The New Me

A/N: OMG! I updated! Hehehehe…Sorry that took so long. I was really busy. And now I lost my keys…and my cell phone’s on the fritz…it’s not been my week. But here’s an update! Right as rain, kinda. Hope you enjoy. Hopefully the next one won’t take as long..

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the characters. Nor do I make any money off of them. The characters are property of their respective creators/companies.
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Naminé had told Vexen she’d be bringing someone. She had told him up front and from the start. She even called him from the ferry to remind him she wasn’t coming on her own. However, when she walked up to stairs to the entrance of Bastion Hospital, she still received the, ‘Who the HELL is that?’ look from the blonde gentlemen standing in the door way.

“Stop looking at me like that!” she waved her hand at him. “I only said it a thousand times, I wasn’t coming on my own.”

Vexen frowned at her, “And I only said a thousand and one times, I can’t let you in to see the boy if you brought someone else with you.”

Riku looked back and forth between Naminé and the man, wasn’t he going to get to see Sora? He frowned a bit.

“But Vexen! He’s Sora’s friend as well!” Naminé tried to plead with him.

“Dr. Vexen. And I don’t care. Naminé he’s not to have visitors as it is…. I was making an exception because I know you.” Naminé sighed. She was hopping she’d be able to convince him. She had figured that if she showed up with Riku, since he was already there, he had would have no choice but to let them in…

Riku watched Naminé try to think up an excuse for him to get into Sora’s room. He turned from her to Vexen, the blonde gentlemen did not look amused. He looked down at his watch and sneered. He then looked up at Riku and narrowed his eyes at the teenager.

Riku did the same. This guy was a jerk, he only wanted to see his friend. To make sure Sora was alright. To find out what happened in that cave. To ask him what was he thinking? Dressing like a girl? Lying to everyone? To him? Why’d he do it?

Riku looked away from Vexen, he had come to the hospital excited at the prospect of seeing Sora again. And on the way there, he had gotten a little nervous. Now those nervous were haunting him. Maybe it was good that he couldn’t get in to see Sora, he wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

“Ok! How about this….” They both turned to look at Naminé. “Instead of me going in to see Sora for two hours, the two of us go in for one. You don’t have to take us, just tell me where the room is. That way if we’re caught, no one can pin it on you.”

“You still don’t get it. I can’t let the both of you in!”

“Why not?”

Riku sighed as he watched Naminé begin another argument with the doctor. It was pointless. He felt an odd lump rising in his chest. It just wasn’t his day. It wasn’t his week.


“Look, Naminé just forget it.” She turned and looked at Riku surprised. “I’ll just…I’ll just go home. You have fun visiting Sora, ok?” He turned and started walking down the steps. He only got down three when he had to turn around because Naminé was calling his name.

“What’s with you?” She asked a little agitated.

“Nothing. But I don’t want you to be kept from Sora, so…”

“Well, don’t you want to see him too?” Riku looked over his shoulder and muttered a ‘Yea’ before turning back to her. “Yea? Yea? Is that it! You were so pumped to come before!”

“I know. It’s just,” Riku sighed. “What am I gonna say when I get up there? Hey Sora! Glad to see you’re not hurt! So why’d you lie to me you little piece of shit?” He mockingly smiled at her.

“Well if you call him a piece of shit I’m sure he’ll be angry…”

“Well good!” Naminé looked startled. “I mean? What in the hell? I’m not happy he’s hurt, but he did lie to me! He lied to everyone! And what for! For his amusement! He jerked us around, Naminé aren’t you just a little bit angry!”

Naminé scratched her head. “Nice mood swings you’re having there, Riku.”

Riku rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t get me wrong. I want to know the truth. I’m dying to know…but if I go up there, I think I’ll rip him apart before I let him know how happy I am to see him.”

“So then, go rip him apart.” Riku looked confused at her for a moment. “Well, why not? He did lie to everyone. And while he doesn’t deserve to be laid up in the hospital, he does deserve to get chewed out. But you can’t do that at home.” She took his hand and walked back up to Vexen.

Vexen, once again shook his head at the girl form the flower shop. “Floor ten, room 501,” was all he said and Naminé dragged the still fickle Riku up the stairs.

The elevator was even more nerve wracking than the trip to the hospital, Riku decided. He kept tapping his feet, trying to figure out what he was going to say to Sora when he saw him. Trying to figure out why he was so antsy about what to say. Trying to figure out if Sora would still be attractive in a hospital gown and busted head.

Even though he decided that last one wasn’t really relevant.

And Naminé was no help. She just hummed and tapped her feet. She was watching the lights on the top of the elevator door, signaling their approach to floor ten. When the elevator stopped she smiled at him and stepped off.

Riku took a deep breath and followed. Sora’s room was at the end of the hall.

There was a little spot to sit out front, and a window to look into the room, thought the curtains were drawn. The door was slightly ajar. Naminé put her ear to the door, before flashing one more smile at Riku and walking in. Riku exhaled and walked in with her.

