[012//Audio & Commentlog?]

[oathbreakers]

[Well! Riku sounds rather flustered for once!]

Just whose great idea was this?

Oh, what, you can't deal with the truth for a change? Can't deal with someone who won't lie to make you feel like a better person?

Stop it!

Or what? Are you gonna--

[The rest of that threat doesn't make it to the network--Riku's muted the comm. He turns it back on a moment later, sounding both irritated and resigned.]

Is anybody else noticing something strange going on?

[Well, that's -one- way to put it.]

Comments

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

AH! Riku!

[With her hair in disarray, she does stop laughing, but it's still there just beneath her words.

It really isn't all that difficult to pull free from Riku's hold. Kairi stumbles back and, disoriented as she is, smacks her shin on the bed frame.]

Ow!

[She throws out a hand to steady herself and her fingers close around the softness of a down pillow. Without a second thought, she hefts it, aiming right for she's almost sure Riku had been only moments before.]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[Riku sobers up when he hears Kairi hit herself, reaching out to find her again.]

Hey, you o--

[Only then he gets a faceful of pillow, and Riku's back to spluttering again!]

Now you've done it!

[He grabs for the pillow blindly, not even sure what he's going to do when he finds her. But the first thing he's gotta do is get her "weapon" away from her!]

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

[Kairi bursts into a fit of giggles once more. The pillow connects again - though whether it's with Riku, the wall or some furniture, Kairi can't tell - before catching on something.

Kairi tugs at it, trying to pull it loose. Has- Has Riku caught it? She tugs again.]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[The pillow -does- hit him once more, but then Riku manages to get a hold on it! He tugs back on it when Kairi pulls, but that's not his main target. Instead he reaches out, dropping his free hand on top of her head--not mussing her hair, not pushing her or pulling in any direction, just dropping and resting on top of her head.

And then he lets his hand drop off to one side, tugging at her hair.]

Give up yet?

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

[There's a moment, when Riku's hand is resting on her head, where she stands perfectly still, not sure what's going to happen next.

And then he pulls her hair.]

Hey!

[Immediately she pushes, shoving pillow and all toward Riku's chest.]

No way!

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[Luckily Riku knows this room like the back of his hand--and the first thing he'd done after he'd found out that he wouldn't be leaving the ship any time soon was rearrange everything for maximum space. So he steps backward with the push, allowing her to drive him backwards but -pulling- the pillow after him, trying to tug Kairi off balance.]

All right, then--you asked for it!

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

[It works. She stumbles forward, but goes with the motion. As it adds to her momentum, she makes a grab for Riku's shoulder.]

You can't scare me, Riku!

[Unfortunately, she is now completely disoriented. The fact that she has no idea what she's pushing Riku towards doesn't cross her mind; she's going to pull his hair!]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

Who said I was trying to scare you?

[Riku knows that if they go too far back they'll hit the wall, but he doesn't plan on letting them go far enough for that to be a problem. He grabs for Kairi's hand on his shoulder and twists to one side. He's kneeling already as he twists, dropping to one knee and trying to pull Kairi down with him, letting go of the pillow so that he can catch her on the way down, arm wrapping around her waist to steady her.

If all goes as planned she'll wind up on her back on the floor, while Riku's kneeling to one side of her.]

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

[Already off-balance as she is, it doesn't take much for Kairi to fall. She hits the floor perhaps a little harder than Riku intended and it happens so fast that she doesn't know exactly how. But he can see neither her wince nor her surprise, and the next second she's pulling her hand free of his, reaching up and tugging his hair, hard.]

Then what are you trying to do?

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[Whoa, Kairi, that was almost a very bad thing. Riku's arm is still wrapped around her waist from trying to keep her from falling too heavily, and the hair pull just brings him even closer to her. But luckily nothing happens, and Riku grins at her in the dark.]

Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to win.

[And he reaches out to tap her on the forehead!]

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

Heh.

[It's strange, hearing someone's voice from above you in the dark.]

Okay. You win.

[It's an easy concession, and a moment later Kairi goes to sit up-

SMACK.]

Ow!

[Pain throbs to life and immediately Kairi's hand goes to hold her head where she'd hit it on... Riku's? She hadn't realized he was that close. She rolls aside, still only half sitting up. And then softly, she starts to giggle.]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[Riku recoils as he and Kairi collide, instinctively clapping a hand over his face, a sharp hiss of intake his only response to the impact. He reaches out, trying to find Kairi, but stops when she starts giggling.]

You okay?

[His words may be a little bit muffled due to his hand being over his mouth and nose, but the pain is already receding. It hadn't been -that- bad of a crash, at least.]

Man, if I'd known that was going to be your revenge for losing, maybe I would've just let you win.

