S N O W  ~ a Kingdom Hearts oneshot

It was cold.

Ansem the Wise had asked Riku to trail Xion, in case she was up to anything dodgy, courtesy of the Organization. Riku, half intrigued and excited, happily agreed. But when he mention the four letter word that soon came after it, the awesome points dropped by about minus 100.

Snow.

Riku hated it. There was no way he could like it. He and Sora use to take a ferry over to a Snowy Island in the winter holidays, but it’d be a lie if Riku said he’d enjoyed it. He liked hot weather; even if it burnt him, even if it made his blood boil, even if he’d have to pile layer and layer of sunscreen onto his face and back…
It was by far better that this.

Miserably he set himself down onto a rock that wasn’t covered in snow. And he waited for his target to show up. After about ten minutes, Riku lifted his blindfold to get a better sight, but to no avail. He couldn’t see anything except that nauseating whiteness. He put his blindfold back to its normal state and closed his eyes. Maybe if he slept for a while Xion might show up. Suddenly, he heard a girlish giggle. It grew louder and louder, squealing and yelling joyously. It had to be Xion.

“Xi-Xion?” Riku asked into the whiteness. He could see though his blindfold and he clearly saw a black cloaked figure frolicking playfully in the snow. The figure paused and giggled. It skipped over to Riku and stared closely into his face.

“N’aww. Riku, how did you know it was me?”  Xion asked, tilting her head. Riku groaned.

“How can anyone not know it was you?” he retorted bluntly. Xion moved in closer to his face. The two were now nose to nose.

“Is something wrong, Riku?” she asked, blinking innocently. Riku sighed quietly. Xion kneeled down to be level with Riku and put her hand on his shoulder, “You don’t like the snow, do you?” Riku snarled.

“Don’t like it? DON’T LIKE IT?!” He stood up quickly and kicked the ground forcefully, “I HATE IT!” he walked over to a tree and leaned on it. The way his shoulders moved suggested that Riku was weeping.  Xion walked over gently to where he was standing.  She tried to touch his face, but he jolted it away from her touch.

“You don’t know how I feel…” he said quietly. Xion lowered her head.

“Only because I don’t understand Riku,” Xion said sadly, “If you told me why you hated snow, maybe I could cry with you…” Riku frowned.
“Don’t give me that. You know you can’t cry,” He said harshly. Xion flinched.  She was use to Riku’s deadly mood swings. She knew why he became so hostile – it was because of Xehanort’s spirit inside him. She decided not to fight back. The two of them stood closely together for a couple of minutes, and then Riku spoke.

“When…I was little, we use to go to an island nearby our home for winter vacation. It was always covered in snow,” he began. Xion listened attentively, “So one day, me and Sora decided to go exploring around the place. Being Sora, he was a bit jumpy and hyper that day, so he decided to run off. I followed him, and I fell down a ditch.” Riku said briefly.

“Oh no. What happened then?” Xion asked.

“Well. It then started snowing. And by the time I was rescued… my heart had nearly stopped. I was physically frozen.” Riku said calmly.

“So that’s why you hate snow, huh?” Xion mumbled to Riku. Riku nodded. “Then why did you come if you hate it so much?”

“Ansem wanted me to check on you. See if you were doing anything… untrustworthy.” Riku said. He winked, but Xion couldn’t see it through his blindfold.

“Oh pah-leese. Whose side do you think I’m on anyway?!” she exclaimed. Riku didn’t answer. There was another companionable silence again. “You know…” Xion started quietly, “I come to this snowy area a lot. Do you know why?” she inquired.

“Why?” Riku asked nonchalantly.

“The snow…it reminds me of you,” Xion muttered. Riku placed a gloved finger under her chin. Uh oh… Xion thought, he’s going into seduction mode.

“How so?” he asked alluringly.

“Well…sometimes, you can be cold and unfeeling. But most of the time, you fill me with joy. And you’re quite pale, but with colour in all the right places, like the sunlight against the snow. And your hair is so beautiful and white… but I wish…” she looked down momentarily, “I could see your eyes. How come…you never show them to me? I’m sure they’re as beautiful as the rest of you, right?” Riku put his hand by his side again and looked down.

“That’s not the point…” he said quietly.

“Then what is?” Xion asked.

“I don’t want you to see…what I’ve become.” Riku whispered. Xion put her arms around his neck.

“Riku…I don’t care. I don’t care if you’re a monster or a heartless or some other dangerous thing that science hasn’t discovered yet,” Xion said into his chest, “None of that matters to me if you’re standing by my side. You…you make me feel complete, Riku. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Riku sighed heavily.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asked no one in particular, “You make me feel so guilty, Xion.” Xion embraced Riku tighter.

“Can you do a favour for me Riku?” Xion asked. Riku looked down at her and groaned.

“What?”

“Look at the snow without your blindfold. You might change your mind about hating it,” Xion looked up at the boy with her big, blue eyes, “Please, Riku?” Riku exhaled loudly and dramatically, lifted his arms up and with one tug of the black fabric; the blindfold was off his face and fluttering down into the snow. Slowly, he opened one eye, blinked a few times, and then opened the other, repeating the process. Xion looked up at Riku – he looked so different without his blindfold; he was even more beautiful than usual, but he also looked…vulnerable; vulnerable and honest.  And for the first time ever, she saw Riku’s eyelashes. They were long and girlish, and fluttered about every time he blinked.

And then it started to lightly snow.

One snowflake fell on Xion’s nose.

“What do you think of the snow, Riku?” she asked, smiling at Riku, who looked taken aback. He chuckled quietly, and put his arms on Xion’s shoulders.

“It’s beautiful, Xion,” he licked the snowflake off her nose, “But it’s not as beautiful as you.”

<3