Riku stared silently at Sora for several moments. "You forgot your coat?" He repeated, sounding almost offended. Sora gulped nervously, averting his gaze.
"Umm, yeah. Kinda." He mumbled quietly. He looked away from Riku again and fidgeted a little before continuing. "Anyway..." He sighed. "I can go grab it for you. Or you can wait until we get to the Twilight Town."
Riku scowled darkly. "Why the hell do you care where I put my coat?"
"I just figured you might need it. You have your Keyblade and all…"
"So? That doesn' exactly make me immune to cold weather!"
"I guess not… But I'm sure you'll be warmer than me anyways."
"If you insist."
Sora chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck anxiously. "Okay then. It shouldn't take me too long." He began to stand, turning toward the door, but Riku stood abruptly as well and placed a heavy hand on his arm to stop him.
"Wait a minute," he snapped, pulling on Sora' s arm so that he sat back down in his seat. Sora jerked slightly in surprise. "We're not done talking yet." Riku began to speak again before he could say anything. "First of all, how do you expect us to trust this Organization kid? You heard what he said right? About Kairi? He's been working against us since the beginning." Sora glanced downward and frowned softly.
"Yeah…" he admitted quietly. "That's true…" His voice trailed off as his gaze lowered once more.
"Second, who the hell isMinato Matsumoto anyway? And third, and most importantly, how are we supposed to know that this isn't just some trick to get our guard down and sneak us all off on some kind of wild goose chase? If he does have any ill intentions, we're not getting involved. Got it?" Riku stated bluntly. Sora's expression fell flat, his lips parting slightly in realization. "So, if I hear one more 'yes, Sir' or 'no, Sir' from you, I' m going to knock you unconscious myself and drag your sorry ass over to the hospital myself." He finished pointedly. After a few seconds of silence, a slight smile appeared on Sora's face.
"You really are a real pain in my butt sometimes…" he teased. Riku smirked.
"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Better pay attention, 'cause if you say 'yes, Sir', I'll kick your ass without even breaking a sweat." Sora snickered at the threatening glare he received before shrugging innocently and returning his attention back toward the door leading outside.
/~/~/~/
A couple minutes later the two boys were standing together in the doorway staring out at the vast crowd, their eyes roaming the sea of people surrounding them. They weren't wearing very many clothes aside from the coats they wore when they walked through town, and most people were bundled in a variety of clothing that ranged from warm jackets to thick sweaters to thick pants. There were many children dressed in nothing more than short rags and torn shoes. The men and women, however, looked to be mostly clothed simply in trousers and long sleeved shirts. A few were barefoot. Some even wore boots. Most seemed rather indifferent to the whole situation however, walking aimlessly, their heads hung low.
A group of girls and boys, however, stared at Sora and Riku with curiosity, a look of curiosity clearly evident in their eyes. "Who are those guys?" One girl whispered quietly to her friend.
"Those guys?" Another girl replied. "They don't look like any kids I've seen here." Her companion giggled.
"Probably thieves, I bet…" she mused. She looked around the marketplace and narrowed her eyes. "How'd they get past the guards anyways?" Her companion turned to glance over at the guards and grinned. "Hey! Hey! Over here! Get over here!" She cried. Immediately the crowd parted as several large men and woman made their way over, pushing each other roughly aside in order to reach the girls and boys.
Riku watched, growing curious, as three men, who were carrying large bags and looking rather dishevelled compared to everyone else, came through the crowds and stopped before the girls, who immediately burst into giggles when they saw them. The boy's cheeks flushed red and he cleared his throat loudly.
"Hm... Hello. Are these your new friends?" He questioned curiously, looking between Riku and Sora. He blinked once before nodding. "They appear to be." He muttered, looking at them suspiciously for several more minutes. Suddenly, however, his eyes lit up in excitement and he turned to Sora excitedly. "Do you remember me telling you about a guy named Tomura Kanesada?"
Sora frowned slightly and furrowed his eyebrows uncertainly. "Um... I dunno. Should I?" Tomura frowned slightly and scratched the side of his cheek with his index finger. After a brief moment of hesitation he finally nodded again, seemingly satisfied with Sora's answer.
"Well, he's been causing trouble all across Twilight Town lately. You know, trying to destroy everything." He explained. "He also has connections to Dark Xehanort and Sora's grandfather." Sora stiffened at the mention of his grandfather. "But there's nothing I can do since he seems to be working alone."
Sora clenched his fists tightly, taking deep breaths through his nose before speaking. "Can you give me his address?"
Tomura frowned, glancing over at Riku. "I'm sorry. We don't have enough information on this man to risk sending you to him-" Riku rolled his eyes.
"Are you serious?! We barely know anything about this guy!"
"-and besides, Kanesada is a dangerous criminal. We would never agree to allow Sora to go to him-"
"-he's a Keybearer!" Riku argued, cutting him off with a loud sigh. "If you guys are worried about his safety, you should just bring him along."
