Re: Final Distance (Sora/Riku Complete)

It had been a year. Nearly nine thousand hours since he'd been silhouetted against a blazing door of light, returning home at last from the most trying period of his life. Every day after that one, he had told himself that it wasn’t over; he’d be out seeking danger and challenge again soon. He wasn’t ready to settle down yet. He hadn’t gone through all that just to spend the rest of his days lounging in Destiny Islands.

And yet, he was still here.

Five hundred thousand minutes later, and Riku mirrored the girl below him, gazing at the softly churning ocean as it lapped against the sand. He was lounging on a platform twenty feet above her, his weight supported by strong arms as his feet dangled from his wooden perch.

He had tried to leave, many times. He had gone to bed with the thought in his mind that tomorrow would be the day. I’m telling them that I’m leaving. And then he’d wake up and remember that he had school that day. Or that he had promised to meet Sora on the play island. They’d have such at blast that he’d be reluctant to bring it up. I’ll do it soon – just not today.

Riku was pulled from his thoughts as a movement below caught his attention. Kairi had flipped over onto her stomach, obviously not caring about the state of her white clothes or hair. He held back a smirk. People might have thought it strange, if anyone around here cared to notice.

With a slight sigh he leaned back on his hands, lifted his legs back underneath him, and rose to his feet. He strode over to the ladder and climbed down.

Upon reaching his friend, Riku bent to sit quietly on the other side of Kairi, unwilling to disturb the peace. He gazed at the waves alongside her for a few moments, one arm resting on a knee. “A penny for your thoughts?” he asked her after a bit, never taking his eyes off the brilliant, gentle waves.

"Mmm maybe then I would be able to buy myself a smoothie," Kairi replied, while lifting her elbow up to rest her head on, while turning side ways to face Riku versus having her back towards him. Her toes wiggled in the grains of the sand getting them as deep as they can for comfort. Her eyes casted down at the ever-moving ocean before back at Riku. "If it's only worth a penny, then it's not worth thinking about. It takes a while for one munny to count for anything."

Her owns words threw her off as she looked down at the sand keeping her confused expression at the ground, while her fingers dragged curves in the golden canvas. Feeling too much of the questions being turned on her, Kairi looked up at Riku seeing a distant look in his expression. Brows furrowed looking from him to what he was looking at so carefully; her lips pursed as she saw nothing, but ocean. To turn everything off of her, she reached out to poke Riku's side, "So what's up with you, you've been just as dazed as ever? You keep on doing that you'll be like Sora."

He had always been a day dreamer whether its in class or falling asleep under the hot yellow island sun right at the shore. Rolling on her back she sat herself up placing her elbows on her knees to hunch over on her chin rest. Kairi stayed silent as she looked at Riku with a childish doe expression waiting for him to say something. When she didn't hear anything, she reached out to poke his cheek, "Rikuku."

She knew the more she poked and stared the sooner he will blurt out something. Atleast that way she won't have to; she rather not spew out what's been racking her mind, since it was something she doesn't want to share just yet. Actually the moment she planned to share it they wouldn't be around her to say anything about it. Of-course she wished she didn't have to play it out that way, but she couldn't think of any other subtle way to break the ice.

Her began to tilt like a confused pup when he gave no response, but her finger was already a step ahead of her to poke him again, but in the cheek. Before the plot can be implemented, she felt her body jerk the opposite direction; luckily she didn't tip over her central balance to fall over, "Aaaaye."

Her remark was just a remark, because she couldn't help, but cracking a smile at his laughter, and there was the sign, Riku was still Riku and not a zombie islander. She resisted from tackling him down in the sand and sit on him for payback; it may proove to great a distraction of her previous inquisition. Seeing that the childishness as died down, her ears quirked at her nickname; he was going to spit out something.

Her eyes wandered in a guilty manner as she tried to remember the name he just thrown at her, Jimmy. Her lips bit down on the tip of her finger as she tried to recall this, Jimmy. Mentally she flipped through a series of school pictures trying to pin him in their school uniform, "Uuuh Jimmy that always talks trash in Blitzball Jimmy...but always tends to beat Wakka, Jimmy?"

