The littlest thing…

"I don't say things like that!"

"Yes you do!"

"Really? When? Name one time I have said something that mean to you."

"How about yesterday? Or the day before that?"

And this was how arguments started between Riku and Sora. At 7 and 8, they were strong-hearted, free-willed little things that screamed just about as much as they laughed. As often as they were arm in arm, exploring caves and grottos on their island, they were at each other's throats for something as irrelevant as whose practice sword was whose.

"Yours was the one with the dent in it!"

"Was not! You're the one who never takes care of your things!"

It would continue to escalate, until the wrestling younglings were pulled apart by their scolding mothers. Even then it took a colossal effort to keep tiny fists from colliding with little noses. Tears would find way to sneak down dirt streaked faces, and tantrums were always inevitable.

Some might say it was their conflicting personalities that always got them going head to head against each other. Riku's relentless ambition and Sora's laid back attitude were so polar opposite that it was almost a wonder the boys were friends. The boy's mothers often wondered about what happened in between the all-too-often scuffles that kept the boys confined to their rooms for a few days at a time, it was such a mystery, but nobody really bothered to ask.

It always started the same way. Sora and Riku could almost follow a formula to get into an argument, they did it so efficiently they resembled a well-oiled machine. All it took was one wrong word, one misplaced tone or emphasis. One misunderstanding and you might as well have thrown a match in a tank of gasoline. To them, the littlest thing could change their lives.

This particular time, Sora had drawn a picture in the cave, one that he was quite proud of. His mother always told him she loved his drawings, but he knew that Riku was better. Of course he sought the older boy's approval. He wiped his chalk dusty hands on his shorts, knowing that his mother would have his hide for it later.

"Riku?" Sora called out to his best friend, stepping outside their aptly named "secret place". He inclined his head upwards at the sound of Riku's familiar chuckle.

There was Riku, perched on one of the palm trees that Sora knew both of their parents had expressly forbidden them to climb. He lounged, clearly not bothered by the fact that any movement at all could send him plummeting to the ground.

"Riku! Wanna come down here? I drew something that's really cool!" Sora explained, his voice laced with anticipation and pride. He bounced up and down in impatience, waiting for the older boy to respond.

"I dunno Sora. Can't I just look at it later?"

Riku's response was definitely not what Sora had hoped. At seven years old, he was very used to instant gratification, and "later" was not really an option for an eager Sora.

"Later is lame. You should come down and see it now! It's awesome!" He tried to use his most persuasive voice. Sora's mother had always said his pout could get him places.

"Hm, but it's so comfortable up here. Besides it can't be that cool." Riku replied casually, not really stopping to think about what his words would mean to the proud artist.

"It IS that cool. If you don't think so, you don't have to EVER come look at it. EVER!" Sora yelled at his friend angrily, stomping away with his little fingers balled into fists. He crossed the bridge that would lead him to his favourite crooked Paupu tree, and sat in a ball at the base of the trunk, pulling his knees into his chest.

"Stupid Riku,and his stupid trees and his stupid hair, and his stupid face. Stupid. Too stupid to come see my drawing…"

Sora's angry muttering continued, while Riku, unable to hear, sat perplexed in his tree. What had he said? It's not like new drawings were rare, they made them all the time. Riku hadn't realized what a big deal it would be if he didn't come to look at it right away. Now Sora was upset, and Riku, being the elder of the two, took it upon himself to fix it.

Shakily removing himself from his precarious perch on the tree, he slid down the sturdy trunk till his feet touched the ground. He puffed out his chest, time to act the big man, and strode over to where he knew Sora would be.

"Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Thinks he's so much better than me, He's so dumb."

Affronted, Riku turned around the trunk, gazing angrily at Sora.

"So now I'm stupid? Stupid because I won't see some silly little drawing you made?"

"Stop it! It's not silly!" Sora defended his work proudly, standing up to his full height, so his forehead was at the same level as Riku's nose.

"Yeah okay, whatever. Sure it's not silly. What would I know? I'm just stupid." He said with resentment.

"Yeah. You are!" Sora agreed angrily, crossing his arms over his chest.

"At least I'm not as stupid as your drawing." Riku taunted, putting his hands on his hips and smirking infuriatingly at his younger friend.

Riku was not surprised when he saw Sora blink back tears. He was not surprised when he saw the tiny little fists tighten. And he was not surprised when Sora opened his mouth to yell something decidedly inappropriate.

Riku was surprised, when Sora launched himself at Riku. He was surprised, when those fists, tiny as they seemed, found a target wherever they could reach. Man, the tyke could pack a punch, though it could be assumed that sparring with Riku in all his free time had given Sora an edge to other children his age.

Riku was being pummeled, he was very aware of it, not that he was going to allow it for much longer. He shoved Sora off him, standing up and moving back before Sora could hit him again.

Sora was heaving, his anger showing through the streaky red blotches on his cheeks. His nails, short as they were, were digging into the palms of his hands, leaving angry red marks when he flexed his fingers experimentally.

