Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Eye of the Storm ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

And a quick reminder about the 4 OC's in this story:

Skylar Strifehart (16-years-old) (Leon and Cloud's daughter)

Sorika Kagi (15-years-old) (Riku and ? 's daughter)

Nerina (14-years-old) and Andrew (15-years-old) Tillmitt (Tidus and Selphie's daughter and son)


Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. I do, however, own Nerina, Andrew, Sorika, Skylar, and any other OC's made up for the purpose of this fanfiction.

Sorika eyes her new instructor unsurely as he hums a cheerful tune while warming up. Her sharp eyes catch every little precise movement, every rustle of the loose clothing he wears.

‘There’s more to him than what you see.’ She decides. ‘He moves like Uncle Cloud, Uncle Leon, and dad. Like Yuffie too. That preciseness one gains only from fighting.’ She closes her eyes. ‘But something is missing. Something isn’t right. From how relaxed Yuffie was he has to be an old friend of hers. Especially since she’s having him train me after dad said that no one except Cid, Yuffie, and himself could teach me.’ Feeling a headache beginning to form, she relaxes and lets her thoughts wander so the pain recedes. ‘It’s no wonder Sky always has a headache; she’s the one who got me to think too much and absorb every single little detail.’

“Hey.”

Sorika snaps out of her thoughts and opens her eyes to find her new instructor standing right in front of her, a concerned look on his face. “Huh?” She asks unintelligibly.

“Are you alright?” Sora asks. “If you’re not feeling well or keep drifting off then we should postpone the training until tomorrow. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Sorika shakes her head and stands up. “No. I’m fine. Where do I start?”

Sora considers this for a moment, trying to recall what it was that Yuffie told him about the girl in front of him. ‘What did she say? I know she mentioned something about her being a student of Cid’s, so she must be pretty good. Yuffie also said she hasn’t been in any real fights and that she’s always fought with a wooden sword and a… a…’ He thinks for a moment, trying to remember the word Yuffie used. ‘Wakizashi? (1) Yeah, that’s what it is.’ “We’ll start with wooden swords.” Sora says aloud. “I want to see what your skill level is.”

Sorika nods and gets up before she reaches for her normal swords, only to realize what Sora said they’ll be using. “Sir? I don’t have a wooden sword with me.”

Sora scratches the back of his neck and looks around, trying to recall if he remembered to bring the wooden swords. Glancing over at his bag, he sighs and curses his memory before he walks over to it and pulls out one wooden sword followed by another. “Catch!” He calls out, before he tosses one of them over to Sorika.

Sorika easily catches the wooden sword and spins it around once to get a feel for it. It’s been a while since she has used wooden swords so she’s now more used to the weight and feel of her wakizashi. She makes a few mid-air strikes and then spins the wooden sword around again and smirks. “Lets go.” Sorika raises her confident blue eyes to meet Sora’s.

Sora moves into position, thinking about how much she reminds him of Riku. He swallows with some difficulty and pushes back his thoughts so he can concentrate on training Sorika. “Whenever you’re ready.” He tells his student.

Sorika immediately lurches forward to strike, only to have Sora easily block her and push her away. Before she’s out of range, Sora strikes her on the arm.

“Defend yourself!” Sora instructs. “You’re wide open!”

Sorika scowls and moves back into position. ‘What am I doing? What is it about him that unsettles me enough for me to loose my cool?’ She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. ‘Remember Cid’s lessons. Strike at the opportune moment, stay patient and keep a strong defense!’ She quickly but cautiously steps forward and moves to strike, trying not to move her left arm to strike as well.

Sora notices that as he blocks. “You’re used to two swords?” The two parry and then he moves to strike only to be blocked. ‘This might turn out more interesting than I thought.’ He blocks again and then spins around and strikes, barely clipping Sorika’s arm. “Have you ever tried sending energy into your swords?”

Sorika looks at his in confusion for a moment, barely managing to block his next strike. “Of course not!” She replies. “I’m no magician or sorceress or whatever it is they’re called.”

“I’m surprised no one has tried to teach you before.” Sora comments as he blocks her next strike.

“Are you going to?”

“Yes.” Sora replies, striking only to be blocked. Using a little of his magic to help, he knocks away Sorika’s wooden sword and points his at her heart. “Not bad for a beginner.”

