Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

The Long Weekend Away	By : neonabsinthe Category: Kingdom Hearts > Slash/Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3950 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Warnings: AU. Fairly OOC and cliché (with Rich Popular Riku and Shy Sora. But hopefully the actual storyline is less cliché). A lotta swearing and fluff alert and drug use; adult situations in later chapters.
Pairings: Riku x Sora, onesided Riku x Kairi. Other pairings revealed as story progresses.
A/N: I should say here that I don’t condone the taking of illegal drugs. But for the purposes of the story, I reckon it’s entirely plausible for a bunch of bored rich kids to score every once in a while.
Ps. Changes made: Kairi now has a stepdad, Jafar Cobra, and Ariel is currently in her fourth marriage to him and is known as Ariel Cobra-Spencer.

The Long Weekend Away
By: neon-absinthe

-- PART I: Chapter 7 – Things That Move in the Dark --

Women.
“Wa-kkaaa,” came the dreaded feminine whine. “Come on, Wakka. Let’s make this a real party!”
So fucking demanding.
“Honey,” he cooed to the well-endowed blonde. “If I had any, don’ ya think I’d have brought it out already?”
“I think you’re just being selfish,” the gorgeous long-legged brunette pouted on his other side. “I know you have some on you, baby,” she latched onto his arm, and bit her lip seductively. “Come on, share.”
Wakka laughingly swatted her curious hands away as they clumsily fumbled in his pockets, but only after a moment as they repeatedly brushed against his hardening groin.
“I’m sure I can make it fun fo’ you withou’ powder, baby,” he whispered back just as seductively. “Besides, ya already snorted a line each. You don’ wanna OD now, do ya?”
“Humph,” the blonde, God knows her name, flopped down back against the pillow with an irritable noise. “I’m not new to this, Wakka. I need more than that tiny little line.”
The brunette, who a moment ago was rubbing her heavenly chest against him, paused and withdrew herself. Following her friend’s lead, she quickly added, “Yeah, Wakka. Surely you can get some more. Come on.” The seductress in her reappeared, and purred, “I want to enjoy my time with the great blitzball captain, Wakka Kane II.”
What a way to stroke the ego. Man, this girl and her mouth, he let out a throaty chuckle. He couldn’t wait to get her into between the sheets.
“Alrigh’. Only since ya asked so nicely.” He leaned in and gave her a long kiss, enjoying the feel of her tongue against his lips and the soft expanse of her creamy thigh. Hot. “You and ya friend stay righ’ here.”
If this was what they call playing right into a girl’s hands, then he quite liked being the proverbial putty. After all, it seems that the putty gets a fair amount of action.
Wakka grudgingly pulled his built body off the bed and made his way towards the door. It was such a shame to leave such a hot girl looking so deliciously dishevelled, and her equally hot friend so promising. But it seems certain items must be procured before he could get what he wanted.
Like he said. Women. So fucking demanding.
But he guessed they had a point. He took his original line less than an hour ago and was pretty much on the verge of coming down. That meant a headache was fast in the post. Which was a never good thing.
The redhead made his way down the hall. He didn’t have anymore gear of any kind on him, and he didn’t know if anyone at the party did. Asking a random might result in all the prominent families knowing his dirty secret. And that can’t be good for life in general, he shook his head.
Yuffie was too careful to bring any with her, and Kairi would surely wait till after they’ve left the party. Besides, she didn’t really go for the hard stuff anymore. Selphie rarely took anything, which is really a blessing as she was as hyper as it is, while Tidus was their resident golden “all-natural high-on-life” boy that he’s always been. And Riku? Well, nothing’s really certain about Riku anymore.
Wakka could have asked Leon, but it was apparent at dinner table that Leon did not come. As a matter of fact, people rarely saw Leon around these days. He seemed to be enjoying a new pastime of randomly disappearing off the face of the earth. Yuffie guessed that he just hated having to accept Riku back into the group with barely a slap on the wrist and was implementing a silent protest. While such theory might be true to some degree, Wakka was sure there was something more. It’s just no one knew what that something was yet.
“Oh!” A spark suddenly lit up in his mind. That’s right! Kairi might still have some left over in her room. If not, she probably would have some pills, or even weed. Anything was good, really. His redhead friend may only take the occasional lighter party drugs now, but there was a time when she drowned in much harder stuff.
But that was back in her self-destructive period, which, thank God, was now over. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant time for anyone and something most of them wanted to forget. Man, was Wakka and the gang ever so glad the day Kairi finally took control of her life and her grief and kicked her dependency.
Oh well. No point dawdling on the past. It was really time to…
“Focus on tha presen’ predicament,” he grinned to himself.
Now. Where did Kairi keep that lovely little babushka doll set, which held something so much more exciting inside than that let-down final midget doll inside all the outer babushka shells?
His footsteps slowly became more and more coordinated and shuffled less and less against the rich carpet on polished floors. His sight became sharper and more focused as the seconds passed by, and the haze suffocating his brain slowly cleared with each step.
And then came the headache. In dull waves, pulsing like a blunt butcher’s knife turned vibrator.
“Augh!” Wakka groaned and put a hand over his head, sighing. Fucking hell, coming down was the fucking worst. Where the hell in this shit-house rabbit-hole labyrinth was Kairi’s room when you bloody needed it? Well, he knew he was close. But honestly!
Suddenly the redhead stumbled a little, barely catching himself lest he fell flat on his face.
Did he imagine it? Maybe. After all he was prone to a few mild hallucinations here and there while on cocaine. But that had seemed really real.
As the distant sounds of music and voices settled back like a warm blanket around him, Wakka swore he heard someone screaming. And not a joking laughing screaming, or the good fucked-hard kind of screaming. But real screaming. Like of pain and terror.
There! There it was again, this time more audible than the last.
Now focused brown eyes snapped to the direction it was coming from. What the hell was going on? Was he somehow caught in a bad trip? But how would that explain his head slowly clearing of the drug’s effects?
No. This was real. In real time and in the real world, without any magic weaved by coke-induced hallucinations.
