signature white dress and sandals and sat down next to the young Keyblade Master. Her complexion had gotten more human like since getting the replica body; her face looking less sickly white to a more balanced color, her hair having more volume-

Her hair, her eyes, her smile.

She began working on a new piece in her pad sketching the surroundings as she talked. "You know, I sold a drawing yesterday. I was able to buy myself a pretzel," she said proudly.

Riku broke into a slight grin and just to tease her said, "Well then I suppose you'll be able to buy the lunches soon."

Her face gave off a hint of pink, "Well, maybe if it isn't too expensive..." Naminé pouted, "You'll have to wait for a bit, art doesn't always sell fast."

Forever.

Riku allowed himself a laugh, she definitely was Kairi's Nobody. She knew exactly what button to hit. "Actually I'm glad to see you. I came to ask you for a... favor. Nothing bad or anything..." He trailed off, it was unlike him to talk so much or beat around the bush. He was usually direct, forward, and only pondered about the nature of friendship out loud a few times. In this line of work that seemed to happen a lot.

"Oh? About what?" Naminé asked.

"Well, King Mickey wants to throw a huge ball for a formal celebration. It's actually more for his kingdom more than anything. And Sora kinda already said I would go."

Coward .

Naminé put her pencil to her lips thinking, "Um, it's not that I'm opposed but... I think I would be a little underdressed." She started looking over herself, she had a few changes of clothes but definitely not the kind of wardrobe that would be acceptable for any kind of formal function.

"Don't worry about that, Minnie said she'd have both you and Kairi looking like real princesses," Riku assured.

She thought about it for a second. "So who is all going?"

"It was originally an invitation to all the Masters but with Yen Sid being retired and not wanting to go Sora had to step in for him and I guess Aqua already said she was coming."

Naminé taped the pencil to her lips again. "Well I wouldn't mind seeing Aqua again and I've actually wanted to go dancing before. So... yes, I think I'll go with you." She clapped her hands together like she normally does when happy or excited, even with her art supplies in her hands.

"Great." Riku said. "I'll be by on Saturday at 7am to pick you up to get ready at the palace." He crossed his arms and nodded to himself with his eyes closed.

Tell her.

Time stood still as he sat on the log not wanting to leave the comfort of his company. So he didn't, he decided to sit and just... be. How long had Riku just allowed himself to be with someone else? In their presence and just enjoy his own thoughts?

After Sora was put to sleep to repair his chain of memories Naminé and DiZ had moved to the Old Mansion and there Riku had spent many hours guarding the grounds. It wasn't easy. Not physically and especially not emotionally. He knew, whenever he looked at Sora in his vegetative sleep, that this too was because of his sins. His lust for the outside worlds had led to Sora losing a year of his life and everyone, even Kairi, forgetting him. Between DiZ's blatant hatred of Naminé's very being and the berating's of Riku's very nature and being hunted it was a special kind of hell.

But it did have Naminé. She was there and he was there. It had started as simply needing to guard her. He didn't trust her very much, but one day Naminé started crying. Whether it was from a particularly sad memory or from stress or any other reason he never asked. It didn't matter. She needed something, anything, in that moment to ground her. To keep her heart from breaking. So Riku reached out to her and held her hand.

Riku never thought any differently from if it were Sora or Kairi so he gently put his hand on hers. She accepted the gesture and held his hand while crying. It took her a bit to recover from her fit but she said she was sorry for needing that. It happened a few times after and he held her hand through it every time. She always said she was sorry for it and Riku corrected her once, "A friend once told me a single thanks is worth one hundred apologies." So she thanked him and had another reason to thank Sora. Though he wouldn't admit it, he needed it as well. If either just needed to have something they would tap on the other's fingers with their own and the other always accepted.

This time as Riku was sitting with her on the log she had dropped her hand to the log as she contemplated the direction of the piece. While she was thinking she grabbed his hand as she tapped her pencil to her lips with her other hand. It always made Riku blush when she did it. Thankfully, she was minding her art rather than him. Before long Riku's jacket was shaking and his phone was ringing. Naminé chuckled as he bumbled his way through his pockets to get to his phone. Lea. Great.

Riku answered the video call to Lea sitting at the Old Mansion's new, non broken table eating a bowl of sugary cereal. " 'Sup," Lea said, shoving another spoonful in. "It's past noon, are you doing something important or are we still down for training?"

"Hi Lea!" Naminé put herself in the camera so he could see her waving. She was right next to him touching his arm. She's so thin and yet she can weigh him down this much?

Close, close, close!

"Oh oh oh, I see you were doing something important!" Lea flicked the spoon out of his mouth and teased the two kids. Riku was taken aback and had pinkened while Naminé just stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, I'll let you two have your time, don't do anything I wouldn't do-"

"Hey Lea," Riku interrupted, "how about you do 50 key-ups once you're done with breakfast."

Lea huffed not regretting the joke but regretting the punishment. "Ugh." He drank down the last of the milk, slammed down the bowl, summoned his keyblade, and drove the blade into the wall and began to work on his upper-body strength with one arm pull-ups.

"MY WALL!" The voice of a sitar playing freeloader came through the hole as Lea cut the call.

Riku and Naminé shared a laugh. "You shouldn't lord your authority over Lea like that," Naminé said while trying to hold the rest inside.

"Oh, and what would you have done?"

"Made it one hundred."

Ouch.

"What about one hundred fifty? He chortled.

"Of course not, after one hundred twenty five it loses the luster. His arms would hurt."

Notes:

Song of the arc: Hikari e by The Babystars

Song of the chapter (1st read): Riku by Yoko Shimomura

Song of the chapter (2nd read): Longshot by Mayu Maeshima