Sorika looks away, disappointed in herself for loosing so soon. “…not a beginner…” She grumbles.

Sora sighs and runs his free hand through his hair. “That’s not what I meant. I meant for a beginner in what Yuffie likes to call ‘sword magic’. Sit.” He gestures to the bench that’s only a few feet away.

Sorika obediently walks over to his and sits down, rubbing her sore arms where Sora smacked her with his sword.

“I’m not really sure how to explain it. I’ve never really taught anyone before.” Sora grins a little. “I’ll just start by saying this: it’s not easy.” He says, thinking of his most recent training. “For Yuffie to ask me to teach you means that you must be special. And as far as I know only four people can still do this: myself and…” He hesitates a moment, sadness flickering behind his blue eyes. “A king of a distant land and two old friends of mine…” There’s a moment of pause during which he forces a smile on his face. “But that doesn’t matter. I have two exercises for you to do before bed. They’ll help, trust me.”

Sorika nods and makes sure to listen to his next words.

“The first thing I want you to do is just a few simple stretches; nothing too elaborate. Then I want you to meditate for a while and right before you pull out of it, open up your mind and just listen. Listen to the sounds around you, to the pulsing of your heart and of the energy within you. Then slowly pull yourself back into reality.”

Sorika takes a moment to think over all of the information and try to formulate some question but in the end she just nods.
Sora leans his wooden sword against the bench and sits down beside Sorika. “This is all for today. I… I need to go talk to Yuffie about something. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Without a word, Sorika gets up and collects the things she had brought for class with Cid. ‘Should I ask him?’ She asks herself. ‘I might be able to get some idea of who she might be…’ She takes a few steps away and then hesitates. ‘I’ll ask. It can’t hurt, right?’ She turns around to look at Sora. “Do-” She hesitates a moment when Sora turns his head to look at her. “Do you know my dad?”

Sora frowns. “Your dad? Who is your dad?”

“Riku. Riku Kagi.”

Sora freezes up at that name, his eyes clouding over as old memories threaten to resurface. “Riku…” He whispers. Coming to his senses, he answers Sorika’s question. “Yes. I- I knew him.”

Sorika brightens. “Then you must know who my mother is, right?” She hopefully asks.

Sora shakes his head. “No. I’m sorry.”

Sorika’s hope dims and her smile fades away. “Oh…”

“I haven’t seen Riku in sixteen years…” Sora says distantly.

“That’s a long time.”

Sora just nods, not wanting to say anything else on the subject.

Sorika wait’s a moment to see if Sora will say anything else and when he doesn’t she just leaves to go back home.

When she’s gone, Sora drops his head into his hands and lets his mind drift back to sixteen years ago when he, Kairi, and Riku still lived on Destiny Island.

0-0-0

Sora, Kairi, and Riku sit out on the beach watching the sunset together. Sora is in between the two, enjoying the peace and quiet.

“No more heartless to fight.” Kairi says with a happy sigh. “And you two are back home where you belong.” She smiles at her two friends and gets one bright smiles from Sora and a small smile from Riku. “Things are finally back to normal.”

Sora flinches a little and his smile dims slightly. “Yeah, back to normal.” He whispers. “I wonder how everyone else is. Leon and Yuffie and the others.”

Riku rests a hand on Sora’s shoulder. “They’ll be fine.”

Sora nods. “I know. I just have a feeling…”

“A feeling?” Kairi asks. “What kind of feeling, Sora?”

“A feeling that we’ll see them again. There’s this nagging feeling that keeps saying that we met up for a reason. And not just to save the worlds, but for something else.” Sora sighs. “It’s frustrating.”

“Sora… you’re not hoping for another adventure, are you?” Kairi asks hesitantly. “I don’t like the idea of you going off and fighting again.”

“Don’t be silly, Kairi!” Sora says with his usual cheerful smile on his face. “I’ve had enough fighting to last a lifetime!” He jumps up with a laugh and starts running toward the water. “Come on, Kairi! Riku!”

Kairi and Riku both stand up and watch as Sora runs into the water and trips in the sand. Kairi laughs and Riku smirks when Sora resurfaces with a starfish on his head.

“You goof!” Kairi says affectionately. “Come out of that water before you catch a cold!”

Sora just laughs and takes the starfish out of his head and puts it back in the water. “Come on, guys! The water’s great!” He gives the two of them pleading looks. “Please.” He begs.

