All characters owned by Square Enix.
Chapter Nine: Talented People
"Roxas, can I borrow some of your clothes?" Sora asked as they reached the front steps of Roxas' house. His house was normal middle-class family sized. The outside was light blue with a grey-ish tint and white window frames and a white front door to match. The lawn had some yellow and fuchsia flowers growing out of the green grass here and there.
"Yeah," Roxas said as he unlocked the door. He opened it slightly, only making area for himself to fit in. "Just hold on a second!" He closed the door back, leaving Sora on the outside with a puzzled look his face. Through the door he heard some shuffling noises, unidentified voices, and thumping noises as if someone was running up the steps. And then the front door opened. "You can come in now!" Roxas nervously grinned.
"This is the first time you've ever let me in here," Sora said, looking around. The house was spotless and had a lot of open space. As soon as you came inside there was white tiled flooring, to the left a staircase with brown carpeting going up it, up further to the left was the opening to the kitchen and to the top right the opening for the living room. All the other doors had actual doors to them, which were closed. "Actually I think I'm the first you've ever let in!"
"Ahaha," Roxas nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah. Um, take off your shoes and let's go upstairs."
Sora slipped off his shoes and followed the other up the stairs to his room. "Your house sure is clean." Roxas' room was just as spotless as the rest of the house Sora's seen so far. In his room was brown furniture which was a long dresser along the wall and a double sized bed in the corner. On his dresser was a small TV, which had a cable box sitting on top of it, and some colognes and deodorants filled a small portion of the dresser.
Roxas took off his tie and placed it on the dresser. "Yeah, my mom is a neat freak."
"Are you parents at work right now?"
"My dad yeah," He untucked his shirt. "I don't know where my mom is right now though. Probably somewhere in the house." He pulled open a drawer of shirts.
"Is that who I heard you talking to earlier?" Sora asked, getting deeper into the conversation.
'Shit!' Roxas became wide eyed. "Uh, yeah my mom!"
"Can I meet her?" The brunette began to get a bit excited.
"You know Sora, you ask a lot of questions," Roxas stood. "Pick whatever you want." He said, referring to the clothes Sora asked to borrow for their trip.
"Okay." Sora frowned, noticing how Roxas quickly got out of the subject.
"I'm gonna change in the bathroom," Roxas began to leave the room. "Unlock the door when you're finished."
The door closed and Sora began to look for something to wear. It shouldn't be too hard to find something since the boys were practically the same weight and height. He put on a t-shirt from the same drawer Roxas was in earlier and a pair of pants. He opened the door to see Roxas waiting on the outside. He coughed a bit before speaking.
"Are you ready, Sora?" Roxas smiled.
"Yeah!" Sora nodded. A long moment of silence went by as Roxas stared into Sora's big blue eyes with his own. Sora blushed realizing this. "Roxas?" He said, snapping the blonde out of the stare.
Roxas smiled once more. "I'll meet you downstairs okay? I just need to find my keys and get my guitar."
"Alright." Sora went downstairs and sat the bottom, beginning to put on his grey vans. 'That was weird…'
Minutes later Roxas came down the steps holding his acoustic guitar in its case. "Let's go!"
He said, opening the front door. Sora followed behind him.
Selphie lay on Riku's bed; legs bent and crossed looking through a magazine. She was dressed a grey pull over sweater, god only knows why in this heat, that was sort of tight fitting but a bit loose. Her shorts were blue jeans shorts and she had a golden anklet on. "Riku do you like anyone?" She asked flipping through the magazine.
Riku was sitting at his desk, wearing his reading glasses. He was working on his first day of school homework. "No, Selphie." He answered irritably.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"I'm sure."
"Are you really sure?"
"I'm really sure."
"Are you really really sure?"
Riku's pencil tip broke. "I'm really really really sure, Selphie." He sighed, beginning to get annoyed by the girl.
Selphie sat up on the bed. "You should like Sora! Or do you like his little blonde friend?" She teased. "You did ask about him earlier."
