Summary: They have always been best friends and yet, as it becomes harder and harder to stand the never-ending comparison between the two of them, Sora feels the need to grow apart, thinking it to be the only solution to make of himself his own person.

Pairing: RikuXSora. AU.

Amazing beta-reader: SoRikuRox (and he rox, too ^^)

A/N: I hesitated between angst and drama; in here, Sora is faced with the anxiety of his future, so I think it could be categorized as angst but I put drama to envelop everything else. Well... there's romance, that's for sure... Enjoy ;)

A/N2: It was supposed to be a one-shot but, of course, I got carried away... so I decided to cut it into chapters, not even the same length. Sorry about that...

Chapter 1: Sora

My name is Sora. Satô Sora, seventeen years old. I am 5.4 tall; I know, I am short, I can only hope to keep growing. I grew up in Destiny Island, a nice little city with a lot of kids. People here are not stressed or individualistic, they are just people whose priorities are friends and family; here, people take the time to live.

Which is fine, really ; even though some teens are just eager to leave for a bigger city because they need entertainment, I think living in Destiny Island is fine. Well... at least we could say that I don't have anything against the town itself.

My parents are very sociable people: open-minded and courteous. There is one downside in their amazing personalities, though: my father will rather ignore problems to keep his peace and so he agrees with mother all the time, while mom has a certain tendency to talking without really thinking about the consequences of her words. To complete the picture of such a stereotype gossip, she is a hairdresser. Needless to say, every secret on Destiny Island is shared and unveiled in the back of my house where she settled her salon.

They have always been very good friends with the neighbours. Mr. and Mrs. Ogawa had moved here just a year before them (I was not yet born at the time) and they share a lot of common interests with my parents; Mrs. Ogawa is always in need of a new hairstyle, which was the first thing that made her friend with Mom. Mr. Ogawa and my father share the passion of Triple Triad and, as today, they still play that game every Saturday night.

Five years or so after my parents moved to Destiny Island, I was born, just seven month after Mr. and Mrs. Ogawa's first child.

A little angel named Riku.

We grew up together, of course, the two of us being a reason for our families to get even closer. Riku had always been there, we've never separated for more than one day. Even on holidays, we were with the Ogawa. Sometimes, while growing up, I even wondered which one of those always talking women was my mother.

Scary, huh?

Aside from that I am kinda dumb, rather slow and certainly gullible. Riku, on the other side, is the smartest boy ever: he has always done everything perfectly since he was a child and, of course, far long before me. This included starting talking, walking, counting, and overall being a bright child.

I've never really felt jealousy before, just a vague sense of sadness each time my mother cooed and gushed about Riku's cuteness, intelligence, expressions... the attention was always focused on Riku and at how great he was as a child. In the rare cases they focused on me, it was just to compare me to Wonder Boy. I felt put aside, but what is a kid to do? It's not like I was smart enough to completely realize what I was feeling at the time.

Let me tell you, though: never talk in front of a child thinking he doesn't understand anything. Because he does. He does and he will remember, and those little words, details, anecdotes, will be engraved in his mind and will hurt him for years to come. I can testify. Hearing your own mother saying things like "What a beautiful drawing! Sora was never able to hold a pen properly" or "I wish my Sora would get more focused, he doesn't seem interested in anything" and my favourite "he can't speak properly yet... I wonder... does he have a problem? Mentally?" will just make the kid bitter in the future.

As I've already said, I am seventeen now. Unluckily, the perpetual comparison between the child prodigy and poor ol' me never stopped. It's always about "Riku won some contest", "Riku was nice enough to help fix the dishwasher" (that I was unable to, insert a pointed stare here) "Riku saved mommy cat and her kittens" and "Riku found a cure against the cancer". Seriously, as soon as I walk through my front door, mom has nothing else to do than telling me what Mrs. Ogawa has just said to her while gossiping, which always happens to be the last amazing record of Riku, which I am aware of because, in case anyone has forgotten, WE ARE IN THE SAME CLASS, DAMNIT.

It has come to a point where I stay later outside just to come home when my mother is busy talking with dad, that way she doesn't feel the need to interrupt her conversation to tell me, once again, how great Riku is. It's pathetic, when I think about it.

Looking at the clock, it's 8:00 am already. This means Riku would be waiting for me in a few minutes and I won't hear the end of it. "Why aren't you more punctual like Riku?" God, I can hear it already.

I grab my bag, tie undone, I make a dash for the carpeted stairs and I take the meal I have prepared myself yesterday. I put it in my bag that I zip up while walking. I am so close to reach the door when...

Ding Dong!

Fuck.

"Sora! Don't make Riku wait!" mom cries at the stairs. "Oh, you're here..." she says, realizing I am already in the corridor. "Look at yourself..." she sighs, truly exasperated. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Mom..." Why does she make such a big deal out of everything? The tie is not done yet, so what? I'll have time to make it before arriving at school.

