"Once Upon a Paopu Fruit"

By Shampoo

Disclaimer: If you haven't gotten the message by now, I don't own KH

Author's Commentary: Well, here it is. Last chapter. It makes me kinda sad…*sniffle*

BUT! You guys don't have to be sad! For you see…I have another fic out! Its co-written by The Ambitious Blank, so its not all me, but its posted under my name, its Riku/Sora, and its pretty darn good, if you ask me. Blank and I have been plotting a co-written fic prolly since before I even began writing this fic…So, go check it out! Please? ^^

Chapter 10: Floofy Cream Puffs and Little Fuzz Muffins

            "Well, I order you to obey Kairi's plan!" Selphie drew herself up, though shorter than Riku by quite a bit, he still found himself cowering before her. Riku growled…as he was Selphie's slave, there was nothing he could do when she gave an order.

            "Selphie, Kairi…guys, this isn't just some little fight…this won't work to resolve it…"

            The two girls stared at him; Selphie's innocent green eyes blinking, and Kairi's wide lavender ones still sparkling with slight mischief. They stared at Riku for a moment, then turned back to each other.

            "Ok, so you'll take care of flowers Selphie? I think Sora likes blue…but make sure they're a light blue."

            "Got it. Light blue. And you'll take care of food Kairi?"

            "Right. You think Tidus will distract Sora long enough to get this set up?" Selphie stared at Kairi incredulously.

            "Let me get this straight. You want Tidus to distract someone?" Selphie bit her bottom lip, trying hard not to giggle on the concept. Kairi too, brought her hand to her mouth, covering it up as she tried hard not to laugh.

            Riku just rolled his eyes.

            "This is the stupidest idea ever…" The two girls proceeded to ignore him.

            "Right, so Wakka will distract Sora…And Tidus can be on decorating committee…or something." Selphie looked over at Kairi, confirming this worked for her. Kairi nodded and gave Selphie a thumbs up.

            "Doesn't anyone care about me here?" Riku protested, staring at the two girls.

            "Nope!"

            "Not really…"

            Riku sighed.

            This is for you Sora…

            *********

            "Wow…" Selphie let out a long breath, her eyes wide with disbelief. "It's a little scary, huh Kairi?"

            Kairi didn't say anything, she just nodded and continued to stare at Riku.

            "What?!" He demanded trying to turn. "What have you done to me?!" The two girls spun him around to see his reflection in the mirror.

            Riku glowered at his reflection. This was by far the stupidest idea ever.

            "Riku…you look so…" Selphie's nose crinkled up as she tried to think of a good word.

            "I look like a girl." He stated, staring at himself. Selphie stared at Riku's reflection.

            "Maybe a little…but…you're even prettier than Kairi and me!" Riku stared at his reflection. His skin was the same pale moonlight tone it had always been, albeit dusted with a little powder today. His eyes were the strange hypnotic, green washed with blue, but Selphie had delicately applied mascara, giving him long, dark eyelashes, a little feminine, but they made his eyes look large and even a deeper green. They'd brushed and brushed the silver locks, fighting ever knot until Riku's hair had become a moonlight spun silk of silver.

            That wasn't the worst part.

            It was far from the worst part.

            Riku was wearing a wedding dress. He had no idea where Selphie had come across it, but naturally, she had one. It was rather plain, as such dresses were hard to come by around here, but nonetheless, it was definitely, a wedding dress. It cascaded down past Riku's ankles, white with silver embroidery. It was short sleeved, but Selphie had insisted he had covered his arms with long white gloves, covered in pearls and gaudy embroidery. Kairi was gently placing a homemade veil, complete with the baby blue flowers in his hair.

            "Wow…I bet you're the prettiest bride to ever be married on these islands…" Selphie commented.

            "Come on Riku, you're going to be late!" Kairi dragged him towards the door; eager to see how well her plan would work.

            "What's going on…?" Sora tried to look around. All around him, he could smell something that smelled like flowers and cake.  For some odd reason, Wakka was throwing a blitzball at him every time he tried to move from his spot, and he thought he heard Tidus shuffling around. 

            On top of all that, he was blindfolded. Sora strained to hear what he couldn't see. Normally, he loved a good practical joke, even when he was the butt of the joke, but today he just wasn't in the mood and it was making him irritable.

            "Ok Wakka! Untie his blindfold!" Was that Selphie's voice? Had to be, no one was that perky but her. Sora squinted for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the light, then noticed something very peculiar. A beautiful young woman with silver hair was standing in front of him, dressed all in white. Some sort of veil covered her face, so Sora couldn't see her well.

            "You don't have to accept if you don't want too…" A voice said from behind the veil.

            Wait…I know that voice…

            "But this is my way of saying that I…um…this is my way of saying how I feel. That is I…well um…" The person in the dress shifted uncomfortably.

            "Sora, even if the Paopu Fruit is the reason we fell in love in the first place, I don't care! I love you now, and that's all the matters! Not how, or why, or anything like that! So…this whole wedding set-up…its just my way of saying I will love you forever Sora…And I'm ready to promise that to you…"

            "Riku…" Sora shook his head and reached up to pull off his friend's veil. "I don't know yet Riku…You didn't forgive me Riku. You didn't come and apologize. You waited until Selphie and Kairi devised some weird plot Riku. I don't know if I can accept this all just yet. Let me think about it, ok Riku?"

            Sora turned and began to walk away when suddenly he stopped.

            "And what's with you wearing dresses all the time now Riku?" Sora gave Riku a half-hearted smile.

            "Selphie has a fetish for guys in dresses." Riku remarked calmly, smiling back at Sora, in the same half-happy, half-sad smile.

            "I do not!" Selphie yelled, stamping her foot against the sand. Riku and Sora looked at each other and laughed, just like the old friends they used to be.

            "Catch you later Riku…" Sora called and ran off.

            It was a sign of forgiveness…almost.

            Riku scrubbed his face one last time, and looked as his reflection, confident that the last of the make-up was off. He smoothed out his favorite yellow and black shirt as he walked out the door.

            "Feels good to be a boy again…" he remarked. After Selphie and Kairi's plan had failed, Selphie had released Riku from his servitude, much to his relief. He shook his head around, purposely messing up his silver hair, just enough.

            Time to go find Sora.

            Riku walked slowly in the sand, trying to look like he was going no where in particular. He could see Selphie, Tidus and Wakka all involved in some sort of game out in the ocean. The main point of it seemed to be splashing Selphie and listening to her shriek. Riku smiled, feeling old all of the sudden, as he bent down and crawled into the secret place.

            "Guess you found my hiding spot, huh Riku?"

            