Of Promises and Paopu
By The Ambitious Blank>

Disclaimer- Kingdom Hearts isn't mine. ^^; It's Disney's and Square's. Don't sue me.
Comments- Another KH fic by me. (Before you ask, no, this not the sequel to Yamitorihiki, I already have that out..) Sweet, shounen-ai goodness, Sora/Riku of course, writtenfor the lack of RikuSora fics out there.. or at least..lack of ones that I can find.. xD Other warnings are for slight angst, mostly fluff, a possiblelemon posted somewhere else, spoilers for the end of the game.

Yes. I wrote fluff. Watch as I go commit suicide now.

~*~

Sora always wondered if it was normal to love your best friend.

He and Rikuwere always close. Closer than a lot of best friends were, andSora wasn't the only one who noticed it. Even Kairi, who came along later, much later, noticed that there was something.. more, between the pair. She was jealous, and even dared flirt withthem both for a long time, before she gave up. There isn't anything that can come between a boy and his best friend.

Until love comes along, that is.

It was a day just like any other. The beach was still sunny and beautiful, the ocean a bright shade of cerulean, the sand still felt good betweenSora's toes. He'd lefthis shoes inhis boat.. becausesometimes it's just fun, to run across the beach with your bare feet.

So,he ran.He ran across the beach, towards the shack.. and then decided that he'd forget the easy way up, up the stairs and across the bridge to wherehe knew Riku would be waiting. No, being whoSora was,he dove into the clear blue water and swam to the ladder on the other side of the tiny island where the paopu tree grew, where Riku always sat.He climbed it, his wooden sword hidden in his jacket..Sora was going to attempt a surprise attack today. After all, the score was still ten to one,Sora with the one point, which,they both knew, was a fluke.

Sorapounced, andimmediately knew Riku had heard him coming. He leapt off the bent trunk of the tree and immediately took a battle pose, as did Sora.The twoboth rushed at the same time, the familiar *clunk* of wood against wood meeting their ears again and again. They circled and charged and leapt and kicked and dodged, a wild fury, two friends and rivals determined to beat the other. Finally,Sora realizedhe couldn't win, and ran towards Riku, pretending to be readying a swing at him.He threw the sword forward andRiku knocked it away with a yelp of surprise, andthe younger boytackled him.They rolled into the water, landing with a splash.The pairwrestled underwater for a long time before Riku hauledSora onto the beach, both ofthem sputtering and laughing.

"You're.. a real idiot, you know that..?" Riku asked, laughing. Sora was lying on his back, sides shaking from laughter.

"Yeah, but I didn't get another point clocked against me!" He said in his sing-song voice, and Riku snorted, leaning over the other boy.

"You're a cheater, Sora." He teased, softly. Slowly, the two realized how close their faces were.. they were practically nose-to-nose, and immediately Sora shoved Riku away from him, both of them struggling to think of a way to make that a joke.

"Come on, Riku.. I'm hungry, let's go back for lunch." He said, rolling away and standing up, brushing as much sand as he could off himself. Riku smirked, throwing a star-shaped fruit into Sora's face, causing the other to yelp in surprise.

"..eat that, then. Wimp. We haven't even started working on the raft yet.." He teased, heading towards the cove and grounding his knuckles into the top of Sora's spiky head playfully as he walked. Sora yelped and hurried after, tossing the Paopu fruit aside.

"Yeah,whatever.. technically you're not supposed to eat that unless you have someone to share it with anyway, right?" He said, snorting. Riku was quiet for a long time, and Sora opened his mouth to say something about it, until the silver-haired boy spoke again.

"..well, that didn't stop you when you first moved here.." He said, and Sora laughed as they walked through the door toward where Kairi would be waiting.

~*~Flashback

"So, you're the new kid, are you?" Riku approached the rather timid-looking child, standing alone on the beach. Crossing his arms, he looked down at the new boy.. this kid was the third person to come to the island. He was the first, Wakka came second, and now there was.. whoever this stupid kid was.
"I have a name,you know." The boy protested, scowling and sticking his lower lip out in a pout that Riku had to admit was quite convincing.