Ignoring the despicable headache, Wakka quickly ran towards the source of the cries and soon found himself flying into a familiar setting. The screams grew louder and louder, clearer and clearer, as he burst through Kairi’s door. It was completely dark, making the horrific noises all the more ominous. Quickly flicking on the light, Wakka frantically looked around the room for any signs of disturbances.
Turning his head sharply to the right, the incoherent cries were flying out from Kairi’s en-suite bathroom.
Now that he was this close to the source, Wakka wasn’t feeling so brave anymore. His headache had gotten worse and he wasn’t even sure his judgement was fully clear, now that he had found himself running headlong into a potentially dangerous scene. Why couldn’t it had been as simple as coming into Kairi’s room, taking what he needed, then leaving for those two hot girls who eagerly awaited his return?
Curse his Good Samaritan personality.
Hesitantly, the muscular redhead slowly made his way towards the bathroom, heart pounding so wildly in his chest he could hardly breathe. His confidence was at an all time low – all those strength and endurance training for blitzball really lost all their value in the face of fear.
“Please! Leave….leave…leav-”
Sobbing. A howl.
“Get the fuck away from me!”
Harsh breathing.
Wakka held his breath as he peered inconspicuously into the bathroom. Of all the terrifying scenes he imagined in his head, what lay beyond his chocolate gaze was no less strange.
It was Riku’s little brunet. The sweet soft-spoken wide-eyed boy he had met on several occasions earlier was rocking back and forth on the cold tiled floor, emitting the most heart-wrenching cries he’d ever heard. Tears streamed down his normally supple rosy cheeks, and his expensive attire and hair was even more dishevelled to the point of being ragged.
“Uh,” the redhead finally found his voice, albeit shakily. “Sora?”
The boy didn’t answer. His eyes were downcast while one hand hugged his knee like a frightened child left alone in the house at night, and the other hand clawed at the side of his head, pulling harshly at locks of hair.
Flicking on the lights, a quick scan around the room told him it was completely empty. What the hell? Cautiously approaching the younger boy, Wakka tried again. “Sora?” he called gently. “Are ya alrigh’, brudda?”
Wakka slowly and carefully reached with one steady hand out to the boy, hoping that the human contact would bring him out of his delirium.
But then something happened he hadn’t anticipated.
Wack!
His outstretched hand was brutally smacked away, the sheer force sending him stumbling back awkwardly. Nursing a throbbing hand, the normally-boisterous teen looked up, and swallowed a gasp.
Sora’s eyes. They were unlike anything he had ever seen. They were so utterly furious. So angry they could send a tornado scampering away with it’s tale between its legs.
A shadow cast over the brunet’s eyes, making those ocean-blue irises seem even darker than the depths of a black hole. Baring his teeth like a savage animal, Sora snarled viciously. “Fuck off!”
What?
“Wha’?” he accidentally repeated aloud. “Sora? What’s wrong?” Since when did shy little Sora curse like a drunken sailor? “I’s me. Wakka. Ya remember me, righ’? Riku’s friend?”
Sora just glared hatefully at him, shaking in fury. Then, as quickly as it came, it was switched off again, as if he was being controlled by a remote.
“R-riku?” he said breathlessly in the same voice that was so hostile only a second ago.
“Ya, Riku’s friend,” Wakka repeated.
Sora’s soulful blue eyes, now returned to normal, locked with Wakka’s and frowned, as if unsure of himself. “Wakka?”
Wakka let out a relieved smile. “Ya. I’s me, Wakka.”
The younger teen let out a sound of relief. “Oh,” he said softly and looked to the floor.
Now that Sora was no longer possessed by a fiendish spirit, Wakka once again deigned it safe to step closer to the brunet. The blitzball player kneeled down in front of the now unmoving boy and gingerly rubbed his back.
“Wha’s wrong, Sora,” he whispered soothingly. “Wha’s got ya so worked up? Anythin’ I can do, you let me know, ya?”
The brunet trembled. “T-there’s nothing you can do,” he whispered in a broken voice. “There’s nothing anyone can do. How do you fight against darkness and shadows? They come when they please and do what they want…and I can’t do anything.”
Completely unaware of his surroundings, Sora stared, deflated, at his shaking hands through a curtain of wet eyelashes until they resembled nothing more than a blur of colours. He took a breath, which felt so wet and sodden in his lungs he might as well have been drowning.
“I hate their stares so so much. And I thought that it would be over. I just didn’t think those horrible yellow eyes would follow me all the way here from Destiny Island and now,” he heaved a sob, “I don’t know what do-o…” he choked.
“There, there,” Wakka said awkwardly. He didn’t get a single thing Sora had just said. They seemed to be incoherent mumbles of a mentally unsound person, like how you’d have to watch the original movie to understand these words from the sequel. “Come on. Let’s get ya cleaned up, brudda, and we’ll go downstairs ta find tha others. Ya?”
Sora was silent for a moment, then he wearily nodded his head.
Wakka helped the smaller boy to the sink, watching him splash water on his face and helped him straighten his clothes and hair.
“Are ya sure ya okay?” he asked once more as they walked back to the grand ballroom.
“Yeah,” Sora nodded, more composed now. “I’m okay, thanks.”
Despite the calm state of mind he tried to project, the brunet looked up at his saviour out of the corner of his eye and knew before he saw it, the suspicion swimming in those coffee pupils. “Um,” he quickly said. “It’s just…I get panic attacks every now and then, you know. They come and go. Don’t know why!” he shrugged with a helpless smile.
Wakka remained completely unconvinced at that rehearsed line. It was spoken far too hurriedly to actually be true. But nevertheless, “Okay,” he replied slowly, and didn’t inquire any further.
As they approached the large hall, Sora suddenly halted in his step. Of all things he wanted to see at that moment, Riku smiling while conversing with Kairi and some other old friends of the both of theirs was really not it. A sense a dread rose in his throat, and this time, Sora didn’t have the strength to push it away.
“Um…”
Wakka looked back questioningly at why the shorter boy stopped.
“Um…I think I might just step outside. To get some fresh air.”
Wakka contemplated him. “Are ya sure you’ll be okay?” he said again at length.
“Fine,” Sora sent him a tired smile. “Um…do you reckon you could maybe not tell anybody about this? It’s really okay. I’m used to it.”
Wakka still looked unconvinced, but nevertheless grudgingly agreed. Hey, it was his life. “Okay…”
Sora smiled in relief. “Thanks, Wakka. And thanks for before. You’re a nice guy.”
“Dun’ mention it,” the redhead teen started to reply, but the brunet’s back was already facing him and rapidly moving away.

