Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Sora1/2 ❯ Chapter 5

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Sora ½
By
Hoshika

Chapter 5

A week later Riku was doing much better though still running a high fever. Sora attended class sporadically looking after him. More concerned about her friend’s well being and not really caring much for going to school anyway Sora didn’t mind it one bit, however, still ended up doing a pile of homework that Akane brought home with her. She didn’t relish getting bad grades and combined with Akane’s threats to expose her if she didn’t do it Sora made sure to complete the assignments to the best of her ability as soon as possible so at least she’d be free from it during the weekends. Sitting down at the table on a lazy Saturday afternoon she began diligently writing on a sheet of clean crisp paper. Riku walked by groaning with a mug of warm tea in one hand and a small jar of castor oil in the other that Soun Tendo had given him to take a spoon full of to aid his recovery. Riku was more studious than Sora and wouldn’t mind going to school if it meant getting out of that house for more than a moment, but his mind was more focused on finding his friend. Having a feeling that Sora was close by being derailed from his search didn’t bother him too much and though he would never admit it he was enjoying the Tendou family’s hospitality.
“Hey whatcha writin’,” Ranma asked looking over Sora’s shoulder.
“Nothing!” The girl said hiding the surface of the paper from him her face burning red from embarrassment.
“Oh really,” Ranma asked finding her reaction amusing. Swiftly reaching down he snatched it from her.
“Give it back!” Sora ordered rising to her feet angry.
“If you’ve seen one love letter you’ve seen them all. I just want to know who you’re writing this one to.” Ranma said gracefully jumping back as Sora reached out to take the letter back from him.
“Dear Santa?” Ranma read his eyes bulging for a moment. He ducked missing a kick aimed at his head. “Please put me back on your nice list.” Ranma continued reading outloud then cracked up laughing as they moved into the back yard Ranma dodging all of Sora’s lightening fast attacks as if they were nothing. “I’m very sorry for what I said. Please forgive me.” Ranma continued then jumped a good distance away from Sora. “Oh man, you’re killing me!” Ranma said laughing. “You still believe in Santa Clause?” Ranma said then bent over laughing so hard his sides were hurting.
Sora had had it with him. Looking around to make sure no one was watching she then turned her gaze back to Ranma a determined expression on her face. “LIGHT” Sora shouted and went into Limit Form. Too busy laughing Ranma had looked up just in time to be pummeled. In the blink of an eye Sora had knocked Ranma out whacking him with the blunt of the keyblade a few dozen times. Breathing heavily she reverted out of the form and caught the letter as it floated down over Ranma’s unconscious body.

It had taken her hours but Sora had finally completed the perfect letter begging Santa for forgiveness. Dozens of crumpled pieces of paper lay piled up around her on the floor and on the table by the time she had finished. Spraying the letter with a bit of peppermint spray then sealing it in a envelop with a glittery wreath sticker Sora laid her head down on the table and went to sleep.
Since everyone else was preoccupied Riku wandered back into the living room where he found Sora soundly sleeping. Taking his time he cleaned of the papery mess from around her then looked at the envelope sticking out from under her folded arms. Seeing who the letter was addressed to Riku smiled remembering his friend who teased terribly for believing in Santa Clause. Grabbing a sheet of paper he wrote a quick letter to Santa as well;

Not caring to saying anything more Riku sealed the envelope with a candy cane sticker.“You’re going to the post box soon to mail your letter right?” Riku said noticing Sora had woken up.
“Yeah,” she said yawning.
“Could you take mine with you?” Riku asked holding up the envelope.
“Huh? What?” Sora said snapping into her senses. “You wrote a letter to Santa too?”
“Yeah so,” Riku said still holding the letter.
“Nothing, you just didn’t strike me as the type who believes in Santa or anything.” Sora said taking the envelope.
“I didn’t, but I know someone who’s met him, so I figured I might as well apologize for saying he was fake.” Riku said standing up whipping sweat from his forehead. He was feeling light headed from the fever and was beginning to think all the castor oil did was make it worse on top of being one of the most disgusting things he had ever eaten in his life. “Hope you get what you asked for.” He said then left the room.

