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Sora was Riku's to protect.
That promise he made when he was younger to that stranger that appeared on the island...
To have the strength to protect what matters.
Riku wanted to be the best so he could protect Sora from everything. Even from shooting stars.
Riku sat on the Paopu tree waiting for Sora like he always did. He stared out at the sunrise. It cast a beautiful light over the water turning it from the usual clear blue to a stunning golden orange.
Riku chuckled softly to himself. He would love to share this view with Sora, but Sora never woke up early enough to watch stuff like this with him. It was part of the reason they always stargazed. The Sunrise always happened, sure, and the stars were always constant, but it was something that was theirs. Something they did together.
The only time Riku got Sora up early enough, he ended up falling asleep on him. He teased him up and down for it, but he never could forget the way his heart pounded in his chest that day. He feared he would wake Sora up with how loud it was.
Riku smiled fondly at the memory, but his smile was chased away as he remembered something he thought was important.
If only he had more time.
Riku was in love with his best friend. Riku was in love with Sora.
Sora was sunshine itself, capable of lighting up any room he walked into. He was everything Riku aspired to be and more. The best part was, he didn't even have to try. For Sora, being bright and cheerful and loving was second nature. That's why Riku fell for him in the first place, because of his gentle and kind nature.
However...
Someone new had come to the island. A girl. She has no memory of who she was or where she came from, but Riku knows without a doubt she came from another world. Just like the stranger. Riku would have loved to ask her questions, but there was something he didn't like about her.
She was stealing all of Sora's attention.
Riku tried to play with them too, but they didn't play the same anymore. Sora was always saying that they should play knights in the castle so that they could 'save the princess.' Riku would rather they played with their swords like usual, but no. Sora wanted to do what she wanted to do.
It was getting annoying.
Sora keeps asking her to play games that they would play, and go to the places they would go. Riku was starting to feel like a third wheel with his best friend. His best friend.
He had tried to be friends with her, but there was nothing for him to really want. There was no reason for her to be his friend and no reason she should be his. They were simply incompatible, and that would be okay, if not for the fact that Sora wanted to be friends with her. Her charm was irresistible to many, but to some, like Riku, he wouldn't fall for it.
No, he didn't hate her. He only disliked the fact that Sora wasn't playing with him anymore.
It was her.
It was always with her.
Riku felt something dark fill in his chest that day. A hatred he'd never felt before. It was vile and disgusting, it made him feel sick and hot all over. It made his skin itch and his mind feel manic and insane.
He wanted his best friend. He wanted him all to himself.
It was a selfish desire that he craved the more he thought about it. He wouldn't let it get dangerous to the point he'd want someone to disappear, but he definitely felt his anger linger and fester and turn into something cruel and awful.
Maybe he did hate her... just a little.
Sora finally showed up on the island a few hours later. The sun was up and he came running over.
"There you are Riku!" Sora came up to the Paopu tree and jumped up on it to try and climb up. Riku reached out with a small laugh and helped him up. "Your mom said that your dad already took you out here. Why didn't you wait for me?"
"I thought you were bringing Kairi, so I just decided to show up early." Riku shrugged. Sora perked up.
"Kairi said she wants to stay on the main island today." Sora replied. Riku looked at Sora. The deepest blue he'd ever seen. Incapable of telling a lie.
"Really?" Riku asked cautiously. Maybe they could spend the day on the play island then! They could play like they did before Kairi got there and ruined everything.
"Yeah, so I came to get you so that we could play on the main island!" Sora smiled brightly.
Riku scowled and visibly looked repulsed by the idea. He fixed his face quickly though and scoffed.
"No thanks." Riku said gruffly.
"Wha-?! But! Riku!" Sora sputtered as Riku jumped off the Paopu tree and started walking away. "Where are you going?!"
As far away from her as possible.
"Riku! Sora called from behind him. "Riku wait up! Please!"
It hurt Riku's heart to make Sora call out to him like that, but it also made him strangely happy. Finally, he was looking at him. He was chasing after him. Sora caught Riku's wrist.
"Riku stop!" Sora cried. His eyes brimming with tears. Riku froze. That wasn't his intention! That wasn't his intention at all! "Why are you walking away from me?"
