Key To My Heart ~ A Riku Story (Kingdom Hearts)

Key To My Heart ~ Chapter 9

Recap:

  "Fifteen hours until we reach Olympus Coliseum," Riku said after you took off again.  At Sora's insistence, the four of you had stayed a little longer to talk to Mulan and Shang about their wedding, and then had returned to the Gummi Ship.

  "I still wish we could've stayed longer," Sora said, playing with a blue bouncy ball.

  "This isn't a social mission Sora," Riku said as he took a seat next to you.

  "Riku's right," you agreed. "We can't stay and chat to people when we have a job to complete."

  "Finally," Riku said, "a fighter with common sense."

  "Hey," Kairi pouted, "what about me?"

  "You're not a fighter!" he and Sora at the same time.

  "Yeah, yeah," she grinned.

STORY STARTS:

  "What's the time, Riku?" Sora asked.

  Riku sighed.  "For the eighteenth time, it's fifteen minutes past noon, Sora," he replied without looked up from him iPod.

  "I've never heard of anyone who could ask the time eighteen times in three minutes," you commented over your book.

  "Yup!" Sora grinned, "I'm one of a kind!"

  "One kind we could live without," said Riku jokingly.

  "Whatever," you said.  You shut your book and stood up.  "I'm going to read where I can actually hear myself think."  You left as Sora was saying, "Riku, there's still one hour and forty-five minutes, right?"

  In your room, you made sure the door was shut, then you put your book down and rummaged through your duffel bag for something buried underneath your clothes.  Finally, you produced what looked like a folded piece of paper.  You unfolded it and leaned back against your pillows against the wall to examine it.

  The picture was a little old, dating three years back.  It showed you in a forest at thirteen years old, wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a loose navy T-shirt, and strappy purple sandals. You were sitting with your back against a towering tree, holding a book.

  Also sitting next to you against the tree was an eleven year old girl with long, dark brown hair tied back in really low pigtails, wearing black skinny jeans and a baggy off-the-shoulder dark purple top with three-quarter length sleeves. She was looking up from a sketchbook at you and holding a pencil in one hand. Standing to the side was an even younger boy, about eight years old with the same dark brown hair, wearing a red T-shirt and jeans, standing confidently on a rock in a super-hero pose.  You and the boy were grinning, and the girl with the sketchbook was smiling shyly.  You and the girl had the same expressive brown eyes, but the boy had one purple eye and one blue eye.

  'That was just a few days before it happened,' you thought.  You had been staring at the picture for some time recalling memories, when someone knocked on the door.  "Maryx, are you in there?"

  You hastily folded the picture again and stuffed it underneath a pillow.  "It's open Kairi," you called.

  Kairi came in and sat down at the foot of the bed.  "Sora wanted to know if you had any bouncy balls. I told him you wouldn't but he...hey," she held up your book, which was still on the bed next to you, and looked at you curiously.  "It looked like you haven't read a thing since you left...what have you been doing for the last half an hour?"

  "Half an hour?" you glanced at your watch. 'Had I been looking at that picture for that long?' you wondered.  "Um...I had shut the book when I left and I started in the wrong spot, then when I found the right page I decided to fool around with one of my bouncy balls."