--

Once again, Riku found himself wondering where Sora was; if he was enjoying himself. He had this terrible prickly sense eating away at his stomach which couldn’t be ignored any longer. Riku never did believe in the supernatural, but his sixth sense has never let him down.
Especially on the island. And it wasn’t going to now.
“Riku,” Kairi frowned.
Riku’s attention was sharply jerked back to her. What were they talking about? Oh yes. The after-party festivities.
“So you promise you’re going to come out tonight with us afterwards, right? For old times sake?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “It would have to depend on how much Sora feels up to it.”
He looked around quickly for his boyfriend again, completely unaware of the darkening of his best friend’s elegant features.
“I didn’t take you two to be such a boring married couple.”
Riku grinned wryly. “Ouch, Kairi. The claws are out tonight.”
Kairi shrugged. “Whatever. You’ll be the one missing out. After all, Yuffie managed to secure us all VIP entry, thanks to Vincent’s numerous connections.”
Riku thought for a moment. “Alright,” he finally smiled. “For old time’s sake then.”
Kairi’s countenance immediately lit up brilliantly, and the emerald-eyed boy felt pleasure to be the cause.
“Speaking of old times,” she grinned cheekily. “My mother asked about you.”
Riku laughed. “Really? To be honest, I thought Ariel would’ve hired an entire army to barricade me from the house, let alone invite me to her party. Guess I underestimated her. Your mother seems to be a lot more forgiving than mine.”
“Well, runs in the family,” Kairi jokingly boasted. “To tell the truth, my mother was initially furious with you, but I know she and Jafar will still be pleased to see you again.”
“Oh yeah?” the younger Samuel looked amused.
“Yeah. I guess…they just want it to be like the way it was before…you know?” She looked up at him with expectant blue eyes.
Riku’s set his jaw as his lips pursed until they were two thin white lines.
Yeah he did know. He knew all too well how those crazy old fuckers took pride in controlling and destroying their offspring’s lives for materialistic and ambitious reasons. Not this time. Not while his heart belonged to Sora.
Speaking of which…
Looking around, the younger teen was nowhere to be found. Not even a glimpse of those gorgeous electric blue eyes could be seen. Riku noticed on the other side of the hall, Selphie was laughing animatedly with Tidus and Yuffie, while Wakka seemed to sulk. And Sora? He was clearly not among them.
Riku’s hand tightened around his flute of expensive champagne.
“Have you seen Sora?” he abruptly asked, not bothering to acknowledge he hadn’t at all answered Kairi’s implicit question.
Kairi paused in surprise. Her eyes held something he couldn’t figure out. “No,” she finally answered. “I’ve been with you the entire night.”
Yes she has. And Sora was all alone at some massive party where he knew no one. Maybe it was a mistake to bring the brunet here, or even go himself.
With guilt now ebbing away in his chest, Riku turned away. “I’m going to go find him.”
Kairi quickly excused herself from the couple they had been talking to, who were business acquaintances of both their parents’, and hurriedly trailed after Riku, holding her flute awkwardly.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” she was saying to him. “He’s probably enjoying himself meeting new people.”
“You don’t know Sora,” Riku responded, not turning around or stopping in his stride. “Big crowds like this tend to make him uncomfortable. I can’t believe I forgot that.”
Before Kairi could make a rebuttal, Riku had reached the group across the hall.
“Hey!” Selphie’s apple-green eyes lit in delight. “We were just talking about how Wakka needs find better choices in girls. See those two sluts over there–”
But the silver-haired boy interrupted her with desperation. “Have you seen Sora?”
Selphie paused, looking at him strangely. “No, I haven’t. Why?”
“I saw him with you last.”
“Well, we were eating, but then–”
“Riku.”
“Hang on a minute, Wakka,” he interrupted before the fiery-haired blitzball captain could say anything more. “What were you going say, Selph?”
Selphie quickly snapped her attention back to him, noting the serious look in her silver-haired friend’s eyes.
“I was just going to say that he left for the bathroom after I told him the foie gras was just a fancy name for liver. I was going to follow him to see if he was okay, but then this cute guy asked if I could pass the salt. And…yeah…” She bit her lip and took a guilty sip of her champagne.
“Fuck,” Riku cursed under his breath. Kairi’s home was huge. Almost as big as his own. If Sora could barely find his way around Hollow Bastion after being there for close to a month, there really wasn’t a chance he wouldn’t get lost in something as big and foreign as Cobra Mansion.
“Tha’s what I wanted ta tell ya,” Wakka interjected in a brazen tone with a strange look on his face. “Tha’ boy of yours is fucking crazy, brudda,”
Riku turned to him questioningly.
“Found him sittin’ alone in tha dark in Kairi’s bathroom,” Kairi brows furrowed at this, “screamin’ bloody murder like a fuckin’ banshee. I thought maybe there was something wrong, like attacking him or some thin’. But there was nothing out o’ the ordinary in tha ensuite, ya? Nothin’ at all! Fucking strange, don’t ya think?”
Riku ignored his last comment. “Where is he now?”
“Outside somewhere. I dunno.”
“You left him alone,” the silver-haired growled through his gritted teeth, eyes narrowing.
“Whao,” Wakka held up a placating hand. “He wanted ta be left alone, brudda? Not my problem ta question him.”
“And you didn’t think to fucking tell me.”
“Once again, ya boy’s wishes. I think he pro’lly didn’t want to disturb ya night.”
Sora. Always the selfless one.
Wordlessly, Riku turned on his heels and briskly strode towards the end of the hall, the way to the back garden. The whole way he berated himself mentally, furious for leaving Sora alone when he knew the kinds of things the younger boy had been through.
Kairi immediately ran after him and grabbed his arm, turning him to face her. “Riku–”
“No, Kairi,” his aquamarine eyes flashed as he shook her hand off. Kairi recoiled as if burned, but Riku could barely notice. “Not now. Sora needs me.” The silver-haired turned away again. “I have to go.”
As Riku’s departing back hurried through the fancy masses, the remaining four friends looked at each other silently, mulling over the strange reaction Riku just exhibited and to the even stranger event Wakka had described.
They each knew that each other were thinking the exact same thing. It seemed the more they tried to delve into it, the more they encountered the roadblocks. And they wondered, whether this mysterious would ever end up being solved.

