The Gift
The smell of the ocean breeze, the sound of his friends laughing, the feeling of the sand between his toes...Riku was back at Destiny Islands, back to his old self.He saw Sora and Kaira running toward him, waving at him as they came closer.He smiled and waited for them to reach him.But as they got closer, the sky behind them turned black and Kairi was grabbed by a Heartless.She screamed as she tried to get away from it, but it was too strong.Sora attacked it with his keyblade, trying to get Kairi free from it's grasp.The Heartless hit Sora and knocked him out, pulling Kairi into itself.Riku ran to Sora and tried to wake him up.He didn't respond and Riku was getting anxious.Grabbing Sora's keyblade, he charged at the Heartless.
"What do you think you can accomplish?This is all your fault after all, Riku..."
"NO!"
Riku opened his eyes and groaned.Another nightmare.He'd been having a few after he accepted the darkness and took on the form of Ansem.Try as he might, the guilt of his home being engulfed by darkness never escaped his mind.His only hope lay in asking his friends for forgiveness, but he wasn't sure he'd receive it.He looked at Rixa and saw that she was coming to.He sighed, but couldn't help smiling at her once she opened her eyes.She had a small bump on her forehead where he had hit her with the object.
"Owww...Riku, what in the world was that for?I was behaving just fine and I didn't need you to throw that thing at me!", she yelled, still rubbing her forehead.
"I thought you would be able to catch it.Guess I was wrong."
"Why, you!"
Rixa tackled him and they both fell to the floor.Riku wrapped his arms around her, refusing to let go, as she struggled to get loose.It had been a while since they had wrestled each other and they were having fun.Rixa started tickling him beneath his arms and he finally let go.Picking themselves up, Rixa fixed her hair.Riku put his hood back up and walked to the table next to the bed.He grabbed the object and handed it to Rixa, who was confused.
"Uhm, what's this?", she asked, eyeing the object and pulling on the paper, "Is it for me?"
"Yes, just for you.Open it and you'll see what it is."
Excited that it was a gift, she started pulling and ripping apart the paper, letting the bits fall to the floor.Once she had taken it all off, she looked at Riku.It was a fruit in the shape of a star.
"A...fruit?Am I supposed to eat it or something?"
"It's a paopu fruit, Rixa, a starfruit from Destiny Islands, my home.There's a legend that says that if two people share a paopu fruit, their destinies become intertwined and that they'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what.", he said, taking Rixa's right hand, the one she was holding the paopu fruit with, "I thought that you might like it."
"Intertwined?Forever part of each other's lives?", Rixa said in a low voice, her cheeks turning red, "I don't know what to say..."
"You don't have to say anything.I just wanted to give you something as a gift.", he said, smiling, "That's all."
"So, Riku, will you...", she whispered, still red, "Will you...share it with me?"
"If that's what you want.Look at you, red as a tomato.You're not scared, are you?"
"I'm not scared!"
Riku took the paopu fruit from her hand and broke it in half, giving one half to Rixa and keeping the other himself.He took a small bite as Rixa watched him.She hesitated momentarily, unsure of whether she would like the paopu fruit, but decided to eat it anyway.She liked the taste and ate the rest without waiting.Riku laughed at her, eating his slowly to enjoy the taste.
