KH - A Date With My Best Friend's Sister(s) Ch. 1

A/N: if you want to see this with proper formatting, click on the link below to my FF.net account!
***

What a boring day.

It's five o'clock in the afternoon on a summer vacation Saturday. I've done nothing but wake up and eat so far, and I have absolutely no plans for the day or night. None.

I texted her a couple of minutes ago. "U busy tonight?" No response, yet, though. I'm just lying around on top of my bed, phone in hand, waiting for an answer.

About a year ago, it would have been a sure-fire thing that I'd hit up my best friends Sora and Kairi to chill. We'd go out to the movies, grub it up at some restaurants, fool around on the beach—you know, all that kinda stuff. Of course, that all changed when Sora finally grew a pair and asked Kairi out. He'd been crushing on her since he was like, five, and it only took the sap twelve years to actually man up and tell the girl how he felt. It's not like Kairi's faultless in the scenario either. It was pretty obvious she liked him, too for the majority of the time, but she didn't really do anything about it either. Still, it was fun being able to poke fun at them—well, mostly Sora—and putting them in awkward situations where they'd get scared of the other finding out their true feelings. Now that everything's out on the table, though, I've come to learn that being the official third wheel isn't exactly...fun.Actually, it could get downright awkward at times. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm genuinely happy for the two of them, but I do miss the good ol' times. Hm, if plan A doesn't work out, they could be a plan B.

My phone starts vibrating in my hand. Looks like she's replied. I open it up to find one of her signature, ridiculously long, perfectly punctuated text messages. Let's see how much I have to read through to find out what her answer is.

"Hey! I'm so glad you hit me up but...I unfortunately won't be able to hang out tonight! Mom and Dad are headed to some corporation dinner and Sora's going out with Kairi tonight, so I have to stay home and babysit Haru. We definitely need to go out soon though!"

Dammit. Babysitting again? And there goes plan A and plan B.

"well you suck" is what my text to her brother says.

"what I do " Sora replies almost instantaneously.

I contemplate for a moment how to reply. "take your kid sister out with you tonight so i can have my fun" sounds good enough. To be totally honest, I can completely see Sora taking little five year-old Haru out on his date and having a ball. The two of them have the exact same personality, and Kairi loves the girl to bits. Heh, this actually could be perfect.

Before I can hit 'send,' the phone starts ringing. Incoming Call: Sora.

I pick it up, but before I can say anything, he starts:

"Riku? Buddy, everything okay? Did I do something wrong?" he panics.

I snort at the worry in his voice. "Everything, Sora. You've done everything wrong," I reply sarcastically. I can hear him sigh in relief and chuckle a little.

"Alright, alright so you're messing with me. But you did sound a little ticked in that text you sent me. Something the matter?"

"It's really not that big a deal. I was hoping to take Amaya out tonight, but you and Kairi kind of put a damper on that. Just like last night."

"Oh, damn, sorry man!" he apologizes. "You know, I would have offered to take Haru out tonight, but...tonight might be the night, you know?" He's starting to sound a little flustered.

"The night?" I ask. I know where he's going with this, but giving him shit for actually telling me everything and listening to him freak out about it is just so much more fun.

"W-well, you know," he starts, all nervous, "Kairi and I...have been taking it kinda slow and all, and...well, you know."

"So, you're finally gonna try to round home plate tonight?" There's no reply, but I can picture him, nodding his head with some kind of over-the-top serious-but-borderline-goofy expression. "Pfft, took you a year?"

"Well, it's not like it's easy, being with the freaking mayor's daughter! I mean, he's one of the nicest people ever, but I guess there's a switch or something that flipped on his...dark side, once Kairi and I started going out. He interrogates me before and after every date, is really strict about curfew, and I'm pretty sure he sends, like, henchmen, or something, to spy on us. It hasn't been really possible to go and...well, you know."

"Know what,Sora?" I smirk. He ignores me, and continues on.

"So, like, I know you guys couldn't go out last night 'cause we had pretty much the same situation, but there is a difference this time! The mayor's gonna be at that conference corporation dinner thing that my mom and dad are going to, which means he'll be occupied—for the first time ever on a day the two of us went on a date, might I add—which means: no curfew!"

"Yeah, but what about the henchmen?" I point out the hole in his plan.

"Well, Kairi says I'm just imagining things, so...I just guess we'll see how it goes, huh?"

"Good luck with that, Sora," I scoff. Forget the conversation right now, I'm just waiting for the stories I'm gonna hear tomorrow.

"Hey, at least I'm probably getting...well, you know, tonight." I can picture the stupid smirk on his face right now. And I know exactly how to wipe it off.