--

He looked like a fallen angel in the ribbons of light streaming through the large glass panes. So beautiful and melancholy and overall so sad. It broke Riku’s heart.
Suddenly, his blue orbs spun to his direction as the brunet heard Riku’s light footsteps entering the well-lit garden.
“Who’s there,” Sora’s voice was suspicious, but still beautiful to listen to.
“It’s just me, Sora,” he answered softly.
The younger boy paused, tense, then slowly softened in posture. “Riku?”
“Yeah.” Riku emerged from the door with an apologetic smile and within a few long strides, he finally had his beloved in his arms. “I’m sorry I left you,” he whispered into those soft chestnut locks.
“It’s okay, Riku,” he felt Sora relax against him, taking a deep breath of his shirt. “You had to lots of catching up to do.”
“It’s not an excuse, Sora,” Riku’s eyes hardened. “I’m sorry. I won’t let it happen again.”
His boyfriend said nothing in response. Instead, his clutch around the older boy’s midriff became tighter, as Sora burrowed himself as far as humanly possible into his chest. And slowly, Riku felt heartbreaking shivers run through Sora’s body, like the waves of regret that currently splashed through Riku’s mind.
“Sora,” he reluctantly pulled away. “Tell me what happened.” Riku held the brunet at arms length, looking desperately into those scared blue eyes, thumbs rubbing soothing circles into his arms. If Wakka’s story was anything to go by, then…
“Riku,” Sora let out a shaky breath, so so glad to see his silver-haired boyfriend’s face again. “I was going to the bathroom,” he explained brokenly. “And I got lost. This place is t-too big.”
“I know, baby,” Riku whispered in a soft comforting manner.
“I-I went the wrong way and accidentally went into Kairi’s room and then the maid came in and I was really scared,” the brunet looked at him imploringly. “So I hid and she didn’t kn-know I was there,” his voice unwittingly began increasing in volume, eyes falling into the stormy depths of madness, “and she turned off the-lights-and-theroompl–”
“Plunged into darkness,” Riku finished for him, understanding finally dawning.
Riku pulled his young shaken lover into his arms, burying his nose deep into the smaller boy’s soft neck.
“Sora,” he whispered, knowing the brunet would be listening. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. We are far far away from all that now. It’s over.”
Sora remained silent against his chest just listening to the calm thuds of Riku’s heart beat contrasting against the wild chaotic hammering of his own. After a long still pause, he finally answered, voice muffled against Riku’s shirt.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I just can’t help it sometimes.”
“Do you want to go home now?”
Sora nodded. He thought Riku would never ask.
“Alright.” Retrieving his sleek phone from his jacket pocket, Riku called their chauffer to be ready and waiting. “Come on,” the silver-haired gently pulled Sora forward a few steps, guiding him back to the brightly lit manor. “Let’s go home.”

