Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Muninspa ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Muninspa [1/?]

Canon: post KH II

Pairing: Sora/Riku

Rating: R overall, this chapter G

Beta: mongoosestar

Disclaimer: I am not making any money off of writing, and I am in no way affiliated with Square Enix or Disney.

 

Summary: Sora finds that life is not as he imagined back on the islands, and soon finds himself longing for a way out. The unexpected arrival of three assailants allows Sora, Riku, and Kairi the chance to leave the Destiny Islands and see what has become of the other worlds.

 

Warnings: Violence not excluding character mutilation, crossovers, sexual situations, Kairi as an enabler, character death

 

1.

The most annoying thing about being back home on the islands was that no one believed him. His mother would barely speak to him because she was sure he'd simply spout preposterous tales of heroic battles and faraway friends he'd `met' thanks to drugs or something equally as bad. His teachers scolded him for making up such outlandish stories when asked to write about what he did over summer vacation, since they already `knew' he had spent the summer on the mainland at a special prep school for kids in need of extra help with their studies.

 

Tidus thought Sora's storytelling abilities had grown exponentially, but gave him withering looks whenever Sora insisted his stories were true. Selphie patted him on the back, and said “It's ok Sora, we love you just the way you are.” Then she looked up a drug rehab facility specifically for teenagers and passed him the address discretely in class. Wakka laughed, pulled him into a headlock and challenged him to a game of Blitzball.

Needless to say, returning to school after several years of unstructured adventuring was fairly frustrating for the Keyblade Master. He daydreamed through most of his classes, because what did he need line graphs and prepositions for when he could take on a narcissistic mastermind against terrifying odds and defeat him?

 

Once the class began, Sora's mind would immediately wander to the things he'd rather be doing: flying through Neverland, training with Phil for a tournament, exploring the Pridelands , swimming around Atlantica . . .

 

“Sora.”

 

. . . rebuilding Radiant Garden with Leon and the rest of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee . . .

 

“Sora.”

 

. . . sailing the Caribbean, fighting pirates, seeking treasure . . .

 

“Sora!”

 

“Wha?” Sora yelped; it was like a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped over him, his daydream had been broken so brutally.

 

He cast around the room, trying to figure out where he was. Shit. Geometry. His teacher was staring at him expectantly, thwapping a ruler against her palm as she waited for him to answer a question he obviously hadn't heard. He grimaced, and pushed himself as far back in his chair as possible. His classmates were all looking at him with annoyed expressions as he continued to hold the class up. Sora caught Kairi's eye; she motioned with her hand, where the teacher couldn't see, for him to answer. His eyes widened and he shook his head ever so slightly. She rolled her eyes and mouthed the answer.

 

“Er . . . pi?” he asked, still unsure what the question was and whether the answer would be viable. He shrunk even farther into the chair in shame.

 

The teacher narrowed her eyes and said, “Correct. Perhaps next time you could figure the answer out without help from Miss Izanami.” Kairi blushed but kept her face straight. “This is the third time, Mr. Kazuki. Principle's office, now.”

 

Sora bit his lip and rose, picking up his backpack from the floor. Kairi gave him a sympathetic look when he passed her; as he closed the door he smiled at her apologetically. Once on the other side of the portal he slumped against the wall and sighed, looking up to stare at the ceiling. Reluctantly he pushed himself off the wall and began the long trek to the principal's office, dragging his feet and taking his time to look at objects in the hall. It was narrow, and lined floor to ceiling with pale orange lockers. Sora felt boxed in, like the walls kept getting closer until they trapped him forever. He hated walking down the halls in between classes, trying to maneuver his way through a sea of upperclassmen. Just like another guppy in the pond.

 

For all of his claims of missing the Destiny Islands and wanting to return home, this wasn't how he thought it would be. Sora knew that he'd changed over the course of his two years away, but a part of him thought he might be happy just to be a normal teenager again. He snorted inwardly. Never trust that part of the brain again. He remembered walking up from the beach after saying goodbye to King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and even Jiminy, taking both Kairi and Riku's hands and smiling infectiously. When Kairi mentioned their parents were looking forward to seeing them, Riku had stopped dead, while Sora actually had to take a few seconds to remember what his mother looked like. When he told her where he'd been, she had become frantic and `wondered what sort of things that school let him get into.' She came into his room to wake him up one morning and saw the faded scars from old battles and eventually woke him up with her sobs. She demanded to know what had happened, but nothing he said seemed to satisfy her. Before he knew it he was back in school, where he would have left off had he been back in September. Kairi helped him catch up as much as she could, and Riku often joined them since he also hadn't studied in ages. Sora had quickly decided he hated having to take the slow path. He reluctantly accepted that his days of warp drives and Gummi battles were over, and attempted to re-assimilate himself. As if he didn't have enough on his mind.