"He's gone. Found his own way off the islands, I guess."

Brows furrowed together, since 'gone' wasn't the best word as possible. Gone could mean anything, especially with the universe experience she had. Gone could mean moved away to a different region, eaten by a heartless, or dragged away by some spikey red headed baffoon. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of such fiery red head. Shaking it off, Kairi looked at Riku in confusion. So Jimmy left, it really had no effect on them; heck she was having a hard time in remembering who in the worlds Jimmy was. It's not like he was Wakka, Selphie, Tidus, or Sora to them, but just another person they shared the world with.

Her mouth opened again, but words became gibbering at punch in her shoulder, which is swatted back in response. Her nose scrunched up at the predicament. Why couldn't the spotlight stay off of her for an hour or so? Why? "You should tell that to everyone else...they've become so busy with themselves, you know."

She referred to their friends that tend to come to the play islands; tend being the word meaning 'use to' or 'once was a regularity'. Selphie is all spiffy with her music and being...Selphie, which meant a lot. Boys will be boys, so Wakka and Tidus had their own thing that didn't really had to include her. "It's as if no matter what whether you poof for months or days, they still go on without you...everything seems different now."

"So what one can do here with everything...just rolling by," her eyes looked up at the clouds. Yes they were rolling by as well, but they had a greater range than the islanders. The islanders may distance themselves with their own lives, but the clouds can float beyond this world and towards the next, or so it seemed. To stop the silence she now made she snorted in a chuckle, "my mom is all for getting a side job or something. But where's the fun in that? Despite it all it seems this place always stayed the same, you know."

"Oh like the time we tried to played Blitzball in the ocean; the time we had that bonfire...and we had to sneak matches, ooh and the time we made that raft. That thing was quite sturdy just to say we made it."

Sora had been waaaaay bored all day long! No adventures to go on, no friends to hang out with because Riku had "other plans" earlier, and Kairi had been nowhere to be found. Selphie? Out of the question with the way she had been acting recently. Wakka and Tidus? Eh, even though they were guys, and they were about the same age as Sora...they kinda did their own thing, similar to Kairi, Riku, and himself!

Out of sheer boredom, Sora had come to the Play Island, hoping to chill, maybe go into the Secret Place and reminisce, and probably to lay on the beach, and fall asleep, like he had those few years ago before...Before all this crazy stuff happened. Before I was named a keybearer, and given that task of defending all the worlds. Before it happened all over again, but with new complications. Honestly...I'm kinda glad it's all over.

Riku had to shield his eyes, for there were suddenly two suns above him.

One had been there the whole time, blazing in the sky, distant but warm. The other had just arrived, and sprayed sand in Riku's face as it plopped down beside him.

"Hey guys! What'cha doin?"

"Sora," Riku groaned, feigning exasperation as he sat up. He had just been getting comfortable. Inwardly, though, he felt relief; nothing like a wielder of light to brighten the mood. "We've been having intelligent conversation. What about you?"

The atmosphere had suddenly lightened to the point where the change was tangible. Sora had always had that quality about him. His light didn't just reside in the keyblade - which, Riku noticed, his friend had summoned as well - but also in his very being. It was that beacon that had pulled Riku from the shadows over a year ago.

But he wasn't going to dwell on that now. The three were together again, relaxing for the first time in a while, and Riku wasn't going to mar the moment with darker thoughts. He shoved them to the back recesses of his mind. They had the entire day to do whatever they wanted on the island, just like they did before knowing there were worlds outside of theirs.

"Hmm, I don't know. I'm not really equip for...swimming. Hey where's that raft we had? I noticed we never ever used it; we should for all of that work was for nothing," Kairi smiled, "if we go looking for it...this time Sora don't go to sleep."

With her mind made up Kairi stood up to tug both boys off their arse, "come on you lazy bums we have down nothing long enough. Soon you two will start growing flabs."

She might as well have one day worthwhile with them. She perfered having one good eventful day with them to look back on rather than solum conversations.