--

Kairi saw everything.
From the first look between the two, to when Riku wrapped his arms around the other boy, to now as they seem to be getting ready to leave. She didn’t know what they were whispering into each other’s ear, other than that it was enough to prompt Riku to break his promise to her that he would spend time with them after the dinner-party.
Well, what does it matter that one more of his promises were broken, the cynical side of her remarked cruelly. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Compared to that, I’d say you’d got of pretty lightly.
Kairi refused to listen.
Refuse to listen, huh? Oh I’ll make you listen. You need to hear it because you don’t seem to understand that Riku simply loves him more than he…ever…loved…you. And you know it–”
“Shut up!” she hissed, hand clenching the door handle so tightly they turned white.
“What? I didn’t say anything.”
Kairi turned around in surprise. Selphie bounced up to her with a strange smile. “Heya,” she greeted.
“Selphie,” the redhead acknowledged, before a frown darkened her lips. “What are you doing here? Did you follow me?”
“Yeah, I guess,” the bubbly brunette shrugged. “It seemed like you needed it.”
Kairi’s eyes darkened. “I’m not a child, Selphie. I don’t need anyone to look after me. I never did before and I don’t need it now.”
“Murphy’s Law – you’ll jinx yourself,” Selphie immediately warned. “The next thing you know, you’re going to suddenly get a stroke and end up losing all your motor functions – completely paralysed except only for your left eye. Like that French guy. And then, you won’t be able to communicate with anybody, except through a series of blinks, and will have to constantly be looked after for the rest of your life. And you might not even get the chance to write an inspiring book about your misfortunate tale and your life as a half-vegetable, all by blinking each alphabetic letter to someone who dictates it all down. Like that French guy did.”
“You mean Jean-Dominique Bauby?”
“Yeah. The French guy.”
Kairi sighed through her half-smile.
Silly Selphie. The only one who does seemed to be suffocated by their rigid world.
How Kairi envied her.
“So anyway,” the lime-green eyed girl continued. “I think we’re about to leave. The guys are getting a little bored and Vincent is all but hauling Yuffie over his shoulder and dragging her away like some caveman. And you don’t wanna know Wakka like right now. He wants out.” Selphie gave her an exaggerated look. “So anyway, you’re still coming?”
Was she? Well the answer would have definitely been yes if Riku were going. But she wasn’t sure that was happening anymore. She needed to find out for certain.
“Give me a minute, Selph,” the redhead returned her gaze to beyond the glass panes.
“Why, what are you going to do?” the brunette’s eyes turned serious.
“Just give me a minute!” Kairi pressed. “I don’t look over your shoulder like a fucking nosy mother!”
And as soon as she said it, Kairi regretted it. “Sorry, Selphie,” the redhead said softly with a sigh. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
“I do,” Selphie muttered.
Kairi pretended not to hear. “I’ll be there in a second. Nothing stupid,” she smiled.
“Good,” Selphie replied. You’ve done way too many stupid things lately.
As soon as Selphie left, Kairi quickly manoeuvred through the unused rooms until she intercepted Riku and Sora as they were coming in from one of her Wutainese-inspired gardens.
“Hey,” she greeted the windswept couple, determined not to look at Sora. She heard what happened to him from Wakka and didn’t want any reason to feel sorry for him and his plight. This was not how this game was going to play out.
“Hey,” Riku replied softly. His beautiful half-lidded gaze made her feel more self-conscious than she has in a long time, and she inconspicuously straightened her dress.
“Hi Kairi,” Sora mumbled, disrupting her thoughts.
“Hey Sora,” the redhead acknowledged before turning back to Riku. “I see you found him. That’s a relief.”
Riku smiled wearily. “Yeah,” was his simple reply.
“Are you…going now?”
Riku looked at her unreadably, and then nodded without any words.
“Oh,” Kairi felt herself deflate. Without even knowing, her arms lifted and wrapped themselves around her, despite it being a rather warm night for autumn.
Riku quickly shut the door, thinking it was the breeze they had let in.
“So um…I guess you’re not coming out tonight,” she stated, eyes to a random spot on the wall behind them.
“Sorry, Kairi,” the silver-haired teen apologised quietly. “Sora and I aren’t really feeling up to it tonight.”
Kairi nodded mutely with a wry smile playing on her lips. “Well it’s probably a good thing that I’m feeling rather tired all of a sudden myself,” she laughed it off.
Riku gave her a strange look, like how he used to when the redhead cracked a joke awkwardly and he simply didn’t get it but didn’t feel mean enough to call her out on it.
“No, go ahead. Have fun tonight, Kairi,” Riku assured his best friend. “I don’t mind.”
Kairi simply shook her head. “But it’ll be weird without you, now that you’re back. It’s alright, I’m happy to wait for you.”
She glanced at him discretely wondered if the silver-haired understood the full implications of those words. And if he did, whether he was going to pretend not to.
“Alright. Next time,” Riku promised, revealing nothing. “I’ll see you soon, Kairi.” And then he left, leading Sora away by the shoulder. They looked like the couple they proclaimed to be. Caring and sweet and there for each other.
Riku used to be more precise. He would used to say something more like, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kairi” or “I’ll call you tonight”. ‘Soon’ was much too vague for her.