"Do you really want to have this conversation while I'm dating your sister?"

"R-Riku! What the hell?!" he yells. "It's only been like, three weeks! And she's. My. Sister. Don't even."

"Sora, calm down, I'm joking." I admit, it is a low blow, but hearing him so flabbergasted is always hilarious. "Like you said, it's been like, three weeks. And even in that span of time, it's not like we've been able to hang out that much. We've both been busy, with classes just ending and all. Like I told you before, college finals are not exactly a walk in the park."

"Well, do you really like her?" he inquires. His question catches me off guard.

"…hmm, well—" I start, but Sora cuts me off.

"Wait, hold that thought, Riku! Kairi's on the other line, I'll call right back!" And he hastily hangs up on me. Alright, then.

Still, his question does start to bother me. One would think I'd be sure of my feelings for this girl, Amaya, since I've known her my whole life. After all, she is my best friend's sister. I would see her all the time: at their house, on the play island, and besides this past year, we'd always been in the same classes at school. And yeah, sure, I always thought she was kinda cute-looking; I mean, wouldn't have agreed to go out with her now if I didn't, right? But I never really went up and to get to know her. She'd always be doing her own thing while I'd be doing mine, while we'd be hanging out with our own groups of friends, and just rarely interacting in general. Plus, I always felt she was off-limits with the whole bro-code thing, although Sora does constantly reassure me that he's cool with it.

***

The first time I really got a chance to sit down and talk to her as we got to know each other was the first time we went out for dinner…

It's our second date. Our first, we've decided, was when I actually (and admittedly, awkwardly) asked her out at the Island Festival, much to Sora and Kairi's delight. Even though this is our first time hanging out alone, we came to a decision that the awkwardness level might go down if we rebrand the title of this event.

We sit across each other at a table at The Hidden Dragon, a local Chinese food joint. The place has dark walls and red and yellow decorations; it sort of gives the feel of a fire-lit cave. Pendant lights dangle above every table, providing some dim lighting. It's a busy night, with waiters and waitresses scrambling to serve the full house. We've been here a good fifteen minutes, waiting for someone to come take our order. I'm drumming my fingers on the black table, waiting for someone to come take our order. I know what I'm getting. She's got one of her elbows on the table, her head resting in her hand. Her other hand's on the menu, while she squints at it trying to decide what she wants. She doesn't exactly blow me away like she did the day I asked her out, but she's still pleasant to look at.

"Hmm, what are you getting?" she asks, looking up at me.

"Shrimp lo mein, crab rangoons, and kung pao chicken" I reply.

"Damn, you can eat a lot," she giggles. "I can't decide between orange and sweet-and-sour chicken."

"Eenie meenie miney mo?" I suggest, shrugging. She smiles and immediately looks back down at her menu, quickly moving her index finger between the two options. I watch her lips move while mouthing the words to the poem, as they pout and look twice their size as they meet to pronounce every "m" and "b," and spread into what looks like a smile every time she elongates the vowels.

"Sorry it took so long! Are you guys ready to order?" an energetic female voice interrupts. She sounds familiar, and when I look up, I know exactly who she is.

"Hey, Selphie!" Amaya greets.

"Oh my gosh! Amaya! Riku! How are you guys?!" she exclaims.

"Not bad," I reply. "Didn't know you worked here."

"Yup! It's my part-time job! It's fun here, although nights like this can get a little stressful."

"Well, hopefully there's free food for you to take home at the end of this," says Amaya.

"Yeah, that's always true!" Selphie beams. The huge grin on her face quickly disappears as her jaw drops. "Wait, are you guys, like, together?!" Before I can answer in the negative, Amaya starts shaking her head.

"Nah, we're just hanging out tonight."

"Oh, okay," she replies. She has a suspicious tone in her voice, but her smile returns. "Anyway, like I said, busy night! I'd love to stand by and chat, but I should really get your guys' order and go!"

I nod my head in understanding, and give her my order. Amaya tells her the winner of eenie-meenie-miney-mo, and Selphie notes it all down quickly and runs off to give it in to the kitchen. We try to make small talk while we wait for the food to arrive, but we're not exactly sure what to chat about. We start off, quite originally, with the weather. The weather leads us to talking about the bad storm the other day which made the walk to the college totally-not-fun, which then leads us to discussing our classes. Both of us are still completely undecided with what we want to pursue, so we just end up comparing classes and professors. We go on until the food finally comes up, and the eating commences immediately. Throughout the meal, we comment on our food. ("This chicken is soo good! Riku, how's your food?" "Not bad. The lo mein is probably the best out of the three.") You know, the generic stuff.