He still didn’t know what he was going to say…

When Sora heard the door open, his first instinct was to ignore. He for sure wasn’t going to talk to his mother again. Especially not after she smacked him. He didn’t care how sad she was, he wasn’t going to acknowledge her. For spite if nothing else. So as soon as he heard the door creak open, he turned his attention from the TV on the wall and covered up under his sheets.

If she wanted to talk, she’d have to give him another head injury.

Naminé caught Sora quickly ducking under his covers and smile. ‘Aw, is he embarrassed to see us?’ she slowly walked over to the bed. Once at his side, she looked over at Riku, who stood in the door with a blank look on his face. Naminé shook her head and reached out to poke Sora’s body.

No response. So she did it again. And then a third time. Finally she let out a huff and smacked him across his bottom.

Sora let out a tiny yelp and Riku let out laugh. Even Sora couldn’t ignore this, he peaked out from under the covers and looked at the door. He had not been expecting Riku’s ever smug expression to greet him.

“You’re such a baby for such a big boy.” Sora turned to look at Naminé, who looked at his face and realized she had to explain herself. “We came to visit you silly.”

“….Visit?” Sora sat up and looked from her to Riku. “But, I’m not allowed visitors.”

“I’ve got connections.” The blonde boasted. Sora just nodded silently. He looked at his hands now.

He hadn’t been expecting this. He didn’t know what to say.

Naminé looked at Sora, who focused in on his hands and then over to Riku, whom she found after laughing had decided his feet were the most entertaining thing in the world. She made an agitated face, but quickly came up with a solution.

“I’m going to go find a vending machine!” Sora and Riku looked at her startled with the sudden out burst. “I’m kind of hungry.” She walked over to Riku and took his hand. “So why don’t you two keep each other entertained while I got get something.” She pulled him up to Sora’s bed.

“W-why don’t I go with you.” Riku said as the girl forced him into a chair.

“No, you stay here, someone needs to visit Sora.”

“It’s ok! He can go with you!” the brunette added. But Naminé just turned around and headed for the door.

“I’ll B-R-B, as they say!” And she ducked out to leave the boys to talk. Sora and Riku looked from the door to one another. Riku gave a sad impression of his usual smirk and Sora just barely forced a smile before sinking back into the bed. Riku picked up the remote for the TV and began channel flipping. Sora just silently agreed with whatever he watched.


Sora silently watched the TV make three full circles on channels before Riku gave up and settled on a blitzball game. He set the remote down and zeroed in on the TV.

‘WHERE THE HELL IS NAMINÉ!’ Riku mental screamed at the absent blonde. How could she bring him here and then ditch him! What was she thinking! He was left alone in a room with Sora, of all people to leave him alone with this was not the person. At least not right now it wasn’t.

‘Why did they come here? I wonder if Naminé forced him to come. I wouldn’t be surprised. God, why did she leave us alone…what if he gets pissed like Kairi and lashes out at me…’ Sora shifted uneasily in his bed. He didn’t like being on his own with Riku. He didn’t like it before, and he sure as hell didn’t like it now.

Riku sighed at the game on TV. ‘This isn’t even that great….god.’ His eyes wondered around the room. He noticed the monitors hooked up to Sora by IVs, a few balloons, from who he couldn’t tell. The couch in the corner had been made into a little bed, probably for his mother to sleep on. And some things obviously brought from home.

By far the most distinct one was a picture. Riku eyed it for a moment. It was taken in front of a store it looked like; there were five other people in the picture besides Sora. Two girls and three guys. The oldest man had a cigarette in his mouth, one girl clung to the arm of a blonde boy; the other girl waved like crazy in the background, and the last young man had an arm draped around Sora’s shoulder.

Riku narrowed his eyes a bit at the image, and picked it up off the desk. The teenager decked out in black leather had an awfully comfortable hold on Sora in the picture. And he didn’t look like he was objecting too much.

‘Wow, this looks pretty recent…I guess Sora can look attractive as a boy.’

“Leon.” Riku was so intent on studying the picture, he forgot where he was. He looked up with a jolt to find Sora staring at him. “Leon’s the one next to me,” he muttered.

“…oh.” Riku put the picture back down and looked at Sora. “I guess he’s also the reason you lied to everyone?” No reason in beating around the bush he figured.

Sora just nodded. It seemed he felt the same. Riku sighed and looked back at the picture.

“You really love him enough to get yourself thrown in the hospital?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Well then how was it supposed to be, Sora? You obviously knew something was bound to happen with you lying to everyone one!” Riku slammed his hands on the side of the bed.

“Yea, I did know! But it wasn’t supposed to be this. I just wanted to you hate me so I cold go home. I thought-”

“You thought! You thought? Obviously you didn’t think very much! What possessed you to think lying like this was ok!”

“I didn’t mean to, it just kind of happened that way.”

“You didn’t mean to!” Riku stood up now. Sora inched away from him as much as the bed would allow, but the silver haired boy was still in his face. “How do you not mean to go about dressed as a girl for weeks on end?!”

“Because no one was supposed to see me! I never wanted to dress up, but you and your idiot friends came by and I had too!” Sora leaned forward and shouted back at Riku. Something he quickly regretted as his head reminded him he couldn’t really yell.

