Starting Date: July 3rd 2005
A/N: Yes, this will be slash and no there will be no character bashing. Like Kairi, for instance. I'm not a Kairi fan at all, but seriously, I'm so tired of reading stories that have her being such a huge bitch. Some bashing is fine with me, but people are taking it way too far, it's freaking ridiculous. And yes, I'm in a bad mood. You'd never guess from the writing though.
Chapter One: A Real Family
"Riku! Riku!"
A silver haired teen looked up from the work he was doing to see a brunette running towards him, grinning widely. The chocolate haired boy stopped in front of the other and panted, slightly out of breath.
"Hey Sora," Riku smiled. "What's going on?"
"There's a new ship that just docked in the bay," Sora explained. "The boss wants everyone there to help unload it. I guess the captain's really rich or something."
Sora and Riku worked as dock hands for one of the largest shipping companies on the coast. It was hard work, but paid well.
"All right," Riku agreed. He turned and called out to a spiky haired red head. "Hey Wakka! The boss wants us down at the docks, finish getting these boxes to the blacksmith for me, will ya?"
The red head named Wakka nodded and yelled that he would. Sora and Riku then took off running, silently trying to beat the other to the docks. When they arrived, unloading had already begun under the watchful ship and dock master's eyes. The dock master saw the boys run up and immediately shouted orders at them.
"Took you brats long enough," the man called. "Riku, get below deck and start bringing the stuff up top. Sora, start helping getting everything on shore."
"Aye, aye, boss!" Sora called happily. Riku rolled his eyes before bidding farewell to his friend and getting to work.
They worked the rest of the afternoon before finally finishing unloading everything. The dock-master gave them their pay and the two teens vanished into the town.
They were wandering around as Sora stopped and ogled a beautiful sword displayed in the blacksmiths window. Its' handle was polished bronze and the blade was coated with silver and sharp enough to cut off your finger just by touching it. Riku stopped and waited for Sora to snap out of his daze. This was a daily ritual for them; they would walk past the shop and Sora would stop and stare at the sword longingly.
"Come on, Sora," Riku finally called, getting impatient. "We've got to get back or Kairi will have our heads."
"I'm gonna get it, Riku," Sora stated, ignoring his best friend's comment. "I swear, someday, I'm going to buy this sword."
Riku sighed, slumping his shoulders. "You say that everyday, Sora."
"So? It's true, I already have half the money saved up, it won't be long before I have the rest of it saved too," Sora informed the older boy.
"And what then?" Riku demanded. "Sora, you can't even use a sword, what good will it do you to have one?"
"I can't, but you can," Sora countered. "You could teach me!"
Riku sighed. "You're hopeless, you know?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora yelled, curling his hands into fists.
Riku just laughed. "Come on, let's go." He started to head in the direction of their house. Sora pouted and took on last longing look at the sword before running after his best friend.
They arrived back at their small house to see Tidus lounging on the porch next to Wakka. Riku and Sora walked up to them and joined them in them lazing around.
"How was it?" Tidus asked the two, referring to their work.
"Fine, the boss was in a good mood today so we got paid early," Riku told him. "How was your day?"
"Boring," Tidus exclaimed. "I swear, I can not take another day of being stuck here with just the girls."
"That's what you get for thinking you could jump off the roof and not get hurt," Riku shrugged. "You have no one to blame but yourself."
Tidus had been working on the roof a few days ago. There was a hole on it and needed to be fixed. When Kairi had called everyone in for dinner, he had decided to simply jump from the roof instead of using a ladder. He had fallen and sprained his ankle; he was lucky he hadn't broken it. The doctor had told him to stay off of it for a couple weeks, stranding Tidus at home with the girls.
"Oh shut up, Riku," Tidus grumbled. Sora and Wakka laughed just as the door opened a hyper girl bounced out.
"Hey! There you two are!" Selphie gushed. "Now we can eat!" She bounced happily back into the house and the four boys got up and followed.
"Hey Kai," Sora greeted, placing a light kiss on his adopted sister's cheek.
"Hey Sora, hey Riku," Kairi smiled. "Have a good day?"
"Yup!" Sora nodded. "Here, we got paid early today." He handed over half of his earnings, Riku did the same.
"Great, we need to go shopping soon," Kairi commented, taking their money. "Things have been tight since Tidus hasn't been able to work." Tidus sank in his chair and sulked. "And someone has to get up on the roof and finish fixing it," she continued. "We're supposed to get a huge storm this weekend."
"I'll do it after we finish eating," Riku volunteered.
"Great," Kairi nodded and placed dinner in front of everyone.
Their dinner wasn't much; potatoes with butter and a bowl of soup, today it was chicken. The six friends had been living together since they were young. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie's parents had died out at sea when the ship they were on was sunk by a storm. Kairi had been abandoned when she was a baby and Riku and Sora had never met or heard of their parents. They didn't even know their names.