"You always say stuff I do is stupid. You always call me dumb, or silly. I hate it."

"I don't say things like that!" Riku denied this claim angrily, swiping his hand through the air as if to slash away the accusation. Sora disagreed.

"Yes you do!" He was upset that Riku wouldn't even admit to having hurt his feelings. He wanted Riku to say sorry.

"Really? When? Name one time I have said something that mean to you." Riku tried going on the offensive, putting his hands on his hips and raising his silver, eight year old eyebrows at Sora.

"How about yesterday? Or the day before that?"

Riku stopped, his hands dropping to his sides, and stepping backwards. Sora really thought that of him? How could he? Of course he should know that Riku never meant those harsh things he said. It was his way of joking, communicating, never to be taken seriously.

"You know I don't mean most of the things I say." Riku said quietly, only a little bit hurt.

"I don't know that at all." Sora denied, glaring now.

"Well you should know now." Riku encouraged, trying to get his point across. "I never really mean to hurt your feelings, Sora, that would be mean."

"I can never tell if you are being serious or not."

Riku chuckled quietly to himself. "I have a really easy way for you to tell. If it might hurt your feelings, I don't mean it."

Sora smiled slightly, walking towards Riku, who took a step back.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?" He asked cautiously.

"Don't think you could handle it if I did." Sora said, ducking casually to avoid the cuff to the back of the head that he knew was coming.

Riku was caught off balance by the miss, and tumbled forward to the ground. Just as Sora started to chortle as his friend's misfortune, he was tugged down to the dirt by a sneaky hand taking his feet out from under him. He landed on his butt with a large "Oof!"

Blue eyes connected with green, and suddenly both boys were laughing, loudly and exuberantly, clutching at their sides in an attempt to contain their suddenly raucous enjoyment of the situation. After a few minutes of this, and having chased off any and all seagulls, and all the marine wildlife within a mile radius, the laughter grew quieter.

The boys lay on the ground, Sora's feet resting by Riku's head. Sora's grade two education would tell them that they were making the letter "L". Still huffing and puffing, Sora didn't even notice when Riku turned to look inquisitively at him.

"Wasn't there a drawing I was suppose to see?" He asked with a small smile, which grew as Sora jumped to his feet and ran towards the secret place, beckoning for Riku to join him. Pushing himself to his feet, Riku joined the already impatient Sora, who, in some grand act of kindness, had waited at the door for Riku.

Riku stepped into the cave, regretting years later in which he knew he would have to duck to get in. He looked around the familiar setting, but couldn't for the life of him find the new doodle he was supposed to be admiring.

He turned to see Sora moving a tree branch that he had draped with leaves, something he had clearly prepared for the effect of unveiling his grand masterpiece.

"Voila!" He pulled the branch away.

Riku touched his finger gently to the wall, admiring the quality and painstaking precision that it must have required to draw what he was looking at now.

"It took me forever. Like three whole days! Cool huh?"

"So cool, Sora. Sorry I didn't come see it before."

And there on the wall, was a picture of a huge boat. One with sails and a steering wheel and people swabbing the deck. Cannons and two floors and a mermaid on the hull of the boat. But that wasn't what caught Riku's eye.

Up in the bird's nest of the ship were two boys, one with unmistakable spiky brown hair, and one with longer, more girlish silver hair.

"That's us, on this huge ship?"

"Yup! We're gonna sail places and see things and meet people. Just the two of us." Sora exclaimed.

And so the two, in the wake of another explosive but short lived argument, spent the night describing their many adventures out to sea. Pirates they would fight and beautiful maidens they would rescue. Countries they could discover and things they could invent. The ideas mesmerized them for so long that it took them at least another day before they found something else to fight about – who got to keep all the gold.

***Seven Years Later***

Riku sat on his own, doodling a vacant paupu fruit on the walls of the cave. Detailing the leaf, he stopped when his line almost ran over a very faint, old-looking drawing. Carefully, he blew dust off the faded drawing, trying to uncover it without accidentally erasing it.

It took him a good hour, but the result was amazing. A ship, that looked like it had been drawn by Sora or him when they were but children. The only part of the drawing left to clear up was the bird's nest, and Riku took the most care with that one.

What he found made him smile. There he was, with Sora on top of the bird's nest, on top of the world. He could not believe that he had forgotten about this drawing, this idea. He and Sora had spent so many hours planning, scheming. They would have made great pirates.

Rising, Riku made to leave the cave, grimacing when he had to duck to make it out the entrance. He found Sora where he knew he would be, sitting on the crooked Paupu tree that somehow had managed not to fall. Sora glanced over to Riku, and beckoned him over to watch the sunset, Kairi's boat was gone from the dock, meaning that Sora could be called on for good company now, and not likely to go to mush over the girl.

And so Riku leaned against the trunk, putting his hands behind his head.

"So Sora, remember when we wanted to sail away from here?"

The littlest thing could change your life.