The basic banter continues 'til we finish up our food. We wait for Selphie to come clean up our table, and discuss whether or not we we're going to get dessert.

"A good meal isn't complete without dessert," I say.

"Hmm, true…but I feel bad that you're spending so much!" she replies.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Things like this are what I save up for," I shrug. She smiles and picks up the little menu tucked beside the napkin dispenser.

It's not long before Selphie arrives again to mop up the table and take our dessert orders. Coconut ice cream for her, steamed sponge cake for me. As we wait for her to come back again, Amaya starts talking about some book she's been reading. Something about a bunch of friends who get split up when their kingdom is attacked. I can tell she's absolutely in love with the tale by the way her green eyes light up while she speaks quickly and enthusiastically. I just nod my head in agreement every time she asks "Right?" or "Don't you agree?" or anything else along those lines. Everything else she says goes in one ear and out the other.

My mind starts to wander and I begin to think about all the other things going on right now. Finals are coming up in two weeks, gotta study for those. Maybe she and I can study together. But will we actually get any studying done, or are we gonna get caught up in…other activities? That doesn't sound so bad…but then again, I do need to do really well on these exams, so maybe things like that'll have to wait and—

I'm interrupted when a curled up napkin hits my face.

"Riku, are you even paying attention?" she sighs.

"Sorry, I totally zoned out," I replied, honestly. Instead of getting angry, though, she cocks her head to the side and smirks. The dimple on her right cheek stands out.

"Alright, then, so what do you want to talk about?" she inquires, arms crossed. I'm a little surprised. Most girls I've dated usually don't notice that I don't pay attention to what they're saying, and the few that have start lecturing me about how "totally rude" I'm being. One girl, Claire, threw her soda in my face and just stormed out. Compared to that fiasco, this certainly is a nice change of pace.

"Hmm," I start. I notice the window at the back of the restaurant, several tables behind her. The sky is surely clear tonight; that sparks an idea. "What's your theory on stars?"

"Stars?" She looks slightly taken aback by the complete change in the direction of this conversation, but after taking a moment to ponder, she gives me her answer:"Mm, well, from what I've learned, they're all like our sun: balls of high energy, gas, and heat that burn bright and are held together by their own gravity, in a nutshell. They just look so much smaller 'cause they're so much further away. Although, it's not like the sun is anywhere near close to us, either; it's about ninety-three million miles away."

"Yeah, but…all of that is technically a hypothesis, right? It's not like anyone's actually gone to visit another star before."

"What're you trying to get at?"

"Well…ever think there could be other people, or worlds, on those stars? I mean, our world is just so…small. There's no way that we're all the life that there is, out here."

She pauses before responding, hand stroking her chin and her brow furrowed. "You know, I never thought of it that way before…"

***

The phone starts ringing in my hand again. "Took you long enough," I say as I pick up.

"Sorry, Riku, Kairi just wanted to make sure that everything was all set for tonight," Sora replies. I sense a nervous tone in his voice.

"Don't screw up," I smirk.

"We'll be just fine," he scoffs.

"Not going to tell me any of your plans?"

"And have you show up and ruin everything? Hell, no!"

"Sora, you really think I have nothing better to do than to show up on your date and watch you and Kairi go at it?"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"Gee, thanks," I sneer.

"You know I'm kidding, buddy! But, anyway, you still owe me an answer to a certain question I asked!"

"Oh, well…" I begin again.

***

We've just finished up at The Hidden Dragon, and I'm accompanying Amaya home. She strides with her arms crossed across her body, head held up as she looks up at the sky. I walk with my hands in my pockets, eyes ahead, glancing at her every once in a while we converse. Ever since I brought up the "Star Theory," we've been chatting up a storm. We've discussed what we might do if we somehow wound up on another world (I really don't know, I haven't really thought about it; she says she'd love to explore and learn about the cultures and meet new people), as well as come up with theories about why the worlds have been separated (she thinks they might all be alternate universes, while I think they just might be smaller pieces of a bigger, giant world). We fall silent for a bit, until she breaks it:

"Alright, so I've gotta ask, what exactly inspired this theory of yours?" she questions.

"Well, a couple of things, actually," I begin. "The first time I got the idea was from a story my dad told me. It's more like a legend, but…I don't know, it's suspicious."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I must have been five or six. It was after dinner one night. I was looking out the window in our living room, admiring the stars. Dad noticed, and asked me what I was thinking about. I told him I was wondering why exactly they were up there, in the sky. He took a second, and then began to tell me a story his father used to tell him." I look over at her, and notice her peeking up at me, eyes peering curiously.