"Then spill it, kid." He said, rolling his sea-green eyes. The boy shifted on his sandaled feet.

"..my name's Sora." He said, hands behind his back, weight shifting from foot to foot.

"Sora? Ha ha!" Riku snickered and started laughing, and the boy's face flushed with embarrassment. "What a dumb name.. Sora. Sounds like a girl's name." He teased.. of course, when a boy is Sora and Riku's age, having a girl's name is quite possibly one of the worst insults in the world.

"Oh yeah??" Sora shot back, glaring at the silver-haired boy angrily. "I don't suppose your name is any better!" That pout came again, a lower lip stuck out and those brilliant blue eyes narrowed slightly. Riku snorted.

"Of course mine's better, dummy." He answered, with another roll of his green-blue eyes. "My name's Riku, and I'm King of this island!" He said, puffing out his chest proudly. Sora looked at him for a long while, then burst out laughing. Riku gave him an indignant look, his chest deflating slightly.

"What's so funny??" He demanded, but Sora couldn't answer. He was still laughing. Riku glared at him fora few minutes before he felt a smile creeping up onto his own face, and soon he was laughing too. Once their hysterics subsided, they sat up in the sand and looked at each other, and then started laughing again.

They talked for a long time, and Riku told him all the legends about the island.

"Hey, see that tree, up there..?" The silver-haired boy said, pointing up at the tree that was severely bent, hanging over the water on the raised platform he always sat on. "That's the Paopu tree. Come on.." He took Sora's hand and lead him through the shack, up the stairs, and across the bridge to the platform. He balanced carefully as he made his way across the trunk, reached up and picked one of the star-shaped fruits, tossing it back to Sora.

"Try it." He said, smirking inwardly. "You'll like it.."
Sora's curiosity was sparked, and he bit into the fruit, immediately making a face and spitting it out.

"Eww.. that was gross!" He said, scowling at Riku. "..why'd you tell me it was good??" He demanded, and Riku thought about this for a moment, before grinning.

"'cause you're supposed to share it with someone you love.. and when you do, it's supposed to taste real good!" He said enthusiastically. The two boys stared at one another again, before at the same time, they burst out with:

"Ewwww, girls!!"

~*~End Flashback

"Hey." Riku gave his typical, almost nonchalant greeting as Sora walked over to him and sat down on the Paopu tree's trunk, where the silver-haired boy had been sitting. Both were taking a break after helping gather items for their raft. Riku's aqua eyes studied the form beside him questioningly.

"Something wrong..?"

"I dunno." Sora answered, shrugging. "I'm starting to think.. I might not like Kairi as much as I thought." He said, making a face. "..I know I'm supposed to, and she thinks I still like her too, but.."

"But what, Sora?"

"..but I'm not so sure anymore." Sora said sadly, shrugging. "I guess I've known her for too long, or something.." He looked over at his friend, wrinkling his nose cutely, ina way that made Riku smile. "Am I making any sense at all?" He asked. Riku snickered.

"Eh, a little. I guess I get what you're saying.." He said, shrugging. "Kairi can be a little annoying sometimes.."

"That's not very nice!" Sora said, and Riku could tell he was on the verge of a pout. Quickly, he spoke up.

"What I mean is.. we were here first, Sora.. I don't see why we bothered with her sometimes. I mean, sure, we're nice guys, we're supposed to show her around.. but we could have just as easily left that to Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka." Riku jumped down, idly swinging his wooden sword around. Sora sighed and flopped onto his back, staring up at the slowly darkening sky.

"I guess you're right. But we're kinda stuck now.." He rolled over onto his stomach, watching Riku dodge and strike at invisible enemies. He smiled weakly.

"..don't you ever think about anything else?" He asked. Riku rolled his eyes and walked over, sitting down in the sandbeneathwhere Sora was lying, thetoy sword in his lap.