"I'm not looking for anyone," Riku stood and opened his bedroom window to let some air in since the standup fan wasn't really doing any justice. "And I only asked about him because every time he opens his mouth he just ends up pissing me off."
"Riku~," The door opened, one of Riku's brothers peeking his head through the opening. "Mother wants you!"
"Are you sure it wasn't you she wanted, Kadaj?" Riku crossed his arms, leaning against the window sill.
"Oh, you caught me," Kadaj's voice slithered. "Just go see what she wants." He then left.
"Your brothers are so creepy!" Selphie said. Riku had two other brothers, Loz and Yazoo; the oldest being Loz, whom was also the biggest, Yazoo coming a year after him and Kadaj two years later. Riku was the youngest, and the one who seemed to care the most about his mom compared to the others.
"You get used to it from living with them," Riku said. "Let's go see what my mom wants."
Selphie followed Riku to the art room of the house, where his mother could almost always be found.
"Uwahh," Selphie yelled, amazed. "There's even more beautiful paintings here than last time!"
"Thank you!" Riku's mother, Yeul, smiled.
Selphie went to look around at all the new paintings.
"Kadaj said you wanted something?" Riku asked his mother.
"Yeah," Yeul stood up from her seat where she had been painting and walked with Riku towards the back of the room. "Could you hook up these paintings for me please? And also, if you have the time I would like you to walk to town and buy more acrylics."
"Sure." Riku lifted up the canvas paintings and began to hook the on the walls. His height and strength giving him more of an advantage than his mother when putting paintings up. "Selphie," he said when he finished. "We're going to the town area, so I need to get my keys. I'll be right back, stay here."
"Okay!" Selphie smiled back at him.
When Riku left the room Selphie began to talk to his mother. "Your paintings are so lovely, I wish I could paint like you!"
"Oh, you're too flattering Selphie!" Yeul remarked.
"But I'm serious," Selphie exclaimed. "Especially that one up in the corner, that one is amazing!" Selphie had pointed to a painting of youthful blue eyes that had a beige skin tone like background to it. It was plain, but the eyes were too beautiful to not take a second look at.
"Really," Yeul said. "I painted that off of one of the memories Riku described to me. It's something he can remember before he lost his memories."
Selphie became wide eyed. "Riku lost his memories?" She asked.
"Oh! Sorry, don't tell him I told you, I thought you knew!"
"I won't tell," Selphie replied. "But he's never told me anything like that before."
"I guess he's a secretive one huh," Yeul lightly smiled. "When Riku was little, he lost all of his memories in a car accident. He still doesn't remember any of it, just the very vague image of those eyes."
"Oh I see," Selphie put a finger to her chin. "That's really sad." She frowned.
"Yes, but I'm sure he's moved on from the depression of wanting to remember the past."
"Hopefully…"
The door had opened and again Riku came in. "Selphie lets go," he said. "We need to pick up some paints."
"Okay!" Selphie replied. Yeul gave them a list of colors and some money. At the door, Selphie put on her flip flops and Riku put on his shoes.
Sora and Roxas sat in the town square. Roxas was singing, Sora playing the guitar for him. The case was open and set a few feet in front of them, inside it was some cash and a sign that said 'Cash' with a couple of money signs around it.
"You've gotten really good, Sora!" Roxas said once the song finished.
Sora took the shoulder strap off from around him and handed the guitar over to Roxas. "Yeah, but that's the only song you've ever taught me!" He sighed.
"Maybe I'll teach you another one later on." Roxas told him and then started a new song. Singing in the town area was something Sora would know Roxas to do every other day since he's met him. Sora was mostly just a tag along for friendly comfort. He had no idea what Roxas would do with the money he collected, but he must be saving it for something.
"Riku, do you hear that?" Selphie asked as the stood in the town area.
"Hear what?" Riku asked.
"The singing."
"N-" Selphie placed a finger to the boy's lips, shushing him. The singing voice began to become more audible.
