Warning: This chapter contains semi-graphical child molestation and cursing. If either of these make you squirm, I suggest you either skip part of this chapter or just leave. Thank you.

Chapter Four
I Am One of Those Melodramatic Fools

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Riku was at his locker pulling his books out for his first few classes when Kairi found him the next morning. Sora had already gone ahead to class insisting he needed help with their assignment from the previous day. Kairi approached Riku, leaning against the locker next to his.

“So what’s this brilliant master plan you have for Sora?” she asked casually. Riku jumped at the sound of her voice and banged his head inside his locker.

“Dammit, Kairi!” he swore loudly, pulling his head out of the metal cubicle. “Couldn’t you start with a hello like normal people?”

“Okay. Hey, Riku. So what’s this brilliant master plan you have for Sora?” Kairi repeated herself, pretending not to notice the glare present on her best friend’s face.

“I don’t have a brilliant master plan for Sora,” Riku replied, closing the locker and spinning the lock, shouldering his backpack.

“Well you said that there was something different about how you feel about him,” Kairi argued back.

“That’s because there is something different about it.”

“So…?”

“So what?”

“Riku!” Kairi exclaimed, stopping in front of the door so that Riku couldn’t pass by her. “I want to know what’s going on!” Riku frowned slightly, knowing that the redhead could be stubborn and that she wouldn’t give up anytime soon.

“Kairi, you act like I’m doing something wrong,” Riku pointed out, giving his younger friend a skeptical look. “Look, I don’t know how to explain everything that I’m thinking so can we just play ‘Let’s Analyze Riku’s Brain!’ later?”

“Can’t you try to explain it to me?”

“What is there to really explain?”

“What are you two arguing about?” The two teens looked to their left only to find Sora standing a few feet away, large blue eyes laced with confusion. They exchanged a quick glance before Riku reached out and draped an arm around Sora’s shoulders.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said, flashing the brunet a winning grin. Sora looked at Kairi for confirmation and decided not to pry when the red-head nodded in agreement.

“Okay…I guess.” He shrugged and pulled away from Riku’s hold. “Class is gonna start soon,” he changed the subject. Kairi moved out of the way and the trio filed into the classroom, taking their seats.

“So did you figure out what you were having problems with?” Kairi asked as she unclipped her bag, pulling out her binder for the class.

“No. Haramura wasn’t even here when I dropped by so I just said fuck it and left,” Sora snorted, slamming his own binder onto his desk. Riku and Kairi both raised an eyebrow and stared at the brunet. Sora stopped dropping things onto his desk and stared back. “What…?”

“Nothing,” Kairi answered immediately.

“…” Sora moved onto Riku and locked eyes with the silver-haired boy.

“I think what Kairi means is that we didn’t expect you to be somebody who would say fuck,” Riku explained.

“Oh. Sorry?”

“Don’t be. What are you having problems with though?”

“I.”

“…you’re having problems with yourself?” Riku gave him another skeptical look.

‘Yeah, amongst other things.’ Sora inwardly rolled his eyes.

“No, I the variable thingy. I don’t get what I’m supposed to do with it,” the brunet clarified.

“Well, maybe Riku can help. He’s good with math, aren’t you Riku?” Kairi said suddenly, giving Riku a stern stare.

“Oh…oh yeah! Really good.” Riku shifted in his seat and scooted closer to Sora. “So explain where you’re stuck.” It was then that Kairi decided to get up from her seat and head out into the hallway to wait for Selphie as the five-minute bell rang. She wasn’t waiting for long before the bouncy brunette appeared in front of her.

“Hey Kairi!” Selphie stopped in her path and stood in front of the taller girl, readjusting the strap of her bag.

“Morning, Selph. I’m surprised you’re not with Tidus.”

“He’s not in school today. Something about one of his siblings being sick or something. Doesn’t matter though, not like I can’t live without him. Hey, did you get anything out of Riku this morning?” Selphie changed the subject, causing Kairi to groan in frustration.

“Ugh, no. He’s refusing to tell me anything and he’s talking in circles and he’s just-“

“Being typical Riku?” Selphie cut her friend off.

“Yes! I don’t know what to do about it though,” Kairi sighed.

“Nothing?” Selphie suggested. Kairi gave her a flat look.

“Okay, you can’t honestly tell me that you don’t want to know what’s going on between those two.”

“Well of course I do but-“

“And I’m more worried about Riku scarring Sora even further even if he doesn’t mean to.”

“Yeah I know what you mean and-“

“And then we’re forgetting the fact that Sora’s living with me and Riku’s my best friend! Don’t I have a right to know what’s up?”

“Kairi!” Selphie finally shouted, snapping Kairi out of her rant. “Gosh, listen to yourself! I didn’t know you could be so nosy,” she said teasingly. Kairi scowled slightly and shrugged.

“Can you blame me though?”

“Not really, no,” Selphie agreed with her. “But try to tone it down a bit okay? Riku and Sora aren’t going to give you answers if you’re so persistent.”

“…I guess you’re right,” the redhead sighed in defeat. Selphie beamed up at her and nodded enthusiastically.

“See? No issues. I’m sure that when they’re ready one of them will tell you,” she assured her friend before opening the classroom door, dragging Kairi inside by the wrist.

“And if they don’t?”

“Then we beat it out of them.”

“Selphie!”

“Hehe, just kidding?” Kairi could tell that she wasn’t though. She grinned at the brunette as the two of them headed to their seats. Sitting on the right side of Kairi, Selphie leaned around the other girl to look to Kairi’s left where Riku was hovering over Sora, still instructing him on their assignment.

“You know though…they’re really cute together,” she whispered, regaining Kairi’s attention. Blue eyes fixated onto the pair before returning to her other friend.

“…I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I am.” Selphie nodded just as the one-minute bell rang. “Look, it won’t be long until either Riku or Sora cracks. And if they don’t, then we can corner Riku together and make him tell us.”

“You want to bully answers out of him no matter what, don’t you?”

