Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Only in Dreams ❯ On the Beach ( Chapter 1 )

AoS: Alright, I've been planning this fic out for a while; let's hope it doesn't suck too bad, since it's the first Kingdom Hearts fic I've ever written … ^^'' Shounen-ai, as always - I'm not even sure I'm going to put a lemon in, unless people ask for it … ^.~ Anyways, let's see how this turns out - on to the fic! ^_^!

 

Chapter 1: On the Beach

 

Blue eyes that once sparkled so brightly as to put the sun and stars to shame blinked softly; had he fallen asleep on the beach again? Though, who could blame him? The warm sun beating down so that it was just comfortable in the shade of the palm tree he was lounged under, cradled in the soft sand of the beach as a cool breeze played with his spikey brown locks.

 

Sora looked out across the impossibly cerulean waves that lapped at the shore, watching the water idly; how long had it been since he had found himself back on the island? Three … Four months? He had lost count really. A sigh broke past his lazy lips; it wasn't like it really mattered anyway. Ever since he had returned, there had been no true joy in his face. Of course, Kairi had wept, actually knocking him over when she had first seen him so that they had both fallen into the sand and subsequently gotten soaked. His parents, Tidus, Wakka, - they had all cried, all been so happy to see him. Sora had, of course, returned the sentiment, and gladly so. But, after the slightly numbing euphoria of returning to the islands receded, he realized -

 

Something is missing.

 

And it didn't' take him too long to figure out what after he asked Kairi if Riku had ever returned. At first, she tried to change the subject - for a good month or so, she had deterred the question, and finally, Sora had gotten his answer - and in turn, contracted a slightly bitter resentment for one of his two closest friends. Kairi had said that Riku hadn't returned, and that she had given up on him coming back; she tried not to think about him. Sora had been all but stunned at these words. She was upset that Riku hadn't come back - fine; so you scream, you cry, be angry, be sad, be aloof, be something - but you don't try to forget, as if nothing had ever happened. Why would you do something like that? No matter how much it hurt to remember that Riku was gone, Sora was sure it would hurt the boy more if he knew you were acting as if he never existed.

 

Hurt Riku more?

 

Sora loosely clasped his arms around his knees, setting his chin on top of them. How could anyone hurt Riku more than he had? It was his fault that the older boy could never return home. He had condemned his best friend to a fate worse than death the moment he had closed the doors to Kingdom Hearts and left Riku on the side bathed in darkness.

 

He had stopped asking Kairi about Riku and why she was trying to forget him after a few weeks; he didn't even bring up the boy's name in conversation anymore. It upset her to the point of tears the last time he had said their friend's name, and Sora didn't want to cause her any more pain on his account, and he really couldn't stay angry at her for trying to act as if Riku never existed. Kairi hurt because of it, and it was her way of trying to cope with the pain; that Sora understood - he just didn't agree with her method. Unfortunately, they were never going to be able to be as close as they were before the heartless infested Destiny Islands because of it.

 

But just because he didn't talk about Riku didn't mean that he didn't think about him.

 

Riku.

 

Sora's parents had moved to the city outside of the island before he had returned, but still owned the home on the island that he had always known. The brunette tended to stay there, albeit alone, because he couldn't bring himself to leave it. And, should he have had no place to go, no place to be alone, he might've gone insane behind the impossibly fake smile that always graced his features whenever someone else was around. He wouldn't have been able to punch walls and throw things and run and scream and finally collapse, completely exhausted, and cry. Just break down on the floor and sob until he couldn't breathe - couldn't do anything but lay on the floor, shaking, quivering, gulping in air. He had fallen asleep that way a few times, waking up stiff on the cold, unforgiving ground of the little house, stiff, cheeks coated with salt from his tears.

 

Eyes no longer clouded with sleep stared dull and lifeless, the soft touch of remorse flickering behind them, not seeing the ocean for it's perfect beauty on that mid afternoon. Kairi came to island less and less now, and Sora refused to leave it really, unless he had no choice; it was his home. It was where he had once been the happiest, and at the same time, where he was the most miserable, because he remembered those good times, when he, Riku, and eventually Kairi had played in the sand and surf.

 

But, thoughts like that were almost a betrayal; he blamed himself for the fact that Riku wasn't there, and he was most likely never coming back - if he had looked for Riku first, had agreed to travel with Riku and just look for Kairi, if he hadn't bothered trying to play hero and `save the worlds' … The brunette bit his lip, eyes narrowing slightly. What ifs didn't matter anymore though, so why waste the effort of thinking them?

 

Blinking once or twice, his eyes were starting to water (though he tried to convince himself that it was because he hadn't blinked in a minute or so), clouded blue orbs flickering down the beach to his left, and then to the right absently. He was about to look straight ahead again, but paused; there was a … pretty good sized shadow over in the shallows, near a few rocks underneath the tree house that he and the other kids played on when they were younger. Sora's eyes narrowed slightly, the sun was currently in such a position that a shadow shouldn't have been cast there from the rocks - in fact, looking again, he saw that the rock's shadows were stretching across the beach, on the sand slowly. They were no where near the water.

 

What is that ……? He thought in mild confusion as he stood up slowly, dusting off his shorts. The brunette of course had nothing better to do than think depressing thoughts, so this would be a nice change of pace for him, for all of what he estimated would probably be a minute or two, until he figured out what exactly that shape was. The first thing that actually came to mind was a heartless, but they were gone from this place, ever since Kingdom Hearts had been sealed, so, he quickly tossed out that idea; it was just a reflex from fighting in the dark for so long …

 

The sand was hot against his bare feet, but Sora ignored it as he relatively loped across the beach, absently rolling his shoulders to stretch them as he walked; he couldn't for the life of him figure out what the shape was - the closer he got, the bigger it got, and he couldn't place it with anything except drift wood maybe. But, it was too thick, and oddly shaped, for it to be drift wood, and especially that dark - it was completely black. Continuing to walk closer and closer, Sora paused for a moment, brow furrowing slightly … … You know, it was funny; the shape almost looked like a -

 

Person.

 

 

 

… …

 

 

That was the only thought he needed as he sprinted towards the water, making it to the floating shape in half a second, clothing immediately becoming heavy with briny liquid - but he ignored it. The black was what almost looked like a cloud of waterlogged fabric, but it was definitely a person; Sora knew that as soon as he got in the water - he could see the shape better; being closer made the `shadow' clearer. Taking hold of the black tentatively, he faltered for a moment before managing to pull it back a few inches.

 

Silver.

 

(Relatively) Short, silver hair.

 

For a moment, Sora couldn't function correctly, his breathing completely coming to a halt before he quickly took hold of what he could, pulling as best he could to get the form onto the shore, struggling with the heavy fabric that was starting to weigh the person down. However, the brunette managed to get the other onto the beach and turned over, though slightly more tangled in the fabric than they both had been previously. Pulling at the black cloth that slipped through his fingers, slick with water, it took a few moments before he was able to pull it back and away from this person's face, and when he did, Sora literally fell backwards onto the sand, blue eyes blinking wide and in more than slightly mild shock.

 

It was Riku.

 

To be Continued …

 

AoS: Was it any good? R'n'R while I go start the next chapter ^_^!