--

“Kairi?”
What was it with today? Something was definitely plotting for the demise of her sanity. Since when did upper-class society visit kitchens? So much for a private shortcut back to her room.
“Hey, wait!”
It was Tidus.
Kairi came to a stop and turned to him with raised eyebrows. She hoped her face betrayed none of the highly-charged emotions she was feeling, as that would simply be too embarrassing.
“Where’d you go?” Tidus seemed a little out of breath, his lips and cheeks were more healthily flushed than usual.
“I went to see Riku out,” she replied. It was sort of true. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“What?” Tidus gave her a funny look. “Um…I was invited?”
Kairi rolled her eyes. “I meant in my kitchens, Tweedledee. Did you not eat enough at dinner?”
“Oh,” the blond laughed. “No. I just wanted to get some water. For the first time in history, champagne and wine is abundant, but water is not,” he cracked a grin. “I couldn’t spot any waiters so I figured I’d go get a glass myself.”
Kairi frowned. Considering Ariel’s extravagance, surely they would have hired enough waiters for such an event. She quickly dismissed the thought.
“But what are you doing here? I thought Selphie was with you. Anyway, we’re all leaving now. Vincent says we’ll miss the band otherwise.”
Kair’s eyes dimmed. “You guys go. I’m don’t feel up to it anymore.”
Tidus raised an eyebrow at that, “And why is that?” but he didn’t give her enough time to answer.
Kairi shrugged.
“Kairi” his face softened. Don’t let Riku dictate your every move. I know you’ve been looking forward to tonight. So come on,” he flashed her a cute smile, jerking his head towards the door. “Let’s go, lady.”
But to the blond’s surprise, his words had the complete opposite effect.
“This…” blue eyes drowned in manic, “has got nothing to do with Riku!” she all but snapped.
Tidus just stared, stunned.
And as quickly as she changed, Kairi’s tone reverted back to normal. “Sorry. I…I’m just not feeling too well, okay?”
Tidus gave her an unreadable look, but nevertheless let it go.
“Fine,” he gave a short curt nod. “I’ll tell the others then.”
He was about to turn away, and then seemed to change his mind. In two short steps, he stood directly in front of her, hooking two fingers under her jaw.
“Chin up, Kairi. It’ll get better.”
Kairi would never be able to describe how those few little words made her feel, how his warm blue eyes protected her in such a dark dark place. Tidus. He always knew what to say.
“I know, blondie.”
When Kairi retreated up to her room, she ripped her RagDoll dress off, and threw off her jewellery, scattering them around the floor. A single ring rolled through the door and into her ensuite. For a second, Kairi solemnly stared in through the door, contemplating the little ‘panic attack’, that according to Wakka, Sora had had in there that night.
She walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. Wordlessly, the redhead swept her gaze around the room several times, but as her boisterous friend had said, there was nothing out of the ordinary that she could see. Kairi shook her head. She was being ridiculous. Wakka was obviously high at the time and imagined quite a few the details that emerged in his second and more detailed recount after Riku left to go find Sora.
“Kairi?”
The auburn-haired teen turned around towards the door of her bedroom. “Yes, mother?”
“Kairi, did you speak with Riku tonight? It seems he left before your stepfather and I were able to meet up with him.”
“Yes, mother, I did.”
“Did you talk to him about what we discussed,” the beautiful and glamorous fiery-haired woman questioned, looking expectantly at her daughter with identically dark cerulean eyes.
“No. I didn’t get a chance to.”
The current Mrs. Cobra frowned. “Silly girl. You’re lucky I had a chance to speak with Sephiroth instead. Please do as I asked of you, like we discussed, Kairi.”
Kairi’s brows crinkled in frustration. “Why?” she couldn’t help but wonder.
But her mother refused to answer it. “It’s not a time for ‘whys’. The reasons will become clear to you soon enough.”
Kairi didn’t reply, but she nodded tiredly. “I’m really tired right now, Mother. I just want to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
“Alright. Good night, Kairi. It seems I’ve been away from my guests for long enough.”
Kairi felt ready to collapse after the prominent presence that was Ariel Cobra-Spencer left her in her room. She felt both physically and mentally drained, wanting nothing more than the soothing comfort of the unconsciousness of sleep. However, as she moved for the bathroom to wash off her makeup and get ready for bed, Kairi’s foot caught on something. She frowned when she bent down and picked up the offending item.
It was the ring Riku had given her for her sixteenth birthday. She had cherished it like nothing else, leaving it untouched in the same velvet box it was presented in, almost afraid to wear it. Kairi took it out a few nights ago and spent hours just looking at it, remembering back to simpler and better times. But now, it was just a symbol of cruel irony, mocking her in her plight straight to her face. With a scowl, Kairi viciously pulled open the drawer of her desk and threw it inside with a resounding thud. She no longer wanted to look at it.