"And?" she inquires eagerly.

"Okay, so apparently my grandpa knew this really weird kid on the island. He was really introverted and didn't have many friends. A lot of the time, people would just see him standing on the shore at night, looking up at the stars. Grandpa was a friendly fellow, and I guess he kinda felt bad for the guy, always by himself. One night, he approached him and started chatting him up. The guy wasn't really that responsive to small talk, but he perked up when prodded about his fixation with the stars. He said something about this world being 'too small' and that there must be some sort of way to travel to others. Strange, right? But see, here's the crazy thing. A couple of weeks later, the kid disappeared completely. Vanished into thin air. Gone."

"That's impossible, though!" she blurts. "Everyone who disappears turns up eventually. The world is—"

"Too small," I complete her train of thought. "I know."

"So…are you trying to insinuate that he must have actually left the island and gone to another world?"

"Well, yeah. Like you pointed out, everyone else who's ever disappeared has always turned back up. Every kid that's run away has turned up on one of the surrounding islets, and anyone who's ever been murdered has had their body found eventually—whether they were buried somewhere, or they wash up on the shore from being dumped in the ocean. There really isn't any place you can hide anything, or anyone, forever here. Unless there's some part of this island that hasn't been touched over the past, like, seventy years or something, which I highly doubt, there's no way he's still here. Someone would have found him."

"Hmm…alright, then." She ponders over what I've said for a moment. The expression on her face suggests that she deems what I've said so far plausible. "And, what was the other piece of inspiration?"

"Well, this kinda goes back to everything washing back up on shore—whether it be a dead body, or even a pair of sandals you accidentally lost as a kid. It might take a few years, but eventually, it always comes back here, right?" I glance over at her, and see her nod in the affirmative. "So, one time, I was talking to Tidus back in high school. He told me that one time, he and a couple of friends went out in their boats to try and see how far they could go. Apparently, they got to a point out in the ocean where they just couldn't go any further, like there was some sort of barrier preventing them from going forward. They ended up having to turn back around."

"Yeah, but, knowing Tidus, I would just think he got lazy or hungry, didn't prepare well enough, and turn back around," she shrugged.

"That's what I thought, too, at first. But then, it clicked. The reason everything comes back is because—"

"There's nowhere else for it to go!" she gasps, as she pumps her fist into the palm of her other open hand. "Riku, that's…wow, that's actually really interesting!"

"I know," I declare, smiling.

We walk the rest of the way back to her house—about five minutes, or so—in complete silence. But, it's not awkward. As I peer over at her, I see her making the same expression as when I first brought up my theory to her. I can tell she's brooding over everything I've just said. It makes me glad; I haven't had a serious conversation about this with anyone in a really long time. Sora, as well as anyone else I ever talked to this about, usually stared at me like I was crazy. This time, however, has been different.

As we approach her home, she begins to speak again.

"There still is one big hole in your reasoning, though…" she begins.

"Oh?"

"Well, you say this guy who disappeared must have gone to another world, right? But, how could he have done that if there's some barrier that's supposedly blocking off the "gates" between them?"

I scratch the back of my head in thought. "Well, that's what I'm still trying to figure out." I watch her lips curl up while she looks up at the sky, pensively.

"You know," she begins, as we finally come to a stop in front of her house, "maybe you should take up astronomy for your major."

"What?" I chuckle, slightly surprised by her sudden suggestion. She turns around to look me in the eye, and continues:

"You're not the easiest person to read, but," she confesses, "I mean, the way your eyes lit up when you were talking about this stuff…I can tell it's really important to you. What better career path for you is there than one where you can just spend all your time, discovering things about the stars and doing what you clearly seem to love?"

"…that really isn't a bad idea," I consider aloud. I then take a good look at her, as she stands facing me, back towards the house.

"Definitely think about it!" she says. I nod, and as I do so I find myself staring at her lips. Do I seal the date with a kiss, or not? Before I can even make my decision, we're interrupted by the sound of a door flying open.

"You guys are back!" Sora calls out, as he runs out onto the front porch of the house. "Well, how'd it go?!"

"Great, and then you showed up," I reply, rolling my eyes at him. Amaya giggles while Sora pouts.

"Have you been staring outside the window, waiting for us to come back?" she prods.

"Well, yeah! I wanna hear all about it! How was it?!"

