Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Evanescence Of Fantasies ❯ Flashback ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

SIMPLE AND CLEAN: FLASHBACK

"When you walk away You don't hear me say pleaseOh baby, don't go Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonightIt's hard to let it goYou're giving me too many thingsLately you're all I needYou smiled at me and said,Don't get me wrong I love youBut does that mean I have to meet your father?When we are older you'll understandWhat I meant when I said "No,I don't think life is quite that simple""

-Simple and Clean,
---

Summer vacation. Those words alone can cause a child to pass out from excitement. No teachers, no class, and best of all no homework! No wonder Kairi and Sora were talking a thousand words per second; saying what their plans were for vacation. Riku listened intently as they continued to chatter about everything and anything. He caught glimpses of what they were saying, but the rest was just unclear.

"What do you think, Riku?" Kairi asked; finally including him into the conversation. "Won't it be fun?"

"Uh..." He barely heard a word they were saying. The last thing he heard was 'boat'. Were they talking about going fishing again? He hated fishing! All you did was sit there until you caught one, and to make matters worse Kairi always made them throw the fish back into the water because she felt sorry for the poor creatures. "Sure." He replied; believing he said the right thing because Kairi and Sora gave him a satisfied smile.

Before he knew it; he was pulled into a tight embrace from Kairi as she shrieked loudly in his ear. He winced and glanced over at Sora in confusion. What just happened here?

"I'll set things up, ok? You'll have fun I promise!" Kairi exclaimed before running off towards town. "Be ready by eight o'clock, Riku! You don't want to make a first bad impression, do you?"

"What?" He asked. Kairi didn't hear his confusion as she continued her path to her house. "What did I just volunteer myself to do?"
Sora frowned as he realized Riku wasn't paying attention to their conversation at all. "Uh...weren't you listening?"

"Sora, it's hard to listen when you and Kairi are both in 'excitement mode'. Between you and me, you're worse then Selphie."

"Ouch." Sora replied sadly, "Am I really?"

Riku nodded without hesitation. "Congratulations, you have the power to talk as fast as a chick." He replied while patting his friend on the back.

Sora glared at him before smiling victoriously, "Well, Riku, I think you better learn how to do that too...and fast."

"Why's that?" Riku asked curiously.

"Because you have a date with the new girl tonight." Sora replied, laughing.

"WHAT? What new girl?" Riku asked, standing in shock as he peered at the shorter brunette.

"If you would have listened then you would've heard Kairi talking about meeting a new girl earlier today. She said the girl was alittle odd due to the fact she barely spoke to anyone...so Kairi asked you if it was ok if you took the new girl out to our island on the boat. Just the two of you."

"That sneaky...KAIRI! GET BACK HERE!" Riku yelled as he glared down the path she went. But he knew he was too late. The girl was long gone to set up the arrangements.

"Calm down, Riku! It can't be that bad!"

"I wanna see you get set up on a blind date and see how you like it!"

Sora sighed, "Don't be upset, Riku. Think of how the girl must feel being set up on a date with you..."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Riku yelled, turning all his anger on him. "You think I'm not good enough to go on a date with the new girl? You think she's too good for me?" He scoffed, crossing his arms, "It's the other way around! How do I even know if this girl's gonna be good-looking?"

Typical Riku. Sora shook his head in disappointment, "Looks aren't everything, Riku."

"Only ugly people say that." Riku replied angrily.

"Fine...be a jerk. But we both know you're going to go through with this because you made a promise to Kairi and she'll be very sad if you went back on your word."
Riku groaned, knowing Sora was right.

"And for the record, I saw the girl Kairi was talking about." Sora added.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Is she at least cute?"

Sora grinned and walked away.

"Some friend you are!" Riku shouted.
---
"I can't believe I'm through with this." Riku muttered angrily as he waited by the docks for his 'blind date'. "Am really that whipped?"

"I think the word would be 'gullible'." A voice replied; startling Riku. He quickly turned to see a tall, thin figure standing behind him. How did he not hear her coming?

"Uh...yeah." He replied; shielding his eyes from the bright light she held in her hand.

Noticing his discomfort with the brightness of the glow stick in her hand; she immediately tied it to the side of her dress. "Sorry about that...it's really dark out tonight and I can't..." She paused, "I don't like the dark."

"Oh." He replied; getting a good look at the girl. He hasn't seen her around before. Was she knew?

"Waiting for someone?" She asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Actually...yeah..." He replied, looking around casually. He really didn't want to go on a blind date...he didn't want to go on a date period! It was bad enough during school he had many girls on him, now Kairi wants to use their summer vacation as a sort of 'Who wants to date Riku?' game show.