--

Tidus cocked his head to the side as he stared at the words in front of him.
“Procrastination is like masturbation,” he read aloud to himself. “At first it feels good, but in the end you’re only screwing yourself.”
It didn’t take long for the blond to dissolve into laughter.
Clicking onto the next link, baby blue eyes eagerly awaited another humorous procrastination quote. “Procrastination increases the risk of cancer by 50%.”
He almost chocked on his own saliva.
So this was one of the ways how handsome, popular, rich, athletic, smart and all-around perfect Tidus Kilpatrick liked to procrastinate: by looking up useless quotes and random facts and statistics on the internet, 78% of which were made up anyway (according to another statistic).
Of course he wasn’t procrastinating the whole time. After all, he had a golden-boy reputation to keep up. The blond had spent the last hour and a half relentlessly working on his Economics paper, all the while cursing his strict teacher for setting an assignment only a week into the year.
Honestly. How can anyone possibly be that cruel?!
Letting out a huge undignified yawn, Tidus stretched lazily in his swivel chair like he was warming up for the Olympics. The blitzball vice-captain brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his weary eyes, tired from staring at a computer screen for far too long.
He was so sick of thinking about supplies and demands and about how fucked up the nature of the economic market was, being run solely on greed and self-interest. It was such a morbid view of humanity, and if his parents hadn’t insisted, he definitely wouldn’t have taken the subject.
And he definitely wouldn’t be wasting his afternoon away, writing a useless paper about those same human vices and their effect on the economy until his fingers cramped up from typing to the point it hurt to flex them.
There were so much more better things he could have been doing on such a lovely Thursday afternoon, when he didn’t have any afternoon classes on account of spare periods. For one, he and Selphie, who also didn’t have classes Thursday afternoons, could have driven down to her family coastal estate for a lazy beach evening. Or he could have been playing a friendly game of blitzball with Wakka and Riku, now that he was back. Or he could have even been grabbing a drink and a game of pool down at 7th Heaven with Leon, the undisputed bar pool champion. Well that is, as soon as he found out where and what Leon has being doing lately.
Damn Wakka for not doing his work honestly. Tidus knew he usually just paid the smart kid in the economics class the year below them – Pence? – to do his economics homework for him. Tidus has time and time again shown his disapproval, but Wakka usually laughed it off, saying something like he’s honest in the stuff that counts, like in Blitzball.
But speaking of Wakka, something the other boy said that night last weekend at the Cobra-Spencer event seemed to have stubbornly stuck in his mind like toilet paper would on the bottom of your shoe. It was only a passing comment, but Tidus picked up its true importance.
“Exactly wha’ I meant,” Wakka had retorted when Tidus had asked him to explain properly what he said about Sora’s behaviour. Yuffie gone to find her boyfriend Vincent, while Kairi had ran off after Riku with Selphie at her tail to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. “He went fucking nuts. I dunno what happened there.”
“Did you do something to set him off?”
“Nah. He was screamin’ his head off by the time I go’ there, ya? Almost clawed my arm off when I tried ta get near him ta calm ‘im down.”
“Seriously?” he remembered asking.
“Fuck yeah, brudda,” the red-haired teenager was adamant. “Got really vicious fo’ a bit. Then started ta mumble shit. Like somethin’ about shadows and yellow eyes and destiny islands, ya know? Really crazy shit. But then it was like he realised where he was an’ calmed down, askin’ fo’ Riku. It was really strange.”
And now days later, in hindsight it wasn’t what Wakka described Sora doing that stuck out, though they were still doubtlessly befuddling. It was more what he had said. Specifically, two words.
Destiny island.
It took a few days of confusion, but when he finally got it, it was like being struck by lightening. Suddenly, he had had an epiphany. Despite how Wakka had interpreted it, Tidus believed it was an actual geographical place.
Tidus had once had a dessert containing an unusual fruit called paopu, he believed it was called, at a well-known fusion restaurant in Agrabah. For some reason (probably because of his constant procrastination looking up useless random facts), the insignificant detail that paopu was only native to the small micro-island nation of Destiny Isles had never left his memory.
And now he thanked that arbitrary memory, as he believed that that was where Sora was from. And if that was were Sora was from, it would not be unreasonable to conclude that that was also where Riku had spent the last year and a half hiding!
A beaming smile shined on his face as his energy returning in a peaking blast. Finally. A lead, no matter how shaky, to solving this mystery.
Quickly closing down his half finished report, the blond pulled up an internet page to a search engine. With barely contained excitement, he speedily keyed in the letters which made up ‘Destiny Island’, his previous finger cramps a mere wisp in insignificant history.
A click. And search.
Results: sharp blue eyes scanned the headings and the snippets of text written under each.
The first few links were encyclopaedic entries about Destiny Island and the Destiny Isles.

Destiny Island. A small sub-island of a chain islands known as the Pacific micro-island nations of the Destiny Isles. With an area of 29.3 sq kilometres and a population of 8,880, Destiny Island is renowned for its paopu fruit industry. Just a few kilometres off the isle’s main trading centre Twilight Town, situated on the main island – Hope Island, Destiny Island has maintained a steady…

There were also plenty of newspaper article headings – local news from the Destiny Isles. A local shipping business expanding. Improvements made to Twilight Town’s railway system. Two teenagers died in a drunken car accident. A local orphanage burnt down. The town mayor’s recent controversy for suspected bedazzlement of funds allocated to the yearly paopu festival. The unexplainable rise in teenage gang activities and how parents should be concerned.
All the usual doom and gloom one could expect to find in the papers.
Peppered throughout the results were either links concerning the paopu industry or famous brand names with either the word ‘destiny’ or ‘island’ in it.
Overall, nothing of real interest.
After clicking fruitlessly into many of those links, Tidus was deflated to find nothing worth noting. Another dead end.
He shook his head at himself. After all, what else did he expect from a half-baked hunch based on a murky memory?
Besides, they had once exhausted all their combined resources to locate Riku, and came up with nothing. Why would that change now that Wakka, half high, thought he heard the mumblings of a boy in the middle of a panic attack?
Tidus let out a sigh and decided it was best to finish his paper before further procrastination forced him to waste anymore afternoons on this dreaded but annoyingly consuming topic. And by annoyingly consuming topic, he didn’t just mean his economics paper.