 

Finally making it to the principal's office, he gave his name to the secretary and sat on the bench outside the door. Sora folded his arms across his chest, letting his chin fall and his eyes close, not really bothering to take in the surroundings he knew so well by now. His mind barely registered the ringing of a bell. Lunch. As if responding to his small recognition his stomach gave a plaintive growl, which he ignored.

 

Several minutes later the sound of another name being given to the secretary broke his trance. He did not look up, but he did smirk slightly when he felt the weight of another body slump onto the bench.

 

“Fancy meeting you here,” Sora said, his smirk growing.

 

His companion snorted. “What are you in for?” he asked.

 

“Not paying attention again,” Sora answered. “And you?”

 

The other student shrugged. “Problem in the line,” he answered lightly. “And you weren't at lunch.” As if conjuring it out of thin air, the speaker offered Sora a sandwich.

 

Sora laughed. “You're a lifesaver, d'you know that?” He took the sandwich gave a brilliant smile to his savior.

 

Riku shook his head, his silver hair swinging a little in the pony tail. “Eat the sandwich and thank me later.”

 

Sora took a deep bite out of the proffered food. Turkey and swiss on rye. Wait for it . . . there's the pickle! He chewed contently, his day already brighter in the presence of his best friend, Sandwich Master, and fellow Keyblade Master. There was no denying it; Riku made a mean sandwich. Nearly every day Riku brought an extra sandwich to school in case Sora forgot his. Though it was not a frequent occurrence, he continued to do so without fail. Riku seemed to have taken Sora's continued welfare into his own hands in the few weeks since their return. When they walked in the same direction to classes Riku would walk slightly ahead of him as they made their way down the corridors. Riku would muscle through the masses with Sora tagging along right behind, and by now even the Blitzball players wouldn't dare get in his way. Though Sora had never actually been witness to anything, Riku's reputation now preceded him through the halls.

 

Sora looked down at his sandwich. Riku had had a harder time readjusting to life on the islands than he had. Living in Darkness for so long had humbled him immensely. His parents had been unsure whether the young man on their doorstep was actually their son. They still maintain he was almost like a different person. While they settled on the dark beach after the fight with Xemnas, Sora eventually dragged Riku's story from the other side out of him. He had learned about bits and pieces of it since rejoining with Roxas, but that was only of a few hours as compared to a few years. So Riku told his story, and Sora listened. Sora mourned the arrogant boy he'd grown up with, long left behind in favor of this older, quieter man hell-bent on helping a friend he wasn't sure could forgive him. When Sora regained the use of his magic he made sure the wounds from Xemnas' sabers were healed, and pulled his old friend into a tight hug, burying his face into Riku's neck.

 

“Does eating a sandwich really involve that much thinking?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You're thinking so hard I smell something burning. There's nothing flammable up there, right?”

 

Sora made a face around his mouthful of turkey and cheese. “No, nothing flammable. Just . . . I don't know. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.”

 

“That's good. For a late-starter, you're catching up pretty quickly.”

 

“Ha, ha. You're funny.” Sora paused, taking another bite to finish off the sandwich. “I know this is going to sound familiar, but . . . there's so much out there. I don't think I can stay.”

 

Riku considered him without a trace of anything but seriousness. “You sound like me. Back then.”

 

“I know. But it's true. You saw the King's letter, there are things happening, important things.” Sora looked away. “I want to be there.”

 

“Then we go,” Riku said simply, shrugging. Sora looked up and met Riku's ocean-green eyes. “There's nothing keeping me here,” he clarified.

 

Sora looked away again. “What about my mom? And Kairi?”

 

Riku shrugged again. “We take Kairi with us.”

 

“You're really serious,” Sora said.

 

Riku raised an eyebrow at him, clearly saying Of course I am, the question is, are you up for it?

 

Sora broke out into a grin just as the principle's door opened and he called “Kazuki Sora.”

Riku pushed Sora up into a standing position and wished him luck. We're gonna need it.