Kairi sighs and gives in, kicking off her shoes. “Alright, just stop with the face! You know what that does to me!”

“I know, that’s why I do it.” Sora says happily. “Now come on!”

Kairi looks up at Riku, who doesn’t look to be moving any time soon. “If I’m going in then you’re going in.” She tells him. “You know that you won’t be able to resist for too long.” She winks at him knowingly.

“You were left alone with Selphie for too long.” Riku informs her. “You’re starting to be manipulative like she always was. And how do you know?”

Kairi just smiles and grabs Riku’s hand. “I’m a girl! I know everything!”

0-0-0

“So are you going to tell him?” Kairi asks Riku in a casual tone. But Riku knows better than to believe it’s just an innocent question.

“Tell him what?” Asks the white-haired boy, taking his eyes off of Sora to look over at his red-haired friend.
Kairi gives him a knowing look. “You know very well what.”

Riku glares at her for a moment, but finds himself unable to retain his glare and sighs. He runs a hand through his hair, completely uncomfortable with the way the conversation is going.

“Riku.” Kairi prods. “You shouldn’t just hold it back, you know.” She admonishes. “One of these days you’ll just snap and end up pinning him against the nearest solid object so you can ravish him.”

Riku’s eyes just about pop out of his head when Kairi says that. “Kairi!”

Kairi giggles. “Yes?” She asks, schooling her expression into one of complete innocence.

Riku opens his mouth to say something but thinks better of it and closes his mouth. No doubt Kairi would get the best of him whether he says something or not.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Riku.” Kairi says.

“Kairi! Riku! Help!” Sora yells from the dock.

The two look up and are amused to see Sora fighting to reel in the only fish he has managed to ever catch. Some help he would have been if they had sailed out on their adventure, he can’t even catch fish!

“Time for you to go help your damsel in distress.” Kairi comments.

“He’s not a damsel.” Riku retorts.

“But he’s in distress. I wonder if that fish is bigger than the biggest one you’ve caught.” She wonders out loud.

“Riku!” Sora yells again.

Kairi rolls her eyes, fed up with Riku’s reluctance, and gives him a shove toward the docks. “Just go help him already before the fish drags him into the water and you’re forced to jump in an save him. Go!” She shoves him once again and this time Riku actually moves on his own to the docks to rescue their brunette friend.

Minutes later Riku helps Sora finish reeling in the fish and they sit there and stare at the small thing flopping around on the dock.

“That-” Riku pants. “Is not a fish. I don’t know what the hell it is.”

“Demon fish.” Sora says. “So what are we going to do--”

“Oh it’s so cute!” Kairi squeals upon seeing the teeny fish. “You’re not going to kill it, are you?”

And so Kairi got her first pet.

0-0-0

“Riku…” Sora gently breathes.

Kairi looks over at her childish friend, an amused expression coming over her face. “What was that, Sora?”

Sora jumps a little. “Huh? Oh, nothing. Just wondering where Riku is with that ice cream.” He looks around the beach to see if he can spot Riku and his bright white hair. “So which way did he go anyway?”

“Worried?”

Sora and Kairi turn around to see Riku standing behind them with three sea-salt ice creams. Kairi smiles and takes hers while Sora stumbles over words for a moment before Riku hands him his ice cream. Riku then takes a seat beside Sora, ignoring the grin he gets from Kairi, and calmly eats his ice cream.

So intent on watching Riku eat his ice cream, Sora doesn’t even notice his ice cream is melting until Kairi points it out.

“Sora, your ice cream is melting. Why don’t you stop staring at Riku and eat it?” Kairi says teasingly, giggling when Sora turns a light shade of red.

Riku gives Kairi a look and then looks at Sora in concern. “Something wrong.”

“N-no!” Sora squeaks before he takes a bite out of his ice cream.

Riku and Kairi only have to wait a second or two before Sora shivers and raises one hand up to his head.

“Ow, my head. I hate brain freeze.” His teeth chatter.

“I bet Riku would warm you up.” Kairi comments.

“KAIRI!” Both Sora and Riku shout.

Kairi just smiles innocently and nibbles on her ice cream.