"..I dunno. I'm just.. restless, I guess. I really want to try and get out of here.. I'm getting sick of this place." He said, shaking his head.He blinked as Sora swungdown from the treetrunk to sit down next to him in the grass, then kept talking.

"It's so wierd.. I know this place would be considered paradise to most people, because it's so quiet here, but.. that's starting to get to me, y'know?" He glanced over at Sora."It's the same thing everyday. Water, sand, trees.. nothing to do anymore except practice with these dinky little swords.." He waved around the piece of wood. "..we've already thought up every sandcastle we could, we've explored this beach to no end.. it's all getting old." He paused. The other boy had stopped responding with his typical, half-hearted "Uh-huh"s and "Yeah"s.

"Sora..?" He asked, questioningly, about to turn when suddenly he felt a slight weight on his shoulder, and a soft tickle on his cheek. He glanced over, smiling when he noticed Sora had fallen asleep, leaning against him.

"..just like you to fall asleep in the middle of something important.." Riku said softly, shaking his head and ruffling the boy's hair a little. Sora gave a soft sigh and snuggled closer as a breeze swept over the small island. It hadn't been the first time something like this had happened.. Sora had used to fall asleep on Riku a lot of times when they were younger, back in the days when they would sit out on the Paopu tree, staying out late at night just to talk and laugh over everything.

But this was the first time Riku had ever thought so much about Sora after the other boy had fallen asleep. He'd always suspected he had some feelings for the spiky-haired boy, but.. he'd disregarded them as mere feelings of strong friendship.. but now, now that he had time to think about it without Kairi or one of the others interrupting, he started to doubt himself.

"What is it about you that makes me think so much, Sora..?" Riku asked the sleeping boy softly, his gloved fingers brushing a few stray bangs from Sora's face. He frowned to himself, and his fingers brushed lightly over Sora's lips.

"..." He didn't say a word, his mind and heart were racing.. he didn't know what to do, what to think, he didn't even know for sure what he was doing.. so he leaned down and kissed Sora. Soft lips met equally soft ones, locking together as if it were simply two pieces of a puzzle. Aqua eyes slid shut as Riku shifted.. his mind was going in circles.

This is wrong, I'm in so much trouble for this, he's going to wake up and I'm going to die.. He thought, but found himself unable to pull away. Sora was so warm, and soft, and.. Riku jerked, eyes flying open as he felt Sora move. He tried to pull away, but couldn't, finding arms sliding around his neck. Blinking in surprise, he found his gaze met with those deep, beautiful cerulean blues. Their lips parted for a moment, and Soraspoke first.

"So.. you gonna make this a habit?" He asked, grinning. Riku let out all his breath in one long whoosh of air,a sigh of relief, and gavea nervous grin.

"Only if you want me to." He said, making Sora giggle. The silver-haired boy leaned down, kissing Sora again, long and deep. Sora made a small noise against Riku's lips, parting his own and feeling Riku's tongue slither inside. He shuddered against the other boy's warm body, their tongues entwining and dancing around each other. Their lips fit together perfectly, as though they were created just for this purpose, and both Sora and Riku felt a sense of belonging, as though they'd been waiting their whole lives just for this single moment where everything around them was perfect. It was just like in those sappy romance movies, where the two lovers were destined for each other, made to be together, predetermined even before the forming of the universe.

It was as though time had stopped just for them, simply for that one moment of pure bliss that filled the two boys' hearts with a feeling of acceptance, love, and pure and simple ecstasy. As they parted, the world returned to the way it was.. the gulls continued to call to each other high above in the bright blue sky, the clouds rolled over lazily and without true purpose or direction, and the brilliant sun continued to smile down upon the island.

"Destiny Islands.." Riku murmured, looking around them. "Maybe it has some meaning after all.." He said, thoughtfully. Soragrinned and cuddled against him.

"Not gonna get all mushy on me, are you, Riku?" He asked, his big blue eyes staring up, meeting their aqua counterparts. Riku snorted.

"'course not. I'm king of this island, remember?"

The pair looked at each other for a few seconds before both of them burst out laughing.

~*~To Be Continued...