Kingdom Hearts; The Dark's Keeper

Chapter XXXIII; Together Again

Sora led the way to where Kairi was, running as quickly as he could. As they met the group Y broke away from Riku and Kairi. She ran up to X, hugging him tightly which seemed to surprise Sora, but he pushed it out of his mind quickly.

"Kairi, you were great!" Donald said.

"Oh?" Kairi said. She flipped her hair over her shoulder looking away bashfully. Sora walked up to Kairi, a look of disbelief on his face. Yuki sighed, pacing over to where Riku was standing.

"You are different, Kairi, but I'm just glad you're here!" Sora said happily.

"You and Riku never came home, so I came looking for you," Kairi said. Sora looked away from her.

"I'm sorry," Sora said.

Kairi rushed up to him and hugged him tightly. "This is real," she whispered in his shoulder. Sora was tense for a moment, but then hugged her in return. 

Riku opened a dark corridor and went to go through it. Yuki caught hold of his wrist just as Sora called out to him.

"Wait, Ansem! I mean, Xehanort's Heartless," Sora said. Riku stopped, glancing at Yuki then to Sora. "I never thought for a second that I'd ever see you again. Just thinking about all the things you did make me really mad. But, but you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that. Thanks."

Riku gave a nod and turned back to the dark corridor. Yuki tightened her grip on his wrist.

"Riku, don't go!" Kairi said, taking a step toward him.

"Huh?" Donald and Goofy asked. X frowned looking aver at Y who shrugged.

"Kairi, what did you just say?" Sora asked in confusion.

"Riku," Kairi repeated.

"I'm no one-- just a castaway from the darkness," Riku said, he struggled to pull free from Yuki's grip, but she didn't let go. She narrowed her eyes at Riku in a glare.

"Sora, come here," Yuki said calmly. She held her hand out to Sora but didn't look toward him.

"Say something to him," Kairi said.

Sora slowly walked over to Yuki, putting his hand in hers. She placed his hand on Rikus and held them together. She held out her other hand to Kairi, taking her hand and connecting their hands.

"Close your eyes. You'll see it," Yuki said calmly. She didn't know how she knew this would work. But she decided following her instincts would be the best bet. Heartless were said to have good instincts about the world. Sora closed his eyes and gasped.

"Riku. It's Riku. Riku's here," Sora said. He fell to his knees, eyes filling with tears as they opened and he looked up at Riku. "I looked for you!"

"C'mon, Sora. You've got to pull it together," Riku said. He didn't try to pull his hand from Soras as Yuki and Kairi both stepped back.

"I looked everywhere for you!" Sora said.

"I didn't want you to find me," Riku said simply.

"But it was him that was helpin' us, wasn't it?" Goofy asked.

"Huh?" Donald asked in confusion.

"Those clues we kept finding. That musta been Riku," Goofy explained.

"I was starting to worry you guys weren't ever gonna catch on. Sora never did pick the brightest friends," Riku said with a chuckle. Yuki blinked in confusion. Was Riku insulting himself as Sora's best friend?

"What do you mean by that!?" Donald asked.

"I take offense to that," X said from where he stood beside Y. Yuki was glad the two of them were remaining as silent as they were. X usually would have said something sarcastic by now.