Sora glared up at him. "I thought we agreed that we weren' t going to discuss this anymore." He huffed. Riku scoffed.
"Oh yes. Because that worked out so well in the end. How about we start this over, Sora? Let's pretend we never met. Let's go back to ignoring each other, alright?"
"... okay."
Riku smirked triumphantly. Sora groaned quietly.
"What? Is he not good enough for you? Fine, be that way. We both knew this wouldn't work anyway!" He growled angrily.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Riku spat defensively.
"It means that we're not friends, Riku. This whole time I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to feel bad or something. And because you were always acting so stupid! Always making such big plans without actually doing anything! But I think we both know what happened last time you went somewhere without me. Remember? You got kidnapped and almost killed. So stop pretending we could ever be friends. Ever. Okay?" Riku swallowed hard, frowning.
"... I wasn't acting stupid…" he insisted stubbornly. Sora shook his head, his expression softening.
"You weren't? Then tell me. Tell me why." He pleaded softly. "Why did you ask me to come? You know that I hate going places like this. I wish you would have taken someone else. Someone I knew."
Riku was quiet for a few moments before sighing and looking away from his friend.
"...I didn't know who else to go with." He mumbled quietly. Sora' s brow rose in surprise. "Look, I know I'm probably not the smartest person in the world. But I had no idea where else I could go. No one wanted to go to Twilight Town with me or even talk to me! At least here I had someone I could trust, ya know? Someone who actually cared about me for once. Someone I could tell everything to…" he admitted reluctantly. His eyes slowly grew distant as he stared ahead blankly.
"No one understands me…not even myself..." He muttered softly.
"…Riku…" Sora murmured sadly. "…I'm sorry…this isn' t how I wanted things to go. Not at all. I guess it just hasn't quite sunk in yet…." A sudden rush of wind hit them then, and all three froze as a tall shadow passed over them. A second passed before two figures appeared. The tallest one was dressed entirely in black with a hood covering his face.
/~/~/~/
The shadow's footsteps echoed sharply in the empty darkness of the empty castle room as he strode forward with determined steps. He stopped at the foot of the throne and knelt in front of the figure seated upon it. The King of Light regarded the kneeling Shadow, his dark eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he took in the sight before him. Finally, the Shadow lifted his head and removed his hood, revealing the handsome features of Riku, whom sat beside him. The King smiled and leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs lazily.
"Riku." He greeted cheerfully. "Did you miss me?"
Chapter 3
Riku remained silent, not answering the question. Instead, he stood up and began pacing back and forth across the floor, his hands clasped behind his back. The King of Light chuckled lightly and waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't worry, Riku. I won't hurt you. I promise." He assured. Riku continued to pace silently for several minutes before stopping abruptly and turning to face the older man with narrowed, determined eyes.
"What do you want, Your Majesty?" He asked coldly. The King of Light tilted his head to the side, feigning confusion.
"Want? Why, only to see my favorite son reunited with the love of his life!" He exclaimed proudly. Riku raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"And…how exactly do you plan to accomplish this?"
The King of Light shrugged carelessly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Simple, really." He drawled confidently. "Just follow my instructions."
"Your commands consist solely of sending us into danger. And if it comes to that, you don't seem very concerned that our lives could be at stake," Riku remarked. The king let out a hearty laugh.
"Of course I care! If anything happens to your beloved master, I will have absolutely no choice but to seek vengeance against him!"
Riku snorted quietly. "Well, I can assure you Master Xehanort will never be captured again, thanks to Sora."
The king narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Is that so?"
Riku simply smirked.
"Now listen closely, Riku," the King ordered with a stern expression. "When you and your young companions return home safe, I will have one of my loyal Shadows escort you home."
"So you're just waiting around for us to return, aren't you?" Riku accused, tilting his head to the side and raising an eyebrow.
"No! Of course not. I have another purpose for sending you there." The King paused for a moment. "That is…" He trailed off and glanced down for a moment before looking back at Riku. "To retrieve Sora."
Riku raised an eyebrow curiously. "And why is that?"
The King grinned wickedly. "My dear Shadow, it is imperative that he be returned to me alive and unharmed." Riku's eyes widened at those words and he felt his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach when he realized what they meant. His eyes drifted towards Sora for a split second, wondering how he'd react. He was surprised to see his little companion' s expression remain unchanged; he seemed rather relaxed despite the gravity of their situation.
A strange look came over his face as he turned his gaze back to the king. "Okay," he murmured casually. "Then what's the next step?"
"Oh nothing. All I need you to do is bring Sora home safely."
"Why must we leave immediately? Can't you wait until tomorrow morning? I've slept for so long already." Riku protested. The king shook his head.
"It's important, my darling Shadow." He explained gently. "We cannot waste any more time."
***************