"Sora I..." Riku looked down. He steeled his heart as he spoke up finally. Turquoise met upset ocean blue. "I want to play here. If you go back to the island with Kairi, I'll be here, but you make your choice."
"What?" Sora had tears spilling from his eyes now. "But I want to play with you both!"
"It has to be one or the other Sora!" Riku snapped. "Me or her!"
"I don't want to choose Riku..." Sora sniffled. Riku swallowed thickly. He felt like he was being choked with barb wire.
"You have to." Riku choked out. Sora wiped fat tears from his eyes. His lip trembled as he walked past Riku.
Riku felt like he'd fallen from the treehouse to the solid ground. It hurt to breathe, and his body felt heavy.
Sora... he wasn't going to choose him. He felt his world come crashing down.
He was supposed to... wai- he was supposed to be the one that he chose. He knew him longer! He was the one that was always there for him! Not her! Never her!
"Sor-"
"Why are you being so mean Riku...?" Sora then ran away.
He ran back to his dad who was waiting by the boats and he left to go back to the main island.
Riku's legs gave out under him.
Did he hate him? Did he go to far? No, he couldn't have. He was simply trying to see who he'd choose. But was it cruel to make him choose like that? Why did he have to be so incessant about it. He shouldn't have done that! He should find him and apologize.
Riku asked his dad to take him back to the main island too. Once they made it back, Riku jumped off and ran to Sora's house. He climbed up the tree next to his bedroom and was about to knock on the window like he always did when he and Sora would have a sleepover, when he saw that Kairi was already there. Comforting him.
Riku nearly fell off the tree. Maybe it would help him feel again. His body and senses dulled to the sound of static in his ears. Riku slid down the tree and once his feet hit the ground, his legs gave out.
He felt tears running down his face, hot and stinging.
Riku walked home in a daze. He made his way up to his room and flopped down into his bed.
"Riku?" His mom called from his door. "Do you want dinner?"
Riku felt like he could throw up suddenly and he curled in on himself. "No..."
His mom shuffled slightly at the door. "Okay, but I want you to eat something at some point okay?"
Riku nodded and once the door was shut he let out a shuddering sob.
What has he done?
Tap tap tap.
Riku heard tapping against the glass of his window.
He blinked a few times to get used to the darkness of his room. What was that noise? And why was it still happening this late at night?
Riku sat up and rubbed his eyes. He'd fallen asleep after he cried. Not even his mom came to call him for dinner again. He wondered if she left him a plate. Maybe he could go look.
Tap tap tap tap tap.
Okay, what was that noise!
Riku turned to look at his window and saw a person there.
Riku yelped as he fell off his bed with a thud. He stood up quickly and stared a little longer.
"Sora?" Riku jumped back up on his bed and opened the window. "Sora!"
Riku pulled Sora inside.
"What are you doing here so late?! Does you mom know you're here?" Riku thought for a moment. "Does my mom know you're here?"
"Your mom said you were really sad." Sora said. "She didn't let me inside because she said you wanted to be alone."
Riku bit his lip.
Honestly, Riku was in mourning. He thought he had lost his friend just because he was being dumb and stupid and selfish. Riku looked up as Sora.
"I'm sorry Sora." Riku said. "I was being mean earlier. I was a really big jerk, and I'm sorry."
Sora smiled softly. "I'm sorry too."
Riku tilted his head. Sora didn't have anything to apologize for. Why was he apologizing?
"I've been hanging out with Kairi so much that I haven't been spending as much time with you as I have before. I'm sorry Riku." Sora hugged Riku. "Why didn't you tell me that I was making you mad?"
Somehow... Riku felt worse with this apology. Communication was key in every relationship, love or otherwise, and Riku completely forgot that part.
"I could never be mad at you Sora..." Riku hugged him back. "I just forget sometimes that I have to say things too."
"Kairi says she's sorry too." Riku tensed up. "She says she's sorry for not asking for your ideas when we play."
Riku swallowed hard and hugged Sora just a little tighter. Now he really felt like a jerk.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay! Tomorrow we'll play again tomorrow, and it'll be great!" Sora chirped cheerily.
Riku smiled softly. He truly did love Sora.
"Yeah... tomorrow will be great." Riku hummed.
Maybe Kairi isn't trying to steal Sora away from him after all.
"Sora, let's take the raft and go!"
He should have known...