"Oh!" She nodded. "Me too."

"Boyfriend?" Riku asked, glancing at her. He had no idea what brought him to ask her that question since it really wasn't any of his business. Maybe he just wanted to start a small conversation before Kairi's new friend showed up or maybe he just really wanted to know.

The girl snorted before looking away, "Yeah...right. That's the last thing I need. I'm a walking curse when it comes to boys."

"You? A walking curse? Somehow I find that hard to believe." Riku replied. He settled himself on the dock; his feet dangling just inches above the water.

She looked at him; her gaze both held curiosity and confusion. "Why is that hard to believe?" She asked. "I have the most horrible luck when it comes to boys...even relationships in general. It's not like I get to stick around for them or anything...and if I can then bad things just happen."

He raised an eyebrow, "Bad things?"

She sighed and sat next to him. "Don't ask."

"Now I'm more curious." He was surprised when he heard the girl laugh. He wasn't trying to be funny...but her laughter was nice. It was even more beautiful then Kairi's. Whoa...where did that come from? He thought as he gazed at the brunette; the moon was doing an excellent job of highlighting her features in the darkness. Everyone knew of Riku's crush on Kairi except Kairi, he never could bring himself to feel for another girl the way he felt for her. What was it about the redhead that brings Riku to do anything to make her happy? But now he was here with a girl that was not Kairi; feeling things he thought he'd never feel for another. He found it odd. Not only did he just meet the girl but he didn't even know her name.

"I'm Lenne by the way." She finally said after controlling her laughter. "I got here a couple days ago. You can say I'm on a mission."

"A mission?" He asked, "What kind of mission?"

She shrugged, "Looking for someone." Lenne continued to gaze out into the sea, the look on her face looked hopeful. "He's my light."

"He? You said you didn't have time for a relationship."

"This one's different." She replied, "He can save me."

Riku wasn't liking the way this girl was talking. Was she in trouble? Who was this guy she was talking about? If she was in trouble then he wanted to know; he would hate to think of this girl being in any danger.

"Save you? Are you in trouble? Is someone trying to hurt you?"

She laughed again, but this wasn't the same beautiful laughter Riku heard before. This time he heard sadness in it. She was laughing to hide the awful truth.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." She replied assuringly, "I've gotten this far without him...I'm sure I can survive."

"Must be a complete ass of a guy if he isn't looking for you." Riku replied. He couldn't help it; he sucked when it came to holding his tongue. Whomever this guy was didn't know how good he had it. Lenne was really attractive, not only because of looks but also personality. Riku would kill to have someone like that for himself.

Lenne gave him an amused smirk, "Maybe he doesn't know."

"Know what?"

"That I'm looking for him...that he's my light."

"He doesn't know but you do? Still sounds like a jerk." Riku responded. He kicked the water with the tip of his shoe; trying to control the growing jealousy. Since when did I become jealous of someone I never even met over a girl I barely even know?

Lenne sensed the strong emotion coming from the boy. Jealousy. She frowned, wondering why he was becoming so upset. Maybe it was best she left before something happened that can be harmful to her and the boy. "It's getting late." She announced as she rose from the edge of the dock. "I should get going..."

"Wait!" Riku quickly jumped up and grabbed her by the wrist; losing his balance in the progress. He stammered backwards before falling into the water, taking her with him. They both cried out as they hit the cool water.

Riku and Lenne swam back above surface; coughing and spitting out the saltiness of the water.

"Sorry." He muttered apologetically as he looked away from Lenne with embarrassment. Great...great job, Riku! Almost drown the girl why don't you? He thought as he expected Lenne to yell at him or storm out the water. What he didn't expect was to hear that beautiful laughter again. He watched as she moved the wet strands of hair out of her face revealing a huge smile. Riku blinked in confusion.

"Don't be...this is the most fun I've had in..." She paused to think, "Actually this is the funnest time I've had ever!"

Riku grinned as his ego was boosted up. "Yeah...well...I tend to have that affect on people." Without thinking about his actions, he leaned forward to brush back a wet streak of hair that was stuck to her cheek. She immediately grabbed his hand as it grazed against her skin; she pressed it firmly against her cheek gazing at him with an unreadable expression.

Riku was usually the type to take things slow when it came to handling girls; despite what people in school may think. He liked to be sure before actually going for the relationship but this time was different. He moved in forward; his mouth inches from hers as he cupped her face with both hands.

"I...can't." Lenne breathed as his mouth almost enclosed on hers, "I...have to go...I'm so sorry." She quickly pulled away from him and made her way to the docks; pulling herself up as water dripped from her blue dress.

"Lenne, wait." He said; swimming towards the docks. She stopped and shook her head sadly.