“Maybe.” Selphie’s eyes shifted from side to side. Kairi giggled quietly as the final bell rang. Riku slipped back into his seat next to Kairi and gave her a wary look.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, causing both girls to giggle louder. Riku frowned slightly and rolled his eyes, turning to the front of the room as Mrs. Haramura entered.

‘And this is why I don’t like dating girls.’ He thought grudgingly to himself, returning his gaze back to Sora who was frantically scribbling down the last of his answers. ‘Now see, I bet Sora wouldn’t giggle like that. I bet he’d be calm and relaxed and…just less annoying.’ He drummed his fingers on the desktop, leaning his chin in the palm of his other hand. ‘Then again, he probably wouldn’t even talk.’ Riku huffed quietly. He wasn’t able to dwell on the thought though as class began, silencing both of the girls on his right and stopping the scribbling from Sora on his left.

“Morning class. Today we continue our lesson on the quadratic formula.”

‘And so begins another “exciting” day in the life of Riku Masaki.’ Riku rolled his eyes and pretended to start taking notes, not even noticing the pair of blue eyes watching him closely.

“Hey Riku have you seen Sora recently?” Without hitting his head this time, the silver-haired boy pulled his head out of his locker and caught sight of the girl to his left.

“I just left class actually. Why, did you lose him already?” he asked as he shut the locker. Kairi sighed and shrugged as the two of them began walking down the hall. Their lunch period had started ten, almost fifteen minutes ago, so the hallways were unusually empty.

“Well I was trying to pack up my stuff and he said he’d meet me in the cafeteria and shot out of the room before I could even object and I just went in there with Selphie and we couldn’t find him!” she exclaimed all in one breath, leaving Riku’s head spinning.

“So where’s Selph?”

“She’s in there waiting in case Sora’s trying to find us,” Kairi explained. Riku opened his mouth to reply but was soon cut off when somebody ran into him.

“Hey, watch it!” he said instead. The boy who had crashed into his back looked back and shrugged slightly.

“Sorry, Riku. There’s this huge fight going on down in the English hall and I don’t wanna miss it!” With that, the other boy turned and continued running again, leaving Kairi and Riku to exchange looks.

“…maybe Sora’s watching the fight? I mean, he’s told me about all of the fighting people do in Traverse Town,” Kairi suggested as she blew her bangs out of her eyes. Riku was already walking by the time she finished her sentence.

“Doesn’t hurt to look,” he replied and quickened his pace, leaving Kairi to practically run to keep up. The two teens made their way toward the English hall as more voices were heard and the commotion grew louder as they went. It didn’t take them long to find a gigantic group of students standing in a circle around the two people that were fighting. Kairi stood on her toes and jumped as high as she could in attempt to see over the crowd.

“I can’t see,” she stated the obvious. Riku opened his mouth to reply but yet again, he was cut off, this time by another voice.

“Don’t call me that, you fucking piece of trash!” Riku’s ears perked up and he scanned his mind quickly, trying to place the voice with the face.

“Oh yeah? And what if I do?” the other boy fighting taunted and the sound of fist meeting flesh was heard. Riku turned to ask Kairi about it but soon spotted his friend weaving her way through the crowd.

“Scuse me, move over, hey get out of my way!” she demanded as she pushed her way through, Riku following closely in her tracks. Suddenly the shorter girl stopped and Riku bumped into her, looking down.

“Kairi, what the hell did you stop for?”

“Oh. My. God,” was the only response he got. Riku looked up and at the two boys fighting in the center. On the ground was a boy that Riku recognized as a junior named Shinra and on top of him throwing wild punches was Sora. Riku felt his jaw drop slightly as he watched Sora throw punch after punch into Shinra’s face. Shinra attempted to sit up to defend himself, or maybe even to fight back but Sora wouldn’t allow it, making sure that his victim stayed down and blocking all shots Shinra tried to take.

Holy shit the kid could fight. Riku continued watching in fascination while his peers around him cheered the brunet on.

“Riku!” He suddenly felt someone slap him behind the head.

“Ow! What?” he jerked out of his trance and found himself face-to-face with Kairi. He almost forgot that she was even there.

“Do something!” she hissed, pointing at Sora who had just gotten decked in the eye by Shinra.

“All right, I will,” Riku sighed and jumped into the middle of the circle, slowly sneaking up behind Sora and grabbing the younger boy’s arm just as he hauled back. Blinking in surprise, Sora yanked on his arm in attempt to release it from Riku’s hold.

“Hey, lemme go!” he insisted, continuing to yank and tug. Riku grabbed the other arm as well and held the brunet firmly in place while Shinra remained on the floor.

“Sora do you realize how much trouble you’re going to get into?” Riku mumbled, jerking slightly every time Sora moved his arms.

“I don’t care, he deserved it!” he exclaimed just as the vice principal showed up, standing in between Shinra and Sora. Riku looked up and noticed that the crowd had dispersed other than Kairi and a few of Shinra’s friends who all started talking at the same time, describing how Sora had just launched at Shinra and attacked him for no reason while Sora shouted his defense.

“That’s enough!” the vice principal roared, silencing all of the boys. “You two, come with me. The rest of you, go back to lunch,” he instructed, grabbing Shinra and Sora both by the forearm and leading them to the office. Riku slowly stood up and made his way to Kairi, unsure of what to say.

“…what do you think that was all about?” he asked her as the pair made their way toward the cafeteria once again.

“I’m not sure but obviously it made Sora snap.” Kairi shrugged. “I suppose we can just ask later.”

“Yeah…I guess,” Riku agreed and the two teens entered the cafeteria, buying their lunches and heading toward a back table where Selphie sat with Naminé and Wakka.

“Hey guys, did you find Sora?” Selphie asked, looking up from her conversation with Naminé.

“Yeah but not soon enough,” Kairi replied and sat across from the brunette, opening her bottle of water.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that Sora got into a fight and now he’s up talking to the VP,” Riku filled her in, dropping his tray on the table and sitting between Kairi and Wakka.

“Then he’s in all sorts of trouble, yeah?” Wakka piped up.

“Probably…he bloodied up Shinra pretty bad before Riku pulled him off,” Kairi explained as she began poking at her lunch.