"Let's go check it out! Whoever it is sounds really good," Selphie grabbed Riku's hands and began to walk at a fast pace towards the music. "Maybe it's a professional singer!"
"If it were don't you think we'd hear a ton of screaming fans?" Riku pointed out.
Selphie pursed her lips continuing to drag him. "Well, almost professional."
As they got nearer and nearer to the sound, the culprit behind the singing became revealed. "It's just the kid with two left feet and his friend." Riku said, crossing his arms.
"I would've never imagined Roxas to have such a nice voice!" Selphie was wide mouthed, but then a sly grin appeared on her face. "We should go up and say hi!" She said grabbed Riku's arm, running for the two boys.
Roxas smiled as the small crowed of people cheered and put money into the guitar case. "Thank you, everyone!" He was very gracious. "Sora, go get the cash." Sora nodded and went to the case, picking all the dollar bills and then the change. As he was doing so he heard the clapping of one person remaining.
"Bravo, bravo!" Selphie smiled.
Sora looked up. 'Riku?' He quickly looked back down, beginning to take his time with getting the money.
"What are you guys doing here?" Roxas asked, hopping off from his seat on the ledge of the water fountain. He placed his guitar down, leaning it against the side of the stone.
"We heard the singing, so we came to see who it was." Selphie explained.
"And now that we see it's no one important we'll just-"
"Hey," Sora shot up. "Don't be so mean! You never use to…uh…whaaat…?"
The three looked at him, Selphie and Roxas surprised. Riku on the other hand was quite the opposite.
'Oh my god, what am I doing? Shit…shitshitshit.' Sora nervously tried to smile.
"Heh," Riku grinned, putting his hands in his pockets. "Looks like two left feet here finally got the cat off his tongue." Selphie began to laugh at how red the brunettes face became.
Roxas went to Sora's side. "He's right though." He said, agreeing with Sora.
Selphie's laughing quieted down, and she looked up at the two. "You know," She walked up to them, cupping both of their faces in her hands. Roxas tried to move his face away while Sora just looked at the girl questioningly. "You two look oddly similar now that I see you this close. You could be cousins, brothers, or even twins!"
Roxas moved her hand away. "I'm an only child," He stated, trying to look anywhere else but at Selphie. "And we're not related."
"If you say so," Selphie shrugged. "Twinsies!" She teasingly yelled as she and Riku walked off towards the art supply store.
"They're so annoying," Roxas sighed he went back to where he was sitting. "And thanks for saying something…even though you looked like a complete idiot in the midst of it!" He laughed. They sat back on the ledge.
"Y-yeah, no problem." Sora smiled.
"You okay?" Roxas began to examine him.
"Just a bit shooken." The brunette looked down at his knees. Roxas noticed a tear fall from Sora's face to his leg.
"Sora?" Roxas began to get worried. He's never seen Sora truly this saddened before.
"I think I just want to go home," Sora wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and grabbed his bag. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?" He let out a fake smile.
"Wait, let me walk you home." Roxas quickly told him. He ran to pack up his stuff, Sora waiting for him. Holding his guitar in one hand, he held onto Sora's hand with the other and they began to walk to Sora's house. Everything was as silent as night, the sun almost done setting. Halfway home, Sora intertwined his fingers with the blondes and held hard onto his hand. Roxas looked away as he saw his friend wipe the tears from his eyes once more.
Yes, I made Riku's mother Yeul from FFXIII-2 (Obviously an older version of Yeul though) \m/
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^^
Oh and now you know about Riku's memory loss ; u; Hopefully that helps you guys understand the reason of why Sora and Riku aren't friends like how they are in the little intro's I do to chapters sometimes. And this chapter also has some hints to really big (or small depending on the readers opinion) things I have planned in this story. If you think you realize something, other than the fact that Sora is obviously the blue eyed person, then you should leave it in your review! ` u `
AND YOU SHOULD TOTALLY REVIEW GUYS. BECAUSE I LOVE REVIEWS.