0-0-0

Skylar, Roxas, Axel, and Demyx sit together in the living room, each one of them bored out of their skulls. Reno and Zexion are both working that evening and Naminé is baby-sitting some kids down the road from where she lives, thus the reason why they’re bored. While Demyx and Axel are usually enough to keep things exciting, it’s even better when they have someone to call them out on every little thing.

So now with no one to bother, they’re all bored enough to sit in silence. Skylar is sitting on the recliner lifting weights while she stares off into space. Roxas is sitting on the floor flipping through an old magazine, not really looking at anything in it. Every now and then he glances up, feeling someone watching him. Axel is busy playing with a ball of fire while he watches Roxas, who he has liked since he met the small blonde. Funnily enough, everyone except Roxas knows about his crush. And then there is Demyx, who is sitting on the couch with Axel and is singing to a glass of water and watching it dance.

“Alright, we have got to do something.” Skylar groans, trying to gently set aside her weights. Unfortunately she misjudges the distance in her boredom and then weights fall to the floor with an unusually loud bang and the floor creeks.

Axel and Demyx look at the floor in shock.

“Holy shit! I think you dented the floor, Sky!” Axel exclaims. “How heavy are those things?”

Skylar scratches the back of her neck sheepishly. “I don’t know. Heavier than my swords.”

“And that’s damn heavy.” Roxas comments. “I tried to move on out of the way of the bathroom door last night and nearly broke my back just trying to lift it off the ground enough to push it out of the way.”

Axel and Demyx laugh while Skylar looks at Roxas in amusement and says, “You could have asked me to move it.”

Roxas glares at his sister. “I would have, but you were too busy singing loudly in the shower again and couldn’t hear me yelling. That’s why I had to move your sword so I could bang on the door and tell you to get out.”

Skylar looks thoughtful for a moment while Axel’s laughter turned to choked snickers and Demyx just rolls his eyes while smiling broadly and rolls off the couch to go try and pick up the weights…

Only to nearly fall over backwards and send the weights flying through the air and smashing into the wall.

All present wince when they see the damage.

“Did I mention that the weight is Spelled?” Skylar asks after a moment. “It wore off after they hit the floor and then adjusted to your proper weight right before it left your hands.”

Demyx looks up at the blonde girl, an annoyed look on his face. “You just might have forgotten to mention that, Strifehart.”

Skylar smiles sheepishly. “Would it help it I said I was sorry?”

Demyx looks back over at the hole and mutters, “Not really. That won’t save me from dying when your dads get home.”

There’s another moment of silence as they all just look at he hole in the wall.

“Sooo… who wants to go out for pizza?” Axel asks, breaking the silence.

“Lets go.” Roxas says immediately.

Demyx and Skylar agree and before long the four teens are out the door and on their way to Pizza World.

0-0-0

Axel glares at all of the girls staring at him, Roxas, and Demyx and the guys staring at Skylar. “I now remember why I hate coming here.” He hisses angrily, flames licking his fingertips.

Skylar, tense now that they’re out in a crowded area with plenty of unfamiliar people, just grunts before she turns around and glares at the girls who are staring at her little brother. Obviously going out to eat at Pizza World wasn’t the best idea in the world, but where Roxas wants to go Axel and Skylar let him go. As long as they’re there with him that is.

“Chill, guys.” Demyx says, completely unfazed by the stares. “It’s not like they can do anything to us. And don’t you have restraining orders on at least half of the people here, Axel?” He asks. “Or is it that they have restraining orders on you.”

Axel glares at Demyx. “Shut up, water-boy.”

Demyx falls silent, waiting until Axel looks away before he sticks out his tongue.

“We’re not going to kill anyone.” Roxas reminds them. “We will sit here and talk and ignore the people and will eat pizza.” He narrows his eyes. “Do. You. Understand?”

Skylar and Demyx shiver while Axel remains unaffected by the boy’s glare.

“Now, now, Roxy! You’re doing it all wrong!” Axel says, laying an arm across Roxas’s shoulders before he pokes the younger boy in the chest. “You’re suppose to say: ‘Got it memorized?’ not ‘Do you understand?’.” He smirks. “Got it memorized?”

Roxas frowns and pushes Axel’s arm off of his shoulders. “That’s your catch phrase, not mine.”

“I love you, Skylar!” A girl in the back of the restaurant yells out.