"You're a nice guy but...I have to find him. I can't allow myself to be with anyone else...I'm sorry." She replied.

Riku became angry as she mentioned the guy again. "Him? Who is this guy? What's his name?" He asked, glaring up at her.

Lenne sighed, sensing his anger. "Please don't be mad..."

"What's his name?" He asked again. He sounded less patient and more frustrated.

"It's Riku, ok?" She replied, "The guy I'm looking for...his name is Riku. I need to find him and be with him before it's too late so I'm sorry if I led you on in any way."

Riku's jaw dropped as he looked at her. "Did you say 'Riku'?"

"Riku! Lenne! There you are!" Kairi exclaimed as both her and Sora approached the docks. "Oh my! Riku! What have you done?" Kairi asked as she spotted the wet couple.

"Riku?" Lenne asked as she looked back at Riku who never took his gaze off of her. "You're...?"

"This is the last time I let you show someone around, Riku!" Kairi said, not noticing the looks they were giving eachother. "Lenne, are you ok?"

"I'm...fine...thank you."

Sora smirked knowingly at Riku who continued to look at Lenne, "Not so bad for a blind date, huh?"

"You have no idea." Riku responded.

---

Riku's eyes snapped open as everything came back to him. Everything.

"When you walk awayYou don't hear me say pleaseOh baby, don't goSimple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight..."

He turned in his bed to find Lenne sitting at the little dresser singing as she dried her wet hair. She stopped when she felt his gaze on her.

"Sorry." She smiled apologetically, "Did I wake you?"

Riku didn't mind her singing. In fact, he found her singing voice to be the most beautiful sound in all worlds but right now he was not happy.

Lenne frowned as she sensed something wrong, "What's wrong? You ok?"

"You were never going to tell me were you?" He asked as he hastily got up from bed. He couldn't believe she lied to him! Did she know how hard it was for him to keep his feelings for her inside because he believed he shouldn't feel that way?

"What are you talking about, Riku?" She turned in her chair to look at him, "Tell you what?"

"About us!" He shouted. He stopped himself before he could let his anger get out of control again. He took a few breaths before lowering his voice to be more calm, "About you and me...before I lost my memory."

"Oh." Lenne replied quietly. She glanced down at the ground then looked back up at him, "You remember now?"

He nodded.

"Everything?"

"Everything."

She sighed and rose from her chair, "I couldn't tell you we were romantically involved, Riku."

Riku scowled, "What do you mean you couldn't tell me! I had a right to know!"

"Why are you so mad?" She asked, not understanding his anger towards her. So she kept a little secret from him...was it really that important?

"Because I love you and you made me believe that that was forbidden!" he yelled. "I thought these feelings I felt were wrong...that I'm only here to protect you and not fall in love with you! I had to get my memory back from a dream! A dream, Lenne! Do you know how much that hurts?"

"I didn't want to lose you again!" She yelled back, "Every time we met again we always fell back in love...it just happens! Then Samara uses that against me! She uses it to hurt you! I don't want that! I thought we'd be better off this time as friends!"

Riku shook his head, "We'll never be just friends, Lenne." He almost made it sound like a threat. "It's always been you...I went to the darkness for you."

"I'm..."

"Don't you even think about apologizing." He interrupted.

"No." Lenne shook her head, "I won't allow it to happen again."

"What?" Riku asked incredulously, "You say it like you have a choice! You can't stop yourself from loving, Lenne. Even I know that and believe me I've tried." He peered at her, "And I'm gonna tell you what I told you before on the islands: You have a heart and you can't stop what it feels."

"You don't understand..."

"Let Samara try something. I'm here now, Lenne. We can stop her now."

"You said that last time, remember?" She asked, crossing her arms asa she made her point, "It wasn't easy for me either. I didn't like the idea of you and Kairi...but you loving her is safer then you loving me."

"I'm the guardian here. I don't need you thinking you need to protect me." He replied.

"Ah! You two finally found eachother?" Lenne and Riku stopped arguing to look at the wizard in their doorway. "It's about...oomph!" Riku had him quickly pinned up against the wall, his oblivion dangerously close to his throat. "My...you sure have gotten stronger, my boy!"

"Riku!" Lenne cried out, "Let him go!"

"You know him?" Riku asked.

"Not really...but he isn't bad. I can sense his light." Lenne replied. Riku slowly backed off the old man, eyeing him suspiciously.

"My name's Merlin." He said, extending a hand. Riku refused to shake it. "I'm here to help."

Lenne and Riku stared at him in silence. Neither knowing if they could trust the odd wizard.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Riku asked finally.
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A/N: Look at my fan art for the O.C. contest