"Once Upon a Paopu Fruit"

By Pixie

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Disney and Squaresoft do. But if anyone's still looking for a Christmas gift for their favorite author….

Author's Commentary: This had to be the most random idea I've had in a long while. First KH fic, first shonen-ai fic, be nice, please. It's late at night.

Chapter 1: Hungry

            "So hungry….food all the way over there…" Sora glanced over, not even bothering to roll as he gazed over longingly at his island. Up until now, he had been resting rather peacefully, protected from the hot sun under the shade of the island's Paopu tree. The shade covered his body just perfectly, leaving him shielded from the sun, right down to his toes. The sand felt cool and soft, and rather nice compared to the hot island sun overhead.

            The brown-haired boy looked around some more, as if in hopes of trying to find someone who would bring him food. But no one was in sight anywhere. Sora groaned as his stomach growled all the more loudly. He was going to starve to death because he was too lazy and too comfortable to go get food.

            "Riku…Kairi…help…I'm dying…" Certainly it felt that way as his stomach produced another growl, growing all the more demanding in its requests for food.

            Suddenly, something yellow appeared in the corner of Sora's eyes. He turned his head just enough to see what the shape was. The familiar star-shaped fruit sat there in the soft warm sand, seemingly just within Sora's reach. The brunette reached out, his fingers just knocking it within reach.

            Sure, you weren't supposed to eat the Paopu fruit unless you were going to intertwine your destiny with someone else, but Sora was really hungry and he didn't care. Besides, no one else was going to eat the fruit, as Sora planned on eating it all.

            Sora took a small bite, just to test the taste, and was surprised to the find the fruit very bitter indeed. He grimaced horribly and quickly swallowed the fruit, the foul taste still lingering within his mouth.

            That was enough, even for Sora. He leapt to his feet, the awful taste still in his mouth.

            "Need…water!" Sora ran off back towards the mainland to get some water to wash the awful taste out of his mouth.

            "Come on Riku…Please? Just one little itty bitty lesson?" The blond boy continued to follow around the older silver-haired boy, tugging slightly at his shirt as they walked along the beach.

            "Hey! Watch the shirt…It'll stretch! Fine, I'll give you ONE lesson, if you leave me alone. Let's go to the little island, with the Paopu tree. Less people will bother us there…" Tidus happily picked up his little stick, Riku picked up his wooden sword, and they set off for the island to practice fighting techniques.

            Sora stuck his whole head under the little waterfall of fresh water, swallowing the water in great gulps until the bitter taste subsided.

            "That…was the most disgusting thing I'd ever eaten…"

            Eaten?

            Sora's stomach growled again.

            "Oh yeah! Food!" The carefree brunette walked off again, this time heading for his own house, in search of food to carry back to his little peaceful resting spot under the Paopu tree.

            Meanwhile, Sora's peaceful resting spot had become Tidus and Riku's sparring spot. The little blond was panting whereas Riku had yet to break a sweat.

            "Let's take a break Riku…Please?" The young blond plopped down under the shade of the Paopu tree, leaning up against it to support himself.

            "What's the point of this dumb old tree anyway? The fruits are so high, you can't even reach them!" Tidus complained, gazing upwards.

            "You mean you don't know the legend of the Paopu fruit?" Riku asked incredulously. He had assumed everyone had known the legend. But Tidus, innocent in his big blue eyes, shook his head no, and stared at Riku, clearly expecting a story.

            "Well…" Riku paused for a moment, for effect, "They say that whatever two people share a Paopu fruit, will have their destinies intertwined together forever." Tidus gasped aloud.

            "Their destinies get intertwined! That's so gross! And doesn't it hurt? I mean, to have all your destinies and guts ripped out. And then to have them tied with someone else's?" Tidus looked up in fear at the Paopu tree.

            Riku stared at Tidus for a moment, trying to figure out what he said. Suddenly it hit him.

            "Not intestines you idiot! Destinies! You know…people's fates. Not the stuff inside their stomachs…" Tidus looked relived, then disappointed.

            "Aw darn, it sounded cool…So what do you think they taste like?"

            "No idea." Riku said coolly.

            "You should eat one Riku! Then we can find out how they taste! But I guess I couldn't taste one myself, cause I dun want our intestines to get tangled up." Riku didn't even bother correcting him.

            "I don't see one within reach." Riku said calmly to the young blond. Tidus looked around and suddenly spotted a fruit lying on the ground.

            "Here's one right here you can have Riku!" Tidus excitedly offered the fruit to Riku, who pushed it away.

            "I don't want it."

            "Why not? Are you scared to eat it Riku?" The blonde's comment touched a nerve in Riku. He snatched the fruit away from Tidus, took a huge bite from it, chewed and swallowed. The taste was horribly bitter, and Riku almost gagged on it. He looked over at Tidus with a proud smirk and was surprised to see a horrified expression on the blonde's face.

            "What is it?" he asked, staring at Tidus. Tidus didn't say anything, he simply wordlessly pointed to the fruit. Riku's gaze followed where the boy was pointing and noticed the same thing he had.

            Someone had already taken a bite out of this Paopu fruit.

            Sora casually strolled up to the island and saw Riku and Tidus, both sitting in his spot under the Paopu tree.

            "Aw man, you guys took my spot when I went to go get a drink of water…"

            Tidus looked up at the brunette, as Riku was still too much in shock to speak.

            "But we've been sparring here at least 20 minutes."

            "Yeah, well, a Paopu fruit fell out of the tree, and I was really hungry so I took a bite, but it was so awful…it took me twenty minutes to wash the taste out of my mouth." Riku only half-heard what Sora was saying but he caught the gist of it, and leapt to his feet, waving the Paopu fruit at Sora.

            "You?! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT TOOK THE BITE FROM THIS FRUIT?!"

-fin- (for now)

So, let me know what you guys think, ok?