--

Unbeknown to Tidus, the object of his frustration was currently musing over an entirely different scenario.
Riku has been treating him like glass the past few days and Sora wasn’t sure whether he liked it or not. The silver-haired Samuel heir was constantly hovering about, making sure he was okay. Sure it was nice that Riku now paid so much attention to him, but Sora, nonetheless, kind of missed some of his more private alone times.
Well, there were good bits of course.
Like how Riku said “I love you” more. He could almost forget what Kairi had said when he looked into those warm eyes right before his boyfriend kissed him.
And also like how on Sunday night, spontaneously out of the blue, Riku had asked him if he wanted to go on a date.
Yes a date, Sora recalled fondly. He hadn’t gone on one with Riku since back on the island. And the only reason he had blushed at the idea of a date was recalling how that had ended. Him pressed up against the side of a building, shirt half pulled off and pant buckle undone, almost getting caught with Riku’s hands down his pants and hickeys being marked on his neck.
And then Riku had to go suggest they go see a movie and get ice cream. Like that last time when the blush-worthy thing happened. Sora swore Riku used to be more subtle than that.
So they went on a date to the nearby ice-cream shop on Sunday night, and Sora had ordered an extra large triple flavour stacked wafer cone of a paopu-flavoured scoop on top of a sea salt-flavoured scoop on top of a strawberry-flavoured scoop. His favourite combination.
He remembered Riku telling him that he had no idea how Sora could fit all that ice cream into his little body.
Sora had retorted that for ice cream, anything was possible. And that he wasn’t little.
Riku just smirked in his Riku way before pulling Sora along for a stroll along the River Styx – the long river which Radian Garden was built around, that ended in a harbour of the city’s most trendy hotspots. They actually had a chance to have a nice walk and chat before Riku decided to give into his hormones and drag Sora back to Hollow Bastian and throw him onto the bed and pull off his sweater and rake his teeth along Sora’s neck and–
Oh gosh. Please don’t let him be blushing.
Oh Gosh! Please don’t let him have painted that by accident!
Sora quickly brought himself back down to the real world and stared at the canvas in front of him in mortification. It seemed his hand took on a life of its own in the absence of his mind and had painted the entire ice-cream wafer cone that Sora had eaten that night onto his canvas. Well, at least it wasn’t some else more…crude…
Sora set down his paint brush and cocked his head, contemplating his painting. He was currently sitting in Art, his last period on a Thursday, trying to think of a theme for the final twelve pieces of artwork which made up his assessment for this class.
Someone let out a long whistle.
“Dark,” the dirty-blond haired boy commented from the table next to him. “But nice.”
Sora shot his head towards the speaker like a frightened deer. “Um…thanks.”
“What’s it meant to be of?” the boy continued to ask, scrutinising his painting.
Sora felt a little self-conscious. He didn’t even know if he had any talent in art, after all. All he knew was that drawing was a great way to release and escape, as there was nothing else available back on the island.
“Um,” the brunet scratched his head. “I don’t really know. I just…painted.”
“That’s cool,” the other teen nodded. “Let you heart lead the way and your hands take control. Very deep. I like it.”
“Yeah,” Sora responded unsurely.
“So what are those black things meant to be? I mean, I can tell the ice cream cone is an ice cream cone,” a paint brush pointed to his painting. “But I haven’t a clue what those other things are. Are they meant to be abstract?”
It was then that Sora took a long hard look at his work, and realise exactly what he depicted. While the ice cream cone he had just drawn remained bright and colourful and vibrant, the background of the painting was dark and melancholy – a palate of blacks and greys and browns and burgundies. And amidst the chaos were shadows. Black shadows with golden slits for pupils.
Sora almost dropped his brush.
Those things – they seem to permeate every aspect of his life. First his fear of the dark, and now emerging in his art. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?
“So?” the blond boy’s curious voice called him back out from his thoughts. “Abstract or what?”
“Yeah, abstract,” Sora replied shakily, eyes still trained on his painting.
“Ace. It’s pretty cool you know; it’s kind of like those pictures mentally scarred children draw for their psychologists. You’re really hitting the mark there.”
How little did this boy know just how close to hitting the mark he really was.
“That is such an awesome theme,” the other teen continued, oblivious. “Dude, you’re so creative. You should totally continue with it. Who knows, maybe pretending to paint other people’s release would actually let you work through any bad stuff you have deep down of your own. Art is therapeutic.”
Well that got Sora’s attention. “Yeah? You think?”
“Definitely,” came the nod. “Or if not, you’ll just get an A. You’re pretty good you know.”
“Thanks,” Sora smiled. “What’s your theme going to be on?”
His blond classmate let out an unsure sound. “Haven’t decided. Probably something strange and intense. Like small town mentality or something like that.” He turned his kind hazel eyes to Sora. “I hope it’ll be as cool as yours.”
“I’m sure it will be.”
They fell back into comfortable silence, each working on his own painting. Before long, there was only a few more minutes left of class. Sora immediately went into panic mode.
Should he say bye when the bell rings? Should he introduce himself too? Or would that be too forward? And what if this boy didn’t actually like Sora and was only trying to be nice by talking to the weird silent kid that nobody else would? What if Sora makes a fool of himself by trying to be friends with someone who had absolutely no interest whatsoever in being his in return?
Sora’s head began to hurt. He wished Riku was there to tell him exactly what to do about the complexities of social interaction.
When the bell finally rung a set of loud and shrilly rings, Sora still hadn’t decided what to do yet. The opportunity was slipping away…
“Oh, nice to meet you, by the way,” his dirty-blond haired neighbour suddenly said as he was packing up his things. “I’m Hayner,” he stuck out his hand with a toothy grin.
Sora hesitantly took the hand. He was so glad Hayner decided to make the first move seeing as he, himself, was hopeless. Hayner gripped his hand in a firm hand shake.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Sora.”
“Well,” the other teen stood up. “I’ll see you next class then, Sora. Sit in the same spot?”
Sora’s face split into a wide grin. “Yeah, okay.”
With a mock salute, Hayner exited the classroom.
Sora, meanwhile, was incredibly excited. It seemed the week was slowly looking up, first with Riku’s complete and loving attention, and now this. It seemed that Sora, all by himself, had made a friend.

A/N: Thanks for all your feedback so far (I think it’s hilarious so far that everyone hates Riku). Keep the reviews coming.
- 7
- 8
- 9
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Long Weekend Away