“Wow. Hope he doesn’t get it too deep,” Naminé added in with a low whistle.

“Guess we’ll find out. I still want to know what Shinra said to make Sora mad though,” Kairi said in return as she finally started eating instead of playing.

“Ask him later, I’m sure he’ll love to share,” Riku mumbled around his fries.

“Why don’t you ask him? Isn’t he in your fifth period?” Selphie pointed out.

“Yeah, I guess I could.”

“And then you could report it to the rest of us, okay? Okay good.” Kairi nodded before Riku could object. The bell rang just then, signaling the end of the lunch period and that the students had five minutes to get to their next class. Shoving a few more fries into his mouth, Riku stood up and grabbed his bag, soon followed by everyone else.

“Well, guess I’ll see ya all later,” he said and left, quickly making his way through the mass of other students. Kairi looked over to Selphie as the two girls kept walking and Naminé and Wakka left.

“What’s his deal?” Selphie asked, sipping the last of her soda before throwing the bottle away.

“Who’s?”

“Riku’s. I know Sora’s just adjusting.”

“Who knows. Riku’s got a lot on his mind, or so it seems,” Kairi answered, readjusting the strap of her shoulder bag.

“Maybe, but he’s acting a little strange.” Selphie frowned.

“If Riku gets what he wants, he’ll snap out of it in no time.”

“Sora?”

“Exactly.” Kairi nodded and led the other girl into their fourth period class, distracting her with a new subject.

By the time fifth period rolled around, rumors about the fight between Sora and Shinra were already spreading like wildfire.

“I heard that the new guy pulled a knife out on Shinra!”

“No way, it was a gun!”

“I heard they were fighting over a girl.”

“How stupid, that kid’s only been here for a few days. What girl would he have?”

“I heard that Shinra had to be sent to the hospital because he was almost beaten to death!”

“Dude, so that means that the other guy’s gonna get expelled! At least, that’s what I heard.”

“Man, he’s a weird kid anyway. I mean, he wears make-up. Five bucks says he’s a total flamer.”

Riku was slowly becoming agitated by all of the ridiculous stories and prayed that Sora wouldn’t have to listen to all of this. The green-eyed boy sank down into his seat in Mr. Lindholm’s class, idly listening to the rest of his peers chatter about the same subject; Sora. The classroom door opened then and everyone’s discussions came to a sudden halt, all eyes trained on the figure in the doorway. Riku looked up from his desk and looked at the door, spotting Sora standing there staring right back. The brunet stepped into the classroom and made his way over to Riku, not seeming affected by the flurry of whispers and suspicious glances he was receiving.

“Hey,” Sora greeted Riku as he dropped his bag onto the floor, sliding into his own seat and opening his backpack. “Why’s everybody staring at me?”

“Sora…everybody’s talking about you and what you did to Shinra,” Riku said slowly, shifting slightly in his seat.

“Oh, I see,” Sora replied airily, not even bothering to look up from his bag as he grabbed his binder.

“…that’s all you can say about it? ‘Oh, I see’? Sora, it’s not exactly a good thing what everybody’s been saying!”

“Who cares? I made my point and now everybody knows it.” Sora finally looked up.

“What point were you trying to make exactly?”

“That people shouldn’t mess with me.”

“Sora-“ Riku was soon cut off by the bell and Mr. Lindholm starting class.

“Today you are going to work on your projects. Grab your partner and start gathering your information. You can sit anywhere you want in the room and out in the hallway but you better be there when I go to check on you. Get to work!” Mr. Lindholm waved them off, finishing up his attendance and heading over to his computer to enter it in. Riku stood up and picked up his binder, glancing down at Sora who was starting to shift uncomfortably under everyone’s unblinking stares.

“Wanna go work in the hall?” he offered, extending a hand to the other boy. Sora grabbed onto Riku’s hand without hesitation and allowed himself to be dragged out into the hallway, not surprised that they were the only ones. He settled on the floor and looked at Riku expectantly. Riku sat across from him, opening his binder and tearing out a clean sheet of paper, closing the binder and setting the paper on top.

“Okay so the whole point of this project is to get to know you to compare you, I want to ask you a few things,” he said, looking up from his paper and locking his eyes onto the brunet.

“Such as?”

“Why did you beat the shit out of Shinra?” Riku wasted no time in asking what he wanted to know. Sora looked at the ceiling for a few moments, contemplating his answer.

“Because I didn’t like what he said,” he replied slowly, still looking at the ceiling.

“What’d he say?” Riku prodded, setting down his pen and focusing entirely on Sora.

“He called me something…”

“Like what?” Sora didn’t reply right away, laying on his back and still looking at the ceiling. “Sora?” Riku tried again.

“Not repeating it.”

“Sora, don’t be difficult.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” the brunet shouted, springing across the hallway and tackling Riku to the floor, pinning him down.

“Hey, calm down!” Riku exclaimed, flipping them over so that it was he who was pinning Sora. The brunet blinked in surprise and didn’t even thrash about as he looked up at Riku. Riku noticed that the blue-eyed boy wasn’t even attempting to move and slowly climbed off of him, allowing Sora to sit up. “What’s going on, Sora?”

“…what do you mean?”

“I mean what’s going through your head? Why’d you attack Shinra? Hell, why did you just tackle me?” Riku continued to interrogate the younger boy, never breaking eye contact.

“Because I have to make my mark,” Sora said as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

“…you have to do what now?” It was Riku’s turn to blink in surprise. Sora heaved a heavy sigh, twirling a lock of hair around his index finger.

“I have to make my mark, show people who’s boss, y’know? Need to let everybody know exactly who I am.”

“So you mean you have to set your reputation up right away,” Riku said slowly, trying his best to understand the other boy.

“I guess you could say that. It’s a dog-eat-dog world after all. I’d rather be one of the top dogs that eat the other dogs.” Sora nodded, leaning against the lockers behind him.

“Sora you don’t have to prove yourself.”

“I had to in Traverse Town. All of us had to; it was either prove you’re strong or get trampled on,” the brunet said airily.