It took a while for Riku to recover, probably due to the fact he insisted on being up and about spending a lot of time sitting in the backyard whenever there was small break in his fever and he was feeling well enough to do so. This was during the day. At night he was so weak he couldn’t even eat his dinner without Sora’s assistance. The boy was intensely embarrassed by this but found himself unable to refuse Sora’s help as food was shoved into his mouth when he at first was unwilling to open it for her. Despite the fact that he had given her a lot of grief during the days he had enough strength to argue Riku was grateful for all her help and couldn’t help but wonder why a complete stranger would spend so much time and put so much effort into taking care of him. He found it strange indeed believing that even the nicest person wouldn’t go through the trouble this girl had gone through.
Waking up one night Riku had found Sora sitting by his futon. Her head was hanging down and her eyes so heavy with sleep she didn’t notice he was staring at her even though her gaze was set in his direction. Sitting up he continued staring at her but the girl’s gaze didn’t sway, not once. Leaning forward he examined her closely then waved his hand in front of her face. “Out like a light.” Riku thought finally realizing that Sora wasn’t sleepy but actually asleep. Pushing aside the pile of blankets on the futon he moved Sora over to it and laid her down before leaving the room for a little while. When he came back Riku took the pile of blankets and stacked them together beside the futon. Laying down he stared over at Sora in the dark room. Her eyes had finally closed. “I know it’s not enough, but thank you.” Riku whispered.
A few weeks had pasted since that night. Riku was no longer sick and had begun attending school regularly. Instead of moving forward in his search for his best friend he found himself reluctant to leave the Tendou residence and had gotten a part time job to pay for expenses. Even in finding employment he found himself being helped by the brown, spiky haired girl. She was able to find employment rather quickly working at a café while Riku on the other hand received rejection after rejection. Sora had practically begged the manager/owner of the café to hire him. Giving in more to Sora’s attractive appearance than her pleas the manager agreed to hire him. Having a bias toward hiring male waiters Riku was the only male employee at the café which caused a slight stir among the regular customers. Often Riku found himself overhearing derogatory comments about himself. This wasn’t anything new to him since pretty much the same thing happened when he started school. Riku usually just brushed off the insulting hushed comments, but sometimes they got to him and on those days he would go about doing his job silently fuming and even though he was frowning no one could see his furrowed brow under the long bangs he wore. In fact except for his mouth not much else of his face was visible as Riku had taken to neglecting cutting his hair. Whether it was at school or at his part time job or anyplace else for that matter people seemed to recoil from him. Except for those in the Tendou household particularly Sora people seemed to take an instant disliking toward him. He was beginning to hate living in Japan and often remembered the brief time he had spent in China and how he had encountered more friendly faces there than in his current location. If it weren’t for Sora and the kindness of the Tendous, Ranma and his father included, Riku would have found himself deeply depressed from the constant shunning.
Standing outside on the porch Riku was leaning against the house with his arms folded patiently waiting for everyone. Although he was in the same class as Nabiki he often walked to school with Akane, Ranma, and Sora. It also seemed that Nabiki left the house far earlier than they did. Riku figured it was because she preferred walking to school alone or had some business to take care of that revolved around some kind of scheme or two. “Where’s Sora?” Riku asked when Akane and Ranma came outside without her.
“How should I know? She’s probably putting on make-up or something.” Ranma said having could care less about what Sora was up to.
“Ranma,” Akane grumbled then turned her attention to Riku. “I woke her up this morning and I’m sure she got up, but she didn’t even come down for breakfast today. I wonder what’s going on.”
“I’ll go check on her.” Riku volunteered then turned to go back into the house when Akane stopped him after appearing to have been thinking about something. “Um, I’ll go get her.” she said and ran in ahead of him.
“Sora?” Akane said entering her bedroom. Sora was laying face down on futon across from Akane’s bed dressed in her school uniform. “Sora, what’s wrong?” Akane asked stooping down by her feet. When she didn’t get a response she called her name again nudging her. “Are you o-.” Akane stopped when she noticed the girl was crying. “What’s wrong?” She asked concerned.
“I think I might be dying or something.” Sora said softly through quiet sobs.
“Why,” Akane asked a little taken back by Sora’s response. When Sora told her what was wrong Akane erupted in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Sora asked fuming.
“That’s supposed to happen.” Akane said still laughing.
“What?! Why?” Sora asked shocked.
“Don’t you know anything?” Akane said then tried to give her a quick explanation, but Sora still didn’t understand.
“I don’t get it.” Sora said staring at Akane blankly.
“You really don’t have a clue do you? “I really rather not have this conversation.” She thought and begin explaining everything to the spiky haired girl in detail as quickly as she could. A few minutes later Sora’s eyes were swirling.
“I can’t believe you really didn’t know! Geez you’re dumb.” Akane said honestly shocked.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Sora said her face resting against her knees.
“Pull it together. Ranma and Riku are down stairs waiting on us.” Akane said smiling as she held back another fit of laughter.
“What are you two doing?” Riku said entering the room unannounced. “We’re going to be late.”
“Gone on ahead we’ll catch up.” Akane said. Without another word Riku quickly left the room. Getting up Akane went over to her drawers and pulled something from one of them. “I have just a little more to explaining to do.” Akane said placing what she had pulled from the drawer into Sora’s hands.
“What is it now?” Sora said groaned.
“If you insist on staying as a girl you need to know this or you just won’t be dumb you’ll end up really embarrassing yourself too.” Akane said sternly. “Now listen up.”

During lunch hour Riku went to Sora’s homeroom to eat with her. He found her sitting at her desk by the window sulking. “Hey.” He said but Sora didn’t respond. “Hey snap out of it.” He said gently shaking her.
Sora looked up at him for a moment then her gaze went back down to her desk. “I’m sorry I just really want to be left alone right now.” Sora said putting her head down. She was feeling terrible. If she could crawl into a hole at that moment she would have.
“It’s fine.” Riku said nonchalantly even though her words kind of hurt his feelings. When he entered the room the atmosphere had seemed to become heavy and he couldn’t help but notice how the loud chatter had quieted and the quick glances people were giving him as they tried not to stare but still ended up doing so in quick bouts. What Sora said made him feel like one of the few friends he had made while in this strange universe was rejecting him as well. For the remainder of the period Riku stood on the roof looking down at the activity below.

~ Chapter 5 end ~