[But he's laughing, too.]

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

[Kairi stops laughing, but her smile is still very audible.]

I didn't mean it! I didn't know you were that close! Are you okay?

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[Riku's grinning as well, even as he shifts to actually sit down rather than kneel.]

Come on, Kairi, do you even have to ask? I'm fine.

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

Hehe, good.

[Kairi lapses into silence.]

... I wish I knew what time it was, or how long this was going to last.

[She doesn't want to just leave Riku, but... She's tired. It must be getting late by now.]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

Who knows? The only thing to do is wait it out, just like all the other times.

[Riku is quiet for a moment, weighing his words. He knows that he ought to tell Kairi to go back to her room, that he'll wait it out on his own... but he doesn't -want- to. He likes her being there; even just her presence in the room makes things a little bit easier to deal with.

He doesn't -want- to, but what else is there to say? He certainly can't -ask- her to stay.]

You know... you don't have to stay. I'll be all right on my own.

[But he can't deny that there's some part--a tiny part of him--that hopes.]

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

Hmm?

Oh, no, it's okay. I'll stay for a little while...

[But how long was a little while? As soon as she opened the door to leave, Riku's shadow would appear. And then - even for only a minute or two - he would be left alone with it. She didn't really want to do that to him.

"A little while," soon became a lot longer; As her thoughts swam lazily, Kairi started to doze.]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[There's silence between them for a long time--nothing new, but never has Riku dared hope like this. She'd chosen--chosen--to stay there, to keep him company even though things involving his loudmouthed shadow had been resolved. She'd made him a lucky charm--it isn't like she's never given him a gift before, but Riku treasures every one of them and that there had been no reason that would have made a gift a necessity... he touches it again, fingers running over the stitching and leather, smiling faintly in the darkness in pleasure.

It was something for him.

He realizes when Kairi falls asleep; he almost -senses- it, really. But he's loathe to wake her, to send her back to her room, and so he carefully feels his way across the room and back, turning down the covers first and then picking Kairi up and tucking her into the bed. Lifting her is a touch more difficult than he remembers, she's much taller than her younger self is, but Riku is strong and so he manages fine, putting her into bed and tugging the covers up around her.

For himself, he grabs one of the extra pillows and stretches out on the floor.]

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

[Kairi wakes as the first light starts to filter around the towels Riku used to cover the windows.

For a couple of minutes, she's disoriented. There's a wall where the edge of her bed should be and empty space where - This isn't her room.

As soon as that though percolates to the surface of her mind, Kairi's eyes snap open.

She hadn't meant to fall asleep.

And then she catches sight of Riku asleep on the floor.

Riku, his hair silvered in the faint light from the covered window.

Riku and his shadow.]

[Commentlog] wait what am i doing DIDN'T I SAY I WAS GOING TO BE NICE? XD;;;

[oathbreakers]

So the princess awakes.

[If it was possible for a shadow to leer, Riku's would be doing so right now.]

What do you think you've accomplished now? All you're doing is giving him false hope, you know, making him think that maybe he isn't just playing second fiddle to Sora--when everybody knows that he is. He even knows it, even if he doesn't want to admit it, and you just play like maybe things are different, you make him think that maybe something changes in the year he hasn't lived yet.

How's it going to feel later on, when you shatter that hope of his right under that pretty little heel of yours?

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

What-?

[Kairi freezes, her feet half-way to the floor.]

What do you mean?

[And then, as her mind begins to wake up properly and she thinks better of asking;]

You don't know what's going to happen.

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

[It laughs mockingly.]

What do I mean? Come now, princess, surely you've figured that out for yourself already--you're just as bad as he is, hoping that if you don't acknowledge it it'll go away on its own. I know what's going to happen.

And more importantly, so do you. Things are going to go the same way they always do, and then you're going to break him and he's going to fall into darkness.

Just. Like. The last time.

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

I won't-

[She's on her feet now.]

That wasn't my fault!

[Her heart was racing and suddenly, with the dim light suffusing the room and towels under door and over windows, it felt like there was too little air. Riku was her friend. He was one of her best friends. They'd grown up together. He'd protected her and laughed with her and taken her and Sora on all kinds of adventures without ever leaving their islands.

She had known things had started to change between them before they left, but not like that. And it had been alright in the end. She had known, somehow. even as she tried to regain her memories and tired of waiting, she had known that Riku was alright, that they would be okay.

Had things changed?]

[Commentlog]

[oathbreakers]

Wasn't it? Can you really tell yourself that and believe it?

[Commentlog]

[lightwithin]

Yes!

[She had been careful to stay quiet to begin with, but as she gets more agitated, her voice grows louder; this shadow doesn't know anything.]

It wasn't my fault.