Demyx, who was making the water in his glass swirl around in the air, looses concentration at that yell and makes a strange noise in the back of his throat. Axel glances in the back and scowls when he sees who it is while Roxas smacks away Axel’s hand, which is creeping toward him. Skylar smirks and turns around, giving the girl a wink. “Love you too, Rikku!”

“Time to go?” Axel asks, rubbing his sore wrist.

Skylar nods. “Time to go. I’ll go find out waiter and tell him we want the pizza to go. You guys go on outside and wait for me before Roxas beats down any guy or girl who tries to touch him.” She gives Axel a look. “And you control your fire.”

Axel smiles innocently as they stand up and head out of Pizza World. “Now when have I ever--”

“Second grade.” Demyx interrupts, sea-green eyes sparkling mischievously. “We had the psycho pink-haired teacher who loved flowers and you decided it’d be fun to torch his hanging basket.”

“Just because I did that one time--”

“Third grade,” Skylar interrupts the pyro this time. “Social Studies class with the teacher who liked guns far more than is healthy. You got frustrated when he tried to make us memorize dates of wars and lit the textbook on fire and threw it at the teacher.” She rolls her eyes and waves down their waiter while the other three go outside to wait for her.

Outside, Roxas raises an eyebrow. “Why didn’t I hear about that one?”

“You were sick.” Demyx says. “And Skylar didn’t want you to make yourself worse by screaming yourself hoarse because of Axel.”

By now Axel is pretending to ignore them, fed up with their trip down memory lane that goes over the “few” times he lit things on fire at school.

Skylar walks out of the building with two boxes of pizza and three bags of breadsticks. “Did we mention the time in Fourth grade when--”

“Shut up!” Axel snaps.

Demyx and Skylar just laugh while Roxas rolls his eyes at their immaturity.

0-0-0-0

New Characters-

Rikku
Age: 16
Eye color: green
Hair color: blonde
Hair style: messy high ponytail with several braids and beads strung through it. A blue bandana covers her forhead back to her ponytail
She didn't even really come in this chapter, but she was briefly mentioned. She, Skylar, and Axel used to be good friends but something happened and she split apart from the two. Now she's frequently seen hanging out with her friends Yuna and Paine. She can't resist teasing Skylar sometimes, as the two are still on speaking terms.

Yuna
Age: 17
Eye color: blue-gray
Hair color: brown
Hair style: cut short in front but a red ribbon wraps around most of her hair down past her waist
Yuna will make an appearance later. She's one of Rikku's friends and doesn't really like Skylar and the rest of the crazy group all that well. She's not mean to them and she is polite and civil when she's around them, but she wouldn't make a point to go hang out with them. She's not very important to the plot though...

Paine
Age: 17 1/2
Eye color: dark amber
Hair color: gray-brown
Hair style: short and slightly spiked up
She'll also make an appearance later. She's another of Rikku's friends and like Yuna she doesn't really like Skylar and the rest of the crazy group. She's also not very important to the plot of this story.

0-0-0

Shiro: I just love writing about the little 'Hollow Bastion Miscreants'. Axel, Roxas, and Demyx are my absolute favorite Organization members. I got all upset when Roxas rejoined Sora and when I had to fight Demyx. And it broke my heart when Axel went and... and... (sniffles and then starts crying) I want my plushies!!! (runs off to find her nonexistant Axel, Roxas, and Demyx plushies)

Bast: Great.... Shiro forgot to say that the Rikku, Paine, and Yuna that are in this story aren't treasure-hunting fairy-things like they are in the game. They're human. And she also forgot to say that Rikku is her favorite.

Shiro: (pops up with a mountainload of plushies and a t-shirt with chibi Axel, Roxas, Demyx, Sora, and Riku on it in Halloweentown style) Hello.

Bast: What's with the t-shirt and plushies.

Shiro: (looks down at them) Oh... these?

Bast: Yes. Those.

Shiro: That's simple! These are things I don't have in real life but would love to have! Except maybe more than one t-shirt with the adorable chibi's on it. Man, I wish I could draw chibi's well. And that I had photoshop again. Then I could photoshop to my hearts content and make cute t-shirts! One of these days...

Bast: (rolls eyes)

Shiro: Hey! Don't make fun of the cute ones! (sticks out tongue)

Bast: Wouldn't dream of it.

Shiro: (goes back to cuddling plushies)