Kairi was on edge. She hardly slept after Riku calmed Sora down. She kept thinking Sora would have another nightmare, but he never did. How did Riku do that so quickly? It took Kairi hours usually to get Sora to fall back to sleep and then he would start up again in an hour. It was like clockwork for her, but Riku. Riku did it like it was second nature.
She slept in their room much to her discomfort. The room was thrashed from Sora's imagery fighting. She was tempted to sleep in the living room but knew that wouldn't be a wise choice. If Sora had a nightmare again, she would feel guilty for not being there.
She gave up sleeping when it was eight in the morning. Sora was sound asleep next to her, and she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by it. Of course, he could sleep, he wasn't the one waking up to someone screaming. Getting out of bed she threw on her robe and shuffled downstairs. Coffee was a must.
It was 8:30 when Kairi heard shuffling from upstairs. It must be Riku, if it was Sora he would have asked what happened to their room. That was the thing about Sora's night terrors, he never remembered them. Even if they were up for hours, it was like it never happened to him. It annoyed Kairi, she hated to admit it, but Sora, unable to remember what he did. It just…drove her nuts. She knew it wasn't his fault, but she couldn't help it.
"Morning," Riku greeted, as he entered the kitchen. He made his way to the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup.
"Yeah," Kairi grumbled.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked, as he made his way to the table.
"Nothing, just tired." Kairi sighed, running her hand through her hair.
"How long has he been like this?" Riku asked bluntly. Judging by the bags under Kairi's eyes this wasn't a one-time thing. Of course, Kairi had mentioned that Sora was having nightmares, but nothing like this. She was clearly hiding a lot that went on with them.
"Since he got back. I think that's why he wanted us to move in together. So, he wasn't alone at night," Kairi admitted. She was trying to keep this a secret. She didn't want their friends to think something was wrong with Sora, and she believed she could help him. Clearly, she was wrong about that.
"It's been almost two years, Kairi," Riku gasped. She had been putting up with this that long?
"It wasn't bad…at first. He would just wake up and then fall asleep again. It was fine, until about three months ago. They started to get darker, and he would scream in his sleep. I made him tell me, thinking that would help him, but it didn't. It made them worse," Kairi sighed again, as she sipped her coffee, "It's been two months of these…these night terrors and I can't take it." she admitted.
"How long does it take you to calm him down?" Riku asked softly.
"Hours," She groaned.
"Have you thought about taking him to therapy or something?" He suggested.
"Oh yeah, that's a good idea. They will lock him up for being insane. He can't tell people he traveled to other worlds." Kairi rolled her eyes.
"It was just an idea," Riku scoffed, "There has to be something,"
"Well, when you figure that out, let me know." Kairi said harshly and finished off her coffee.
"I'm just trying to help, Kairi," Riku glared. Kairi sighed realizing she was being unfair to Riku.
"You have helped, you calmed Sora down faster than I have been able to in a while. It's been almost a year since I was able to do that." Kairi said sadly.
"Hey, don't start thinking Sora doesn't need you or something. That isn't true," Riku assured her.
"Yeah, I know." Kairi said with a sad smile.
"Kairi!" Sora called frantically, before Riku could say anything.
"Coming!" Kairi called, "Now the fun part. Telling Sora what happened." Kairi sighed.
"He doesn't remember?" Riku asked, surprised.
"He never does," Kairi shook her head and made her way upstairs. Riku followed, wanting to be there for them both.
Kairi and Riku entered the room to see Sora trying to organize the mess. He looked up when he heard the door open and paused his actions of righting the dresser. (The one he didn't destroy just knocked over). Sora looked from Kairi to Riku then back to Kairi with a confused expression. It was clear to Riku now that Sora didn't recall last night.
"Kairi, why is Riku here?" He asked, "Not that I mind you being here but it's early and well…as you can see things are a little crazy." Sora elaborated, not wanting to offend his friend.
"He's been here since last night, Sora." Kairi explained. "You had another night terror. I couldn't…I couldn't calm you down." Kairi's voice cracked. She was stressed from everything, and her emotions were running high.
"Oh, so I…I did this?" Sora asked, as he finally put the dresser upright. He sounded ashamed and embarrassed.
He hoped that Riku would never find out about the nightmares, and that didn't happen. So, when the night terrors started, he begged Kairi not to tell anyone, especially Riku. He didn't want the older man to know Sora was having trouble with what happened. He wasn't sure why.
"Yes, and when I couldn't calm you down. I called Riku,"
"So, so he um…I mean, you know." Sora shifted his feet nervously, "It's really…I mean it isn't as bad as you think." Sora tried to say convincingly.
"Sora stop," Kairi snapped, "It is bad, it's been almost two years and you still…" Kairi groaned, running her hand through her hair trying to calm herself.