Amaya shakes her head lightheartedly, and turns towards me."Honestly, I really did enjoy our walk home. Dinner was great, too. Thank you so much, for everything," she assures. She leans in towards me and tip-toes to give me gentle peck on my cheek, before she turns around to go into her house. Sora holds the door open for her, face beaming.

"Should I text you?" I inquire, raising my voice so she can hear me as she steps inside. She turns around and nods in the affirmative.

"Good night, Riku," she says, waving at me. She retreats into the house.

"Night, bro!" Sora howls. I give him a nod as he follows her inside and closes the door behind them.

"Night," I mumble. I find myself touching my face where she kissed me. Her lips sure were soft, but…

What's this sticky shit?

I look down at my hand to find my fingertips covered in the same rosy hue that tinted her lips.

Sticky Lipstick: Destroyer of all Good Kisses. I feel myself scowling as I turn around to walk home, but then I let out a sigh.

Well, it's definitely been a lot worse.

Actually, tonight...wasn't too bad at all.

***

"Earth to RIKU," Sora yells, snapping me back into the present.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," I reply. "You know, she's a pretty cool girl. But, like I said before, it's only been three weeks."

"Well, this is the longest you've been with a girl since, like, your freshman year of high school..."

I cringe when I think back to Lulu. Looking back, I don't know what even possessed me to ask her out. Sure, she was hot, but all that black stuff she used to put around her eyes put a bit of a damper on that. Maybe I was mesmerized by her huge-ass boobs, I don't know. We went out for about a month and a half, and while I began to question my decision of being with her more and more every day for that relationship, I decided to completely end it when I found out she was into freaky shit like voodoo. Every day for the month after that, though, I felt this really mysterious sharp pain in my back every time I sat down in that class we had together. She got over it when my friend Wakka asked her out, though. They're kind of a weird-ass couple, but hey, four years later, they're still going strong.

"You know, it would be so cool if this works out and you guys end up together!" Sora continues. "Then we'd really be brothers!"

"Sora, if anything, that's going to scare me away from wanting to be with your sister," I snort. I can imagine his pout right about now.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…well, if anything, my sister really is a great girl. I know you guys haven't spent a lot of time together yet and all, but Kairi and I are super optimistic about this. Oh, and," his voice suddenly turns more stern, "if you make her cry, I'll kick your ass."

I can't help it, I burst out laughing.

"Why the hell are you laughing?! I'm serious!" he exclaims, outraged while I continue to cackle. I stop when I feel my stomach start to hurt.

"Pfft, okay, Sora," I reply, wiping a tear from my eye. "Don't worry, bro. Like you said the day I asked her out, your sister's a smart girl. If we become a thing, great. And if it doesn't work out, I'm sure she'll understand. No tears, I promise."

"Haha, I know, I trust you, man. Anyway, I really do feel bad about you having nothing to do tonight, and I was telling Kairi, and she came up with a suggestion."

"Oh?"

"Just go to my house and surprise her. I mean, yeah, she'll be busy with Haru, but it's not like the two of you can't hang out while watching her. Maybe pick up some flowers or something for her on the way. Girls love that romantic crap. I'm sure my sister does, too!"

"Good thing you know what she does and doesn't like."

"Hey, Amaya and I are close, but, it's not like she's gone out with a whole lot of guys. And I'm pretty sure she hasn't dated anyone longer than you have, so I really don't know what her preferences are when it comes to this stuff."

I ponder over what he says for a moment. I mean, hey, it's been over a week since I've been able to properly hang out with her. And who wants to get stuck just babysitting their little sister on a Saturday night? I don't really see a downside to this. "Well, why the hell not?"

"Alright! Mom and Dad are gonna leave soon, and I'm gonna head out to pick up Kairi around 6:30, so just come sometime after then!"

"Sounds like a plan. And really, good luck tonight, don't psych yourself out. Or get beat up by those enigmatic henchmen."

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Riku. Anyway, I gotta get ready and everything. We'll catch up later, alright? Bye!"

"Bye." I hang up the phone, get up off my bed and walk over to my closet to look for something more presentable to change into. I don't really know much about fashion, but I'm pretty sure paopu-print boxers and a Destiny Islands' High t-shirt aren't exactly date-night appropriate. I hear my phone vibrate again. Text Message: Sora.

"dont 4get choclate!" it says. I sigh.

"its not for you" I reply. I'm reminded I have to respond to Amaya's message from earlier, too.

"nah its nbd wEll ChiLl soon" I type. I purposely make my grammar and punctuation worse when I text her. I can picture her, rolling her eyes when she receives it. Making grammar-nazis cringe gives me some sort of sweet, unexplainable satisfaction.

Regardless, chill soon, we shall.