‘Too bad I was one of those who got trampled on constantly.’ He added to himself, hiding a grimace.

“But you’re not in Traverse Town anymore; this is Destiny Islands where everybody’s pretty much relaxed and open to people.”

“Maybe. I’m just doing what I was taught, the whole ‘old habits die hard’ thing. I guess I’m no exception.”

“So what, you’re not willing to change?” Riku chided, leaning closer to the brunet. “Isn’t that the whole reason why you’re here on the islands, to change who you used to be?” Sora stayed quiet for a moment, biting on the inside of his cheek. On one hand, Riku was absolutely correct; he did want to change. On the other hand though, he didn’t want to admit that the older boy was right.

“He called me a faggot,” he mumbled, frown deepening. Riku’s ears perked up at the sound of Sora’s voice, waiting for the blue-eyed boy to elaborate.

“Who did?” he prodded once he realized Sora wasn’t going to continue.

“Shinra. He called me that, and I didn’t like it,” Sora said slowly, almost as though he had reached a revolution.

“Yeah but couldn’t you have just, I don’t know, ignored him instead of trying to beat the shit out of him?”

“I’m so sick of everyone calling me names and throwing insults.” Sora looked away from Riku’s eyes, staring down into his own lap. This time it was the silver-haired boy’s turn to be quiet, merely studying the complex boy in front of him. The boy who used to be a prostitute, the boy who wore eyeliner, the boy who was trying to make himself seem tougher than he was.

The boy who was still determined to survive. Riku set down his pen and binder then, merely looking at the boy.

“Did you get made fun of a lot in Traverse Town?” he asked gently, leaning his back against the lockers again. Sora shrugged, still refusing to look at the older boy.

“Does it matter?”

“Obviously it does if you reacted so violently to Shinra.”

“Heh, that wasn’t violent, Riku. Trust me, that was far from violent,” Sora mumbled under his breath. And yet, Riku still caught it, casting the younger boy another curious glance.

“Care to elaborate on that?” he asked gently, waiting for Sora to respond. He watched as two dark eyebrows furrowed and pale lips pursed together in thought, blue eyes glaring softly at the floor.

“You don’t deserve to know,” Sora responded, not knowing how Riku would take that. By the look in the other boy’s eyes, he had taken it the wrong way. “I mean, it’s not that you’re not worthy or whatever but…you just don’t need to know,” he continued hurriedly, hoping that Riku would just drop the subject.

“Is it really that terrible?” No such luck.

“Riku…I really don’t think we should be talking about this. I mean, it’s in the past. The whole point of me moving here was to forget my past and move on, wasn’t it?” Sora twisted Riku’s words from earlier, staring straight into the other’s eyes. Riku knew that the glare that Sora was giving him was probably meant to be intimidating, but he couldn’t help but to find it more adorable than anything.

‘It’s a shame that he’s hiding his eyes like that.’ Riku idly thought to himself, waiting patiently until Sora’s glare wore thin. The two of them stayed in that position for quite a few moments, the tanned boy glaring defiantly and the other calmly staring him down.

“Okay…so um…what do you like to do in your spare time?” Sora changed the subject, slowly backing down and retrieving his binder, drawing out a blank sheet of paper and a pen.

“Hey, I thought I was supposed to be doing the interviewing, not the other way around,” Riku interjected.

“Well you were interviewing me on stuff I really didn’t feel like discussing. Is that okay?” Sora looked up from underneath his lashes, stopping Riku from any and all arguments. Riku stayed quiet then, weighing his options carefully.

“Drawing…and training…and hanging out with my friends, just like every other teenager on the planet,” he answered, going with his second option. His first option had been to keep pushing the other boy until he cracked and somehow, Riku realized that that most likely wasn’t the best solution. He watched as Sora scrawled down this bit of information, leaning forward a bit to see what exactly the brunet was writing. He wasn’t able to make out the exact words, but he did see that the other boy’s handwriting was rough and block-like, almost childish even. He leaned back again and waited for Sora to continue.

“Your favorite color is green right?”

“Mmhmm.”

“And you like ice cream with your coffee?” Sora looked up from the paper, giving Riku a skeptical look.

“Of course. I’m glad you remember some of the stuff I told you yesterday” the green-eyed boy joked.

“Well technically, I remember all of it,” Sora replied, completely serious in his actions as he scribbled down Riku’s favorite movie and type of movie.

“Do you ever smile?”

“…what?” Sora was confused, but he should have been used to it by now. As far as he was concerned, nothing that the older boy said or did made sense at all.

“Do you ever smile?” Riku repeated his question, folding his arms over his chest and slouching against the lockers behind him.

“What kind of stupid question is that, Riku?”

The older male shrugged. “I’m just curious. I mean, I’ve rarely seen you smile at all and that’s really going to ruin your face when you get older.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“It takes more muscles to frown than it takes to smile. Proven fact, look it up on the internet when you get home,” Riku finished, waving a hand in the air to brush off the subject. Sora remained dumbfounded for a moment, giving Riku a rather blank stare.

“Well wouldn’t I need a reason to smile first?”

“Not necessarily. I mean, if you were really that picky, you could wait until you had a reason. Or, you can be like the rest of us who smile just because we’re happy and content,” Riku theorized, making sure not to break contact with the other boy.

‘Yeah, but what if you’re not happy and content, but merely getting there?’ Sora pondered quietly, tempted to look away from Riku, to just get up and walk back inside the classroom and never look at him again. In fact, that’s exactly what he was going to do. Without another word, Sora got to his feet and collected his things, dusting himself off and preparing to head back to class.

And yet, he found that he couldn’t turn away from Riku. It was the same effect that he had with Kairi; that inability to say no and walk away. He felt as though someone had placed flypaper on the floor when he wasn’t looking and that he was now officially stuck in place, rooted in one spot and unable to make a clean escape.

Or maybe he was just imagining things and just didn’t want to move. Yeah, that was probably it. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Riku’s aqua-colored gaze, noticing that Riku wasn’t moving to look away either.

‘This has been happening a lot lately.’ Sora brushed off of the thought and nodded.