“Me and my friends…You’re talking about the first day? How does us seeing you correlate to you dressing up the first day you were here!”

Sora shook his head. He didn’t think Riku could use words like correlate. “I was dressed up that day because Leon gave me that dress. I had never worn it before. It was just supposed to be one day, the last day. No one was supposed to see me, then you showed up and was convinced I was girl.”

Riku shook his head. “So why didn’t you say something?”

“…Because. It seemed like you handed me a solution to my problem…” Sora looked away from Riku and back at his hands. “I didn’t mean for it to get this bad. All I wanted was for you to hate me, so Mom would send me home.”

Riku frowned and turned his head. “Well, I guess after this, you’ve gotten what you wanted…”

“Not really.” Riku looked back at Sora; he was absently playing with his fingers. “About all I got myself was a one way ticket to a random boarding school. I’m sure that after this Leon will never forgive me, let alone be with me. About the only thing that went according to plan was that I gained your hatred.”

After that, Sora didn’t say anything. Neither did Riku. He was angry with Sora, he was still kind of miffed about it. But hate was a lot.

He leaned forward and planted a kiss on the side of the injured boy’s cheek. Sora, startled turned to face him. Riku was sure under normal circumstances that would have got him smacked, again. But this time it didn’t.

“W-why? …Why did you do that!?”

“Because…I don’t hate you.” Riku’s classic smirk, that one that Sora hated, returned. “I ain’t happy, but I don’t hate you. And if I go and turn my back on you now, I’ll never get to know the new Sora.”

Sora chewed on his lip and shook his head. “No; no more new Sora…just the old one. At least until Mom sends me away…” he muttered.

Riku leaned forward to press his forehead against and captured one of Sora’s hands. “Don’t worry about it; we’ll see if we can’t get her to extend your island stay.”

“We? We who?”

“We THREE of course!” Riku and Sora pulled back from each other so fast, you’d think they were magnets repealing each other. Riku turned around to see Naminé standing in the door way holding an empty candy wrapper.

Riku huffed. “Nice of you to join us.”

“Hey, had to give you time to make up.”

“Well you think you could have waited three more minutes for ‘make-up’ to be ‘make-out’?” Riku smiled at her, but Sora hit him in the back of the head with a pillow.

Naminé walked up and smiled. She looked at the boys and nodded. “So we got everything worked out then?”

Sora looked and Riku, who shrugged. “I think we still have a lot to fix…But we’re getting there.”

“Wonderful!” Naminé pulled up a chair on the opposite side of Sora’s bed. “We’ll just be sure to do it a bit at a time. Ok?”

Riku sat down as well, “So what until then?”

“Until then, we enjoy our new friend!” She smiled at Sora.

Riku shook his head, “New friend eh? Well, as the new guy, I think he should get a nickname.” Sora turned to look puzzled at Riku.

“Ooooh! How about ‘Skirt’?” Sora looked at her and made a face.

“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘Blockhead’.”

“Blockhead! Now wait a minute!” Sora was ready to protest, but Naminé cut him off with a squeal of approval. Riku laughed, feeling up to his old self.

“Blockhead it is!” Sora pouted.

“If I’m Blockhead, then Riku’s ‘Perv.’” Naminé nodded in agreement.

“You can’t hand out nicknames! You’re new.”

“Technically, since we’ve all never hung out together, we’re all new.” Naminé pointed out.

“Ha! Perv it is then.”

“Well, if I’m Perv, then Naminé’s ‘Air-head’.”

“Air-head!”

“Well you are blonde.” Sora pointed out.

“Now wait just a minute, I’m the one who got us here.”

Sora and Riku began their argument for Naminé’s nickname, while contesting their own. Riku insisted, he should be ‘Stud’ as opposed to ‘Perv’, but that idea was discarded by the other two quickly.

Mrs. Hikari sat outside her son’s room. She knew he wasn’t supposed to have visitors. She had made the request herself. And yet, here she sat listening to her son’s voice carry on with the voices of another young boy and a girl.

The boy sounded familiar, but the girl was new. She sat for five minutes and listened to them talk. Finally, he son’s doctor came by. Dr. Vexen raised and eye brow to her, but she raised a hand to silence him before he could say anything.

“His friends are in there,” she whispered. Vexen gave a horrified look. “…It’s ok. Let them talk.” He looked confused; she just sighed.

“You know…I used to ignore his friends back in Traverse Town. And look where that got him, drunk on Christmas Eve.” She laughed. “Maybe some kids his own age will be good for him. I just don’t want him around bad influences any more….maybe, these kids will keep him from getting into trouble?” She smiled at Vexen.

He merely shook his head. “He’s your son. But from what I’ve heard, the Endo boy is a bit of a womanizer…”

“Oh, so you know who’s in there?” She raised and eyebrow. Vexen coughed.

“I, uh, recognized the voice….” He nodded to her. “We’ll check up then when they’re gone?”

“R-ight.” She said, and turned to leave with the doctor.