"I'm not doing it on purpose, Kairi," Sora frowned.
"You're acting like it's no big deal. It is a big deal Sora; I haven't slept well in months!" Kairi shouted. She couldn't help it, she lost her temper. She was too tired and too stressed to deal with Sora's deflecting.
"I haven't either, Kairi," Sora said quietly, "I haven't since I got back. You know that."
"I know Sora, I know things have been hard. I just…I just don't know what to do anymore," Kairi said tensely.
"Okay, okay timeout you two." Riku interjected finally. "You are both stressed and tired so having this out won't solve anything. How about we all take a breather and hang out today? Like we used to, does that sound good? We will forget about all this and just enjoy the day." Riku suggested.
Riku had just arrived at the café that they all agreed to meet at. He convinced Sora and Kairi to go out with him. It was a little bit of a battle seeing how they were so tired. Both physically and emotionally, but even with that Riku could get them to agree. They needed to do something relaxing. And what better way than to goof off with your best friend?
As Riku entered the café he found Kairi sitting alone with a paper coffee cup in hand. Next to her was a glass cup left untouched. Well, this wasn't right. Riku walked over to Kairi's table and sat down. She was staring at the table and didn't notice Riku until he sat down. She jumped slightly and looked up. She gave him a sad smile before speaking.
"Took you long enough," She teased, or tried to. It came out weak and dull.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked, ignoring Kairi's attempt to tease him. Kairi sighed and looked down, not wanting to look at Riku.
"It's over between Sora and I."
"What?!"
"I can't do this anymore, Riku. I can't sleep and when I do it's never restful. I can't even calm him down anymore, not to mention we don't even...connect anymore."
"He did nothing but fight for you Kairi, you can't just-."
"I know that!" Kairi nearly shouted, cutting Riku off. Riku flinched at her tone and Kairi took a breath to calm herself. She had just done this with Sora and was still on edge. "I can't be expected to handle all this just because he wanted to be with me so badly. It wasn't that he wanted to be with me even. He just didn't want to be alone."
"So, you're going to leave him and have him be alone?" Riku countered, raising an eyebrow.
"No, of course not. I was hoping he could stay with you for a while. You're the only other one that understands what he went through. You're also the only one that can calm him down. He needs you Riku, not me."
"Kairi, that's asking a lot. I mean does Sora know about all this?"
"It was his idea," Kairi said and stood, "I'll see you later Riku."
"You aren't even going to tell him goodbye?"
"I already did," Kairi said flatly and left the café.
Riku sat there dumbfounded. They broke up, they actually broke up. Riku hoped that if that ever happened, it would be different between him and Sora. Maybe not exactly what he wants from the brunette but something close to it.
They weren't as close after they got back, and he thought it was because Sora wanted to focus on Kairi. Now he knows it was because Sora was having trouble adjusting to his old life and he didn't want to admit it to Riku. But the truth was out and now he could be there for Sora and maybe in more ways than one.
Sora returned from the restroom, Riku assumed. He sat across from Riku awkwardly. He wasn't making eye contact and when he did it was only for a few seconds before he looked away again. This isn't what Riku wanted. Where was his naïve, hyper and cute brunette that he grew up with? This Sora was someone else entirely, Riku would have to fix that.
"So, um she told you?" Sora finally asked as he looked at his hands.
"Yeah, are you okay?"
"Me? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, really." Sora assured him with a bright smile. Okay, now Riku was confused. Did Sora feel anything about Kairi leaving him?
"Sora, it's okay if you-."
"I don't want to talk about it, Riku. I'm fine, I promise." Sora said quickly, cutting off Riku.
Riku sighed with a nod. He scanned the café before looking back to the brunette. "Let's go have some fun, sound good?" He figured it was best to get this off Sora's mind rather than talk about it.
Sora nodded with a grin on his face. They both left the café and Riku was determined to have a fun time with Sora. The man needed it, they both did and with it just being them they could do whatever.
Riku decided to take Sora to the island. They packed lunch and took a small rowboat, just like old times. It was kind of strange to be going to the island again. The last time they were there was when they got back. Riku was starting to doubt his decision. What if Sora freaks out? Will Riku be able to calm him down? He certainly hoped so. Otherwise, this was going to be a very bad outing.
When they arrived at the island, Sora was the first one out of the boat. He slowly walked on shore and scanned the beach. His eyes stopped on a starfish. His eyes clouded slightly, and he didn't move for a long time. Riku quickly tied the boat off and approached Sora. He wasn't sure if he should touch him or if he should just move in the man's line of vision. He settled on moving into Sora's line of vision.
"Hey buddy, you alright?" Riku asked softly. He didn't want to trigger anything. Who knows what would set him off? Sora blinked a few times before looking up at Riku with a grin.