“Sometimes I’m happy,” he said slowly. “Y’know, if that’s any consolation.”

“Well it doesn’t really matter to me. I mean, it does, but it’s more a matter of if you’re happy. You need to stop trying to please everybody, Sora. Focus on you for a while,” Riku advised, making no move to stop the boy from walking away. It was his words, however, that caused the brunet to forget all intentions he had before. He appeared thoughtful for a moment, musing over Riku’s words. Riku, on the other hand, inwardly smirked, knowing exactly what Sora was thinking. After all, he was well known for his persuasion and negotiation skills. Now all he had to do was wait.

“…do you really think so?” the blue-eyed boy asked uncertainly.

“Of course I do. Everyone’s entitled to be happy.” Riku shrugged.

“Even genuine fuck-ups?” Sora’s eyes fell downcast again. Riku nodded in response.

“Especially genuine fuck-ups.”

“What if they don’t deserve it though?”

“Why wouldn’t they deserve it?”

“Because they messed up big time. Some people just don’t deserve a second chance,” Sora spat out, glaring at the floor now instead of Riku. The older boy didn’t answer right away, taking the time to pick and choose his words carefully and study Sora.

‘So much self-hate for such a naïve person. Kai was right; he hasn’t fully forgiven himself yet.’ He frowned slightly, unwilling to believe that Sora was still beating himself up for something that had happened almost a year ago.

“…you’re right,” he said at last. “Some people just don’t deserve a second chance.” Sora’s expression faltered then, surprised that Riku had just agreed with him. “However, you’re not one of those people,” the silver-haired teen finished, successfully turning Sora’s words against him.

“But I-“ Sora stuttered out before Riku silenced him again.

“Need to realize that it wasn’t all your fault. Yes, it was partially your fault for going through with it, but obviously something happened to push you that far, something you couldn’t control. Am I getting close?”

“Er, I don’t really know it that’s any of your business,” Sora started to say but was once again cut off.

“Sora, listen to me. You’re not going to get better if you don’t start trusting people again. Look, I know it must be hard and that you’re probably still trying to pull it back together, but you can’t do it by yourself, okay? You need to let us in and make us understand what you’re going through so that we can make it better.”

“…who’s us though?”

“Me, the Haradas, Kairi, whoever. You can’t just keep everything inside or you’re going to explode or something.”

“I will not!” Sora’s head snapped up from the ground, once again locking his gaze onto Riku.

“Will too.”

“Stop trying to tell me how to live my life! You don’t know anything about me, or my past, or my life!” Sora was getting mad now, heading closer to the brink of ferocity and aggravation.

“Then tell me, Sora! Stop pushing me away!” Riku shouted back. If he could make Sora just a little more angry, he might get some answers.

“It doesn’t even matter though!”

“Obviously it does,” Riku snorted, glancing up at Sora through his bangs. The tanned boy clenched his fists at his sides, knuckles turning white and arms shaking slightly.

“You know what, Riku?”

“What?”

“Fuck you. Just….fuck off already,” he growled through clenched teeth, turning on his heel and stalking down the hall.

“Hey wait a second, where do you think you’re going?” Riku took this as his cue to get to his feet.

“The Harada’s house.”

“But what about school?”

“It doesn’t matter, I got suspended for a week anyway!”

“….for what?”

“Breaking Shinra’s face. Doesn’t mean I’m sorry though.” Sora reached the doors and pushed them open, storming out into the courtyard with Riku right on his heels.

“Sora wait a second. You can’t just keep running away from everything!”

“I’m not running away!” Sora all but screamed, preparing himself to do just that. However, he soon found that he couldn’t move as Riku clamped a hand down on his wrist, holding him in place. “Hey, let go!”

“No,” Riku said a bit too calmly. Sora struggled against Riku’s hold and continued pulling at his wrist, not succeeding in breaking Riku’s grip.

Silver hair hung in front of the older boy’s face as one strong hand held two tiny wrists in place above the brunet’s head. Try as Sora might, nothing could stop the roaming hand from caressing his chest, pinching his nipples and teasing the small nubs of flesh. Nothing could prevent that same hand lingering down further, ripping away his blue shorts and throwing them across the room, narrowly missing the video camera that was recording the entire display. Rough calloused fingers slid below the waistband of the child’s briefs, manhandling his pre-mature cock and brushing against his entrance. Sora attempted to squirm away, kicking against the older man and wriggling underneath him, screaming for his predator to stop touching him. The only thing he found was a sharp slap across the face from his older brother. Sora looked at him then, eyes widening in shock from the sudden display of betrayal and shrinking back as the other boy returned to his position behind the video camera. He couldn’t be sure if his brother was drunk or not, but it was better to pretend he was.

It was easier to accept what was happening if he believed that. Before he had more time to mull on the thought though, his brother’s companion yanked down Sora’s briefs, giving the little boy a cold stare before making a gag out of the article of clothing. Before Sora could even process what was happening, he felt a pair of lips press a kiss to his member, squirming at the foreign feeling and backing away. Every time he backed up though, he was brought back closer, engulfed even more in the older boy’s throat.

Sora knew that this was wrong; knew that it wasn’t supposed to be this way. But he also knew that he deserved it. After all, if he hadn’t broken his brother’s bottle of tequila, he wouldn’t be getting punished. Too tired to fight against his predator and unable to call out to Vincent, who still stood behind the camera, Sora gave in, telling himself over and over again that he deserved this.

“Sora? Hey, Sora!” Riku called to him, suddenly realizing that the other boy had completely blanked out and was staring into space, a horrified yet nostalgic look on his face. “Hey…” Riku tried again, moving a hand up to Sora’s shoulder. The younger boy jumped and pulled away from Riku’s grip, coming back down to earth.

“What? What exactly do you want from me?” Blue eyes paralyzed with fear blinked at Riku Riku couldn’t help but be confused all over again. Hadn’t Sora just been mad at him and ready to punch him out like he had Shinra? Now he was practically a quivering mess?

‘Talk about split-personality. Maybe he’s bipolar?’ He couldn’t help but think to himself. He tilted his head to the side a bit, as though that would help him decipher just what Sora was thinking.