Although it got hard at times, especially during the colder months, the six had been living in their beat up little home for almost all their lives. The townspeople all knew them and their stories and were very kind to the orphans. They would often help out when things got too hard. Like when Tidus had gotten hurt, they didn't have the money for the doctor, but the doctor had just asked that one of them come and help around his business sometimes in payment.
Despite their somewhat depressing pasts, the five teens were all very happy with their lives. They had everything they needed and friends to share it with. They ate their dinner and Selphie and Kairi washed everything up. Sora and Wakka ran off to town to goof off while Riku went to finish fixing up the roof.
That night, the five friends were sitting outside, looking up at the sky. Sora and Wakka were laying on the ground while everyone else was on the porch or the porch steps. The sky was perfectly clear and it was a full moon that night.
"It's your turn, Sora," Kairi called happily.
Sora put on a thoughtful face. "Um…I see…a…a giant cookie!"
"Sora, you're supposed to be finding shapes in the stars, not the moon," Riku rolled his eyes.
"How did you know he was talking about the moon?" Wakka demanded.
"Yeah, how'd you know I was talking about the moon, Ri-ku?" Sora pouted.
"Because you were, So-ra," Riku replied.
This was a favorite game of the kids; they would sit outside on warm and clear nights and look up at the stars. They would take turns, trying to find different shapes in the star patterns, then telling the others what they saw and everyone else had to find it. It was something they'd done since the five were little kids.
"Fine, fine," Sora grumbled. "Then I see…" He looked around and smirked. "A sword."
"The point of it is the end star of the big dipper," Riku replied immediately, pointing at it with his finger. The others found it a second later, once Riku pointed it out.
"No fair, Riku," Sora pouted. "How come you can always find mine?"
"'Cause I know how you think," Riku smirked and Sora pouted some more.
It was true; Riku and Sora had always been together. Where you found one, the other was always right behind. They had known each other longer then any of the others and it had actually been Sora and Riku who found and fixed up this house for everyone. The two were inseparable and knew each other inside and out.
"Fine then," Sora glared. "It's your turn now, Riku."
"All right," Riku agreed. "I see…a bird."
"A bird?" The others echoed and began searching the sky.
"Its wing is off the tip of my sword," Sora replied smartly. "You're not the only one who knows how the other thinks." Riku frowned at him.
"All right, we're done," Kairi interrupted. When Sora and Riku started finding things that quickly like this, it was time to stop and go to bed. "We've all got work tomorrow and should have been asleep hours ago."
The other four grumbled in annoyance but didn't argue. Kairi was like a mother to all of them; she was the one who kept track of everything and everyone. It was rather interesting, how they seemed to all fit together perfectly, like an actual family. Kairi was the mother, Riku was the protective older brother, Tidus was the risk-taking brother, Wakka was the laid back one, almost like a kind father figure, while Selphie and Sora were the two youngest that everyone looked out for. Selphie because she was a cute girl and Sora because his curiosity got him into too much trouble at times. Though, when that happened, Riku was always there to bail him out.
The five got up, Riku helping Tidus as they all went inside. Sora stopped and looked back at the moon; he was surprised to see a cloud covering it. Half the cloud crossed over the moon and the other half was beneath it.
"Ah," Wakka nodded, seeing what Sora was gazing at. "A broken cloud passes over a bright moon."
Sora turned to him. "Huh?"
"It's said when a broken cloud passes over the moon like that, it's a foreshadowing of dark things to come," Wakka explained mysteriously.
"Really?" Sora asked, looking wide-eyed.
"Wakka, stop scaring Sora with your old wives-tales," Riku called. "He'll believe you, you know."
"Shut up, Riku!" Sora yelled. "I would not!"
"Whatever," Riku laughed, waving a dismissive hand at them.
"Come on, you three," Kairi yelled. "Bed, now!"
"Coming," they all chorused back. Wakka and Riku went inside and after looking once more at the moon, Sora followed quickly after.
Yes, as the five climbed into their beds that night, it was obvious to all they were indeed, a family.
A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know. I shouldn't be starting another fic. But I'm totally stuck on all my other ones. DHLL is a pain because I can't get the stupid scene right, FD is annoying 'cause I can't think of anything good and I'm not in the mood to write the final lemon for Model Me. Not to mention none of my favorite stories will update so I'm suffering from major Riku/Sora withdrawal.
As for this fic, I suspect the updates will be pretty slow, just to warn you now. I've got an idea about what I want to happen, but not much more than that. I'm hoping that by working on this, it'll unclog my mind and I can get back to my other projects.
So please, let me know what you think so far. And if you have any ideas, don't be shy to tell them. I could really use some help on any of my fics at this point.