"Fine," Sora assured him, "Let's go find our old swords." Sora suggested and ran off before Riku could reply.
"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," Riku mumbled to himself and ran after Sora.
Sora finally stopped when he was on the small island with the giant Paopu tree. He was looking through an old chest when Riku caught up to him. Since when was Sora so fast?
Riku approached Sora and looked over his shoulder to find that the old wooden swords in the chest were broken. Riku sighed remembering that the last time they used them, they broke. They were going to fix them, but they haven't been back until now. This wasn't turning out like Riku planned.
"I forgot we broke them," Sore mumbled, staring at the swords as if willing them to mend themselves together.
"Yeah, me too," Riku admitted, "We don't need to fight Sora, there's other things to do." Riku pointed out.
"I know. I just wanted to see if I could beat you now." Sora chuckled.
"Well, if your room was anything to go by, I'm sure you could." Riku teased then tensed up. He shouldn't have said that. He waited for Sora's reaction. Was he going to be upset?
"Very funny Riku," Sora rolled his eyes, "We have Keyblades, we can fight with those." He challenged as he glared at Riku. Riku stared at him for a moment, was he serious?
"Don't be silly Sora, one of us could get hurt." Riku reasoned, trying to be casual.
"Then don't get hit." Sora shrugged. He stepped away from Riku and summoned his Keyblade. Riku stared at him wide eyed, what was with him?
"Sora, why don't we swim or something? Fighting with our Keyblades isn't the best idea." Riku said, trying to talk Sora out of it. Sora rolled his eyes and swapped his sword in front of him from side to side. Riku stepped away from Sora just in case.
"Come on, it'll be fun." Sora insisted. "Besides, I could use the stress relief."
Riku sighed. The brunette was guilt tripping him. He couldn't argue with that, Sora was clearly stressed, more than stressed and he needed this. Despite that Riku thought it was a bad idea he gave in. If it got too aggressive Riku would call it off. With this thought in mind, he summoned his Keyblade to show Sora he agreed. Sora grinned for a moment before taking his fighting stance.
He waited for Sora to make the first move. It was clear that the man was antsy.
Riku was right to assume Sora would attack first, but what he wasn't expecting was how he was going to attack. He charged at Riku and when he was mere inches from him, he slid behind him and struck. Thankfully, Riku was able to pull his blade back in time to block the attack. He then quickly turned around to face Sora. He didn't even get a chance to attack the man because Sora beat him to it.
Sora was pushing Riku back, not letting up on his attacks. Riku never was on defense for too long, but Sora was making sure he was staying that way. Sora backed Riku into the Paopu tree. Riku was now leaning back on the tree with his blade almost pressed against his chest. He tried to push Sora off him, but the man had him pin effectively.
Riku's left hand was holding onto the other side of the blade to keep it up right. Sora was continuing to press down and Riku was starting to think Sora wasn't going to stop. Riku tried to readjust his left hand when it slipped. The tip of his blade sliced his hand open. Riku's Keyblade disappeared in that instant. He quickly grabbed his left hand with his right and inhaled sharply.
Sora's blade smacked against Riku's collar bone. Riku groaned in pain, barely registering it since his hand hurt more. This caused Sora to disarm and step away. He went too far he knew, but Sora just so wanted to beat Riku, for once.
He swallowed thickly seeing the amount of blood on Riku's hand. A memory flashed in Sora's mind. He saw blood on his hands. It was gone just as quickly as it came but it stuck with Sora. Where was that memory from?
"Riku, I'm really sorry…" Sora said, "I didn't…I didn't mean to hurt you." He continued, not really sure what else to do.
"I-It's ok," Riku said through clenched teeth, "Can you…uh still heal?" he asked, struggling not to snap at Sora.
Sora nodded and approached Riku again. He gently took Riku's hand and placed his hand over Riku's palm. It only took a moment for it to heal. Riku sighed in relief and looked at his hand to make sure it was better.
He then took notice of the pain on his right collar bone. He pushed his shirt to the side to get a better look. It was already starting to bruise but luckily nothing more than that. At least Sora didn't break it.
"Riku, I'm really, really sorry. I should have listened to you in the beginning." Sora sighed, feeling guilty.
"Relax, I'm healed up and good to go. Don't stress about it." Riku said casually.
Sora nodded but he still looked like a wounded puppy. As though at any moment, Riku would attack him or yell at him for what Sora did. Riku was angry at first because of the pain, but once he was healed, he was fine.
What he was worried about was the anger he saw in Sora's eyes when they were fighting. Sora was never that…intense. Riku should have never agreed to the fight. Clearly, Sora could no longer just have a friendly fight like before. Kingdom Hearts has changed the man.