“Nothing…just relax.” Riku realized that he had said the wrong thing as soon as Sora’s struggling began again.

“Let me go!” Sora wretched himself mostly free.

“Sora what’s happening here?”

“I said, let go!” But Riku didn’t let go. He grabbed onto Sora’s wrist and pulled him close. He never expected Sora’s weight to suddenly crash into him or for the younger boy to bury his face in his shoulder. It wasn’t long before warm tears began to soak into Riku’s shirt and the older boy sighed quietly, loosely wrapping his arms around Sora. He opened his mouth to say something but Sora beat him to it.

“How did your life turn out normal?” he mumbled, rubbing his face against Riku’s shoulder.

“How…what?”

“How did your life turn out normal?” Sora repeated, bringing his head up to look Riku in the eye.

“I don’t know?” Riku blinked in surprise.

“I want a normal life,” the brunet mumbled. “Is that so much to ask?”

“Of course not. That’s never too much to ask,” Riku replied. Sora sighed heavily and wiped at his eyes.

“Can I go to the Harada's now?” Riku slowly released the other boy, bringing his hands back to his sides.

“What’s stopping you?”

“…I’m not sure.”

“If you really want to leave, go ahead.” Riku slipped his hands into his pockets, keeping his eyes trained on the other boy. Sora bit down on the inside of his cheek, folding his arms over his chest. On one hand, he could easily walk back to the Harada house and hide for the rest of the day. On the other hand, he could stay here with Riku. He could trust Riku right? Riku had given him no reason not to trust him anyway. Maybe Riku was safe.

“…I guess I’ll see you around then,” he mumbled, turning around and walking away. He could already hear his conscience now, screaming at him to stay where he was and stop being a chicken. But Sora didn’t listen. Instead, he crossed the courtyard and disappeared through the doors, stepping out to the street and walking away from the front of the school. Shaking his head in disgust, he broke into a run, racing back to the Harada's house and running away from what was happening. However, no matter how fast he ran or how far he got, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of Riku’s touch or the small spark that came from it.

Much to Sora’s surprise, the Harada's weren’t that angered by his suspension from school. According to their story, the principal had called Kenta at the office and explained the situation. Even though Sora was a special case, the school had to punish him accordingly so that the other students didn’t think he was getting away with his actions. He was suspended for the rest of the week and the following week as well. Kairi chose not to say anything on the manner and let her parents take care of the situation, only mentioning that she would bring Sora’s homework to him so that he didn’t fall behind. It was decided that Sora would be all right alone in the house until three in the afternoon when Kairi would return. Until then, he would do his share of household chores to make up for fighting in the first place.

The first two days of this system ran smoothly. Sora would clean the house up from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, proceeding to move onto his homework to hand into Kairi who in turn would turn it in. However, by the time Monday rolled around, Sora had completed every chore on Hitari’s list and he still had one more week of a suspension left.

“Sora, what are you going to do all week?” Kairi asked as the two sat at the kitchen counter, Kairi eating her toast and Sora flipping through the morning paper.

“I don’t know really. Do some extra reading for my English class most likely, maybe organize your father’s office…something,” he explained, setting the paper down and heading over to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of orange juice.

“All week?”

“Looks that way, yeah.” Sora grabbed a glass from the cabinet above him and poured himself some juice, slowly sipping it while putting the bottle away.

“Won’t you be bored?” Kairi wiped her hands clean of crumbs and slid off of her chair.

“Maybe. Don’t worry about me, Kai. I’ll find something to do.” Sora gave her a reassuring grin and handed the redhead her shoulder bag. “You just go to school and have fun.”

“Okay…I’ll be home at three, like always,” she reminded him, heading for the front door.

“Yes I remember. Just go,” he said with a small teasing grin, lightly pushing her out of the house.

“Okay, okay, I’m going. See ya later!” Kairi waved over her shoulder and headed out of the house, making her way toward the school. No sooner than Kairi left Hitari and Kenta appeared on the stairwell.

“Bye, Sora! We’ll be home at our usual times!” Hitari pressed a kiss to the top of Sora’s head, a habit that she had picked up over the last few days. The brunet didn’t really mind though; it was better than Vincent’s goodbyes.

“Be good.” Kenta always gave him the same advice day in and day out. Granted, the older man did trust Sora in his household, but he dutifully repeated himself daily.

“I will, you two go have a good day.” Sora waved them off, watching as the Haradas left the house, got into their cars, and drove off toward town. The blue-eyed boy shut the door and glanced at the clock. It was only 7:30 in the morning.

“Day one of infinite boredom,” he said to himself, turning around and making his way back to the kitchen. He killed a bit of time by doing the dishes and sweeping the kitchen floor, putting things in their designated cabinets and washing the windows. From there he moved on to the living room, straightening up the coffee table, washing the windows in that room, and vacuuming the floor. It was 10:30 by the time he was ready to go upstairs.

“Maybe I could take a nap or something,” he said through a yawn and made his way toward the stairs. He didn’t get very far though before the doorbell rang. Raising an eyebrow, Sora glanced at the clock to make sure that it was indeed only 10:30 am.

“Who the hell would be here at this time of day?” Sora shuffled toward the front door and flung it open.

“Hi,” Riku greeted him from the other side of the door. Sora blinked once, twice, and again a third time before he found his voice again.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” he questioned the taller boy. Riku shrugged and sauntered into the house past Sora.

“Maybe.”

“So…why’re you here?” Sora followed Riku into the living room, sitting on the couch next to the other boy (but not too close mind you).

“Well see, it’s a funny story,” Riku started out, stretching out. “See I have this project in my English class that’s due in about two weeks but you know, I can’t really get anything done when my partner’s on suspension.” He grinned.

“So what, you decided to cut class to come over here and work on our project? I’m not buying that.” Sora raised an eyebrow, staring at the older boy.

“Okay so school’s a drag, you know that. My mom doesn’t really care if I cut class as long as I stay on top of everything. But we really do need to work on our project don’t you think?”

“Why couldn’t you have waited until after school to come over?”