She pushes me aside to open quickly the door. Ladies and gentlemen, here he comes, the one we are all waiting for, the really adored, the fantastic, the perfect: I called Ogawa Riku!

When my mother opens the door, I see him standing there: he was looking at something far away, but he turns his head when the door opens to greet my mother with a charming smile. His tie is perfectly done, I notice, as always. Like the rest of him. To the hems of his trousers falling perfectly around his polished shoes, to the neat fold of the vest around his shoulders. The rising sun behind him is casting a beautiful halo of light around his almost white hair and I know that what I am seeing is the same exact thing my mother sees: an incredibly, amazing, wonderful, perfect, young man.

The young man that not so long ago was a child.

The child she had always wanted.

Riku plays his role as usual: the pleasantries escaping so easily from his pretty mouth make my mother radiate with joy, a smile on her face that she only gives to Riku. I always think, when she talks to him about such meaningless things but with such a happy expression, that she is probably wishing Riku could be her son.

Think positive Sora, you're just beginning the day.

"See ya, Mom" I say already walking.

"Mrs Satô, have a nice day" I hear Riku reply behind me. He easily catches up to me and we walk in silence for a little while before he thinks it would be a great idea to begin a conversation.

"Well Sora, how was your week end?"

"Fine"

"Nothing exciting to say? I didn't see you yesterday. What did you do?"

I take a glance at him, half frowning. I dislike it when people ask me what I did recently or what I'm doing. I think it really is none of their business. What really bothers me is that Riku is the one asking. I mean, it's already extremely hard to do something without him knowing, seeing that we are always together, so when I have a day off (and I'm saying off Riku) I wish I can keep it to myself.

"Nothing in particular" I finally answer curtly. I will not tell him.

"That's not much..." he says it with a very gentle smirk, a way to say he knows I do not want to tell him what I did but he won't push it. Again, he is passing for a saint. I do not like feeling like that, full of bitter thoughts and feelings, angry at Riku who did nothing wrong: I have to make things better. I am not good at everything like Riku, but one thing I think I excel at, and it's being the optimistic one.

"Sorry, I just... spent the day in town with Roxas, roller-blading, eating ice cream and people/sunset sighing." I force a big smile on my face, trying to make up for the awful behaviour I had just had.

The answer do not seem to satisfy the prodigy, though. There is no negative expression on his face, but it seems to have "closed off" in a way. I've noticed this, sometimes on Riku: it is like he disconnects himself from the world and he thinks about something very important. I cannot help but think that he is upset about something, but what could I've said to upset him? Upsetting Riku is the last thing I want to do; despite being the unaware bane of my existence, he is still someone I care for deeply. Everyone loves Riku, me included. Still, I have known him for a while and, even though he probably knows me much more than I know him, I find incredibly difficult to understand his thoughts at times...

"Riku?" I try after a moment of silence.

"Hm?"

"Hum... what did you do this week end?" I try to keep the conversation going. I do not understand what just happened here but well...

"Nothing much" he answers absently.

Now is one of those times, when Riku says something that is supposed to piss me off without seeming to do it on purpose. Now, I am wondering, is he just still in lalaland thinking about I-don't-know-what and mimicking my own words without knowing, or is he just really trying to make me angry?

Riku is... an enigma. And I just want to add that, sometimes, just for the hell of it, I want to call him a bastard.

I stare at him, a half glare half pout on myself. Yes, I know, I cannot for the life of me look downright pissed off at someone, so I just pout. It is my way of avoiding conflicts, because I am an easy-going guy by nature. I keep myself in check even when I am really upset. And here, I don't know for sure if Riku did it on purpose.

He finally looks at me when he feels my stare and, seeing my expression, he realizes his mistake and laughs. A perfect laugh, needless to say, a laugh that makes you smile just by the sheer beauty of it.

"Sorry Sora, I slept in and I just made some homework and housekeeping. I really don't know where the day went." he finishes while smiling at me. I smile back, nobody can be insensitive to that smile.

Just like that, my anger vanishes.

"We should do something next week-end. Together." He adds softly. He is still smiling at me, his green eyes sparkling in the morning light. Is it dawn that makes everything so beautifully mesmerizing? Why did I never notice?

Smiling at me like that, I could not possibly say no, even though spending time with Roxas would have lead to far less depressing thoughts. It seems like that the more we go, the less I know about how to behave around Riku, but this does not change the fact that, even feeling belittled next to him, I still want to spend time with Riku, just the two of us. Am I some sort of masochist? That would explain a lot...

I shrug my shoulders before answering. "Sure, what would you like to do?"

"Hmm... let me think about it. I'll think of something... memorable." He says with a smile and we keep walking in silence until we arrive at school.