“So that Kairi wouldn’t interrupt, duh,” Riku replied. Sora gave him a skeptical look, tilting his head to the side. Riku had an excellent point, he had to agree. Besides, the silver-haired boy had already made himself comfortable. It didn’t seem like he was going to leave anytime soon.

“Okay so maybe you have a point,” he reluctantly admitted. Riku grinned triumphantly and unzipped his backpack that was on the floor, grabbing his notebook and a pen.

“Great because it’s your turn to get interviewed,” he declared and opened the notebook to a new page.

“There’s no way around this, is there?” Sora curled his legs up under him.

“Nope, unless you want to fail Lindholm’s class which I doubt you do. He’s one of the hardest teachers in the entire department.” Riku looked at him calmly. “So, which will it be?” Sora inwardly groaned. The last thing he needed was to get into more trouble. He didn’t want the Haradas to be disappointed in him and possibly send him back to Traverse Town. He definitely didn’t want that.

‘But then again, I don’t exactly have to tell Riku the whole truth. Maybe I can just give him the facts, no little details. Yeah, sounds good.’ Sora nodded in confirmation. He shifted again into a more comfortable position and faced Riku.

“So, what do you want to know?” he asked casually, despite the fact that his insides were squirming like mad. Riku looked down at his notebook, glancing at the notes he had written in the margins.

“Well…your name is Sora Tanaka. You’re 16, your favorite color is blue, and you’re working to change your life. That’s all I have so far.” Riku looked up at Sora again. “So, now for your family.”

‘Family? Shit! Just remember, Sora, no details. No details, no details, no details.’ Sora gnawed on his lip.

“…my family?” Sora repeated. “Like…what about them?”

“The basic stuff. Mom’s name?”

“Quistis.”

“Father’s name?” Sora fell quiet then.

“If I knew…I’d tell you.” He merely shrugged. Riku looked up from his paper again.

“You don’t know your father’s name?”

“Riku, I don’t even know my father,” Sora said flatly. “He left before I was born.”

“…I’m sorry.” Riku blinked, unsure of what else to say.

“Don’t be. That was probably one of the better things in life.” Sora shrugged, looking up at the ceiling.

“…define better,” Riku said cautiously. Sora sighed and looked back at Riku.

‘Well, he asked for it.’

“My mom committed suicide right after I was born, my dad wasn’t around, my older brother is in jail for murdering our neighbor in broad daylight, my other brother is a bipolar alcoholic, my cousins are gangsters and in mental asylums, my uncle is a drug dealer and um, yeah, that’s it,” Sora finished, watching in slight satisfaction as Riku’s expression changed from calm to overwhelmed.

“…jeeze. So who raised you?”

“Well for a while, my uncle did….not the drug dealer,” he corrected himself quickly. “A normal uncle. And then as soon as my oldest brother turned 16, we moved out and my brothers raised me.”

“What’s the age difference between you guys?”

“Eight years between me and Vincent, about two and a half between me and Laguna.”

“Wow…” Riku didn’t bother writing all of this information down, half out of guilt and half out of fascination by Sora’s story. “…so why did you do it?” he asked his next question.

“Do what?”

“You know…your past work experience.” Sora’s eyes flickered briefly but he stayed strong. Baralai had always said that talking about his life would do him some good.

“Truthfully? I needed the money.”

“That badly?”

“…we weren’t exactly well off. Vincent needed money to help pay for the bills so…I volunteered to help,” Sora trailed off.

“By being a prostitute? Couldn’t you have just gotten a job at McDonalds like other kids?”

“Riku, have you ever been to Traverse Town?” Sora changed the subject suddenly.

“…can’t say I have.”

“Yeah okay, we don’t have a McDonalds. We have little shops and a red light district.”

“A what?”

“A zone for bars and hookers. I wasn’t old enough to get a real job, so yeah…”

“And you’re old enough to be a prostitute?”

“Well…nobody knew the wiser.” Sora shrugged.

“Incredible,” Riku breathed out, taking in the boy before him. Sure, it was incredible that people in Traverse Town were so twisted, but even moreso that Sora had survived. “…so how did you get here?”

“I got arrested,” he stated instantly, almost as though he had been trained to answer right away.

“How?”

“Cop posed as a customer and arrested me for being underage. They sent me to rehab for about six months, I lived with one of the police chiefs for another five months, and then they found the Haradas so here I am!” Sora finished off. Riku couldn’t do much more than shake his head.

“They sent you here to get better…”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Is it working?” Sora’s gaze came down from the ceiling, drifting over to Riku and staying there. Before he even realized it, a small smile crossed his lips.

“Yeah…I really think it is.” His smile grew wider. Riku’s eyes widened in amazement and he smiled back.

“Good.” He nodded and returned to his notebook. “So, what’s your favorite thing about the islands so far?”

Kairi opened her front door at exactly three that afternoon, shutting it behind her and kicking off her shoes. She opened her mouth to call out to Sora but soon heard a laugh from the living room. She quietly padded through the front hall, stopping behind the couch when she saw two figures sitting there.

‘What’s Riku doing here?’ she thought to herself and scooted back, hiding behind the wall of the hallway.

“No way! That’s crazy!” Sora exclaimed, still giggling slightly.

“No really, it’s true! One of the scariest things I’ve done in my entire life,” Riku declared, taking a drink from the can of soda in his hand.

“Well yeah, jumping off of a 60 foot cliff would be kind of scary.” Sora shook his head. “Psycho.”

“You should come with us sometime, you’d like it,” Riku suggested. Blue eyes widened at the mere idea.

“No way! I’d chicken out or something, I swear. I’m not a very good swimmer besides…”

“So I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun, you’ll see.” Riku shrugged. Kairi leaned forward again, attempting to see what was going on in her living room without revealing herself.

“…does the water get cold here?” Sora questioned, digging into a bag of chips and eating a handful.

“Not very cold, no. It’s warm enough to go skinny-dipping though!” Riku chirped and as Sora’s eyes widened even further, Kairi lost her balance and toppled onto the ground. Both boys looked behind them and down at the redhead on the floor.

“Oh hey Kai, when’d you get home?” Sora asked, immediately standing up and collecting the trash he and Riku had left everywhere.

“Just a few minutes ago,” Kairi replied and scrambled to her feet. “What have you two been doing?” She gave Riku a pointed glance, clearly saying ‘we’re talking about this later’.

“Just working on our report,” Riku answered and held up his notebook, showing his best friend the few pages of notes.

“Oh…I see.” Kairi nodded. Riku stood up as well, gathering his belongings and packing up his bag.

“But, I should probably go, explain to my mom why I skipped school before the school gets a hold of her first.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder and grinned. “I’ll talk to you later all right?” Riku gave her that look, the one that said he’d talk to her as soon as he got home. Kairi nodded in agreement and ushered Riku to the door.

“Sure thing. See ya, Riku.” Kairi waved her goodbye and disappeared toward the kitchen.

“Bye Sora!” Riku called over his shoulder. The brunet poked his head out of the kitchen and grinned, waving goodbye as well.

“See you tomorrow!” Sora returned and turned, resuming the task at hand. With that, the green-eyed boy left the Harada house, heading to his own. Kairi instantly turned to Sora, who was busy throwing trash away and washing dishes.

“So what was that all about?” she jumped right into the conversation, barely giving Sora time to react. He shrugged and put a few glasses into the dishwasher.

“Riku came over this morning, we talked, got to know each other a little bit better, you know, all of that fun stuff,” Sora explained, turning around and leaning his back against the counter and facing Kairi.

“So…do you like him a little better?” Kairi questioned, feeling a little better about the situation.

“He’s…” Sora trailed off, another smile growing.

“He’s…?” Kairi repeated, urging Sora to continue.

“Amazing. To put it simply.”

“You think Riku’s amazing?” Kairi couldn’t believe what she was hearing. In a manner of six days, Riku had gone from being weird to being amazing.

‘What on earth did I miss here? Have these two really connected?’ She couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard she tried.

“Mmhmm. He’s got such a great story to tell and he’s just…fascinating. Plain and simple.” That smile wouldn’t leave Sora’s face as he crossed the room, heading toward the stairs. “Did you bring me my homework?” he diverted Kairi’s attention.

“Oh, yeah sure.” Kairi retrieved her bag and pulled out a blue folder stuffed with papers. “That should be everything.”

“Great, I’m going to go get started!” He snatched the folder and bolted up the stairs, a small bounce in his step. “Call me when dinner’s ready!”

And that is when Kairi realized that she wasn’t getting the whole story. As soon as she heard Sora shut his bedroom door, she raced upstairs as well, settling herself in the office on her computer and signing into her instant messenger. This time, she didn’t even have to wait for Riku to show up; he was already online. She quickly typed him a message and sent it, hoping he was actually there.

Okay so why did you cut school today? Kairi sent her message and waited. A few minutes passed by and she was almost sure that Riku wasn’t even aware he was signed in until he messaged her back.

What do you mean?

Why’d you ditch class? You rarely cut school.

Because I needed to talk to Sora for our project.

Couldn’t you have waited until he was back in school or something?

I could have, but I actually got a lot more out of him at your house than I would have at school. Which you know, helped me out tons since I need as much information as I can get.

Why did he give you more information outside of school?

Probably because he was more comfortable and I had caught him off-guard.

So what exactly did he tell you?

About his family. God they sound horrible.

Yeah…they do. I’m surprised he told you though, to tell you the truth. He’s not the most open person in the world if you catch my drift.

Well, I have my ways. Besides, as soon as I got that out of the way we started talking about other stuff. Did you know that he skateboards?

No…I didn’t know that.

Mmhmm, and he was raised by an uncle until he was about eight years old and his favorite scent in the world is vanilla.

Sounds like you two had an interesting morning/afternoon.

It was…he’s so incredible.

That’s funny…he said that you’re amazing.

Amazing huh?

Yep. You’ve definitely got his attention now.

Then my work’s all cut out for me.

Wait what?

Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about.

…but what if I want to worry my pretty little head about it?

You shouldn’t. Trust me, I won’t hurt Sora, I won’t use him, it’s all for the good of mankind!

Mankind huh?

…I gotta pee.

Riku!

Automessage from SarcasticShadow: I’m away and you can’t stop me!

“Darn him!” Kairi huffed and slumped down in her chair. She didn’t like being out of the loop. Normally it wouldn’t have bothered her, but this was a special case. She was determined once again to find out exactly what Riku was planning. Besides, maybe she could help him out. With a small sigh, she signed out of her messenger and got out of the chair, heading back to her bedroom to start her own homework.

‘Tomorrow Sora will still be suspended. That means I can con Riku into sharing his brilliant plans. I wonder if he even needs them now.’

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Ugh, I feel awful for writing Sora's flashback, but even more awful knowing that people like that really do exist and that kids out there really are being abused like that. It's not a pretty subject and it wasn't easy writing it, but it had to be done. On a lighter note, thank you to everybody who's stuck with me so far! Sorry for the long time between updates. I'm officially at college and I was stuck on part of this chapter for quite a while but I'm back!

Special thanks to: koneko-2005, StormDarkblade, yuffiegal, Sweet Sere, Dark-lil-devil, Areya, Shinimegami7, Dreamcrafter, Dodongo, Darkness-heart, Tysonkaiexperiment, Shadowbolt the Demon, Emu, SAI-sweet and innocent, Raine Mizuki, neo, lilmizzrebel31, xlittlexrayxofxsunshinex, Hitoshirezu-Battleground, Dustin, Mystery Reviewer, Demolition Lovers, CrimsonRose18, Alchemistflame, HOMIGAWD'! IT'S TEH' PREP, Talia, Envysloyalservant, JaDeD with ScArS, BloodMistress, Circe, Soorim, Totally-Out-Of-It, Sekre, simplicity1love, Ice Dragon3, r e d m u s h r o o m s, Deaths pet fox, blitzdragon, and Hakumei Mikomi. You guys make my day when you review, really. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

And as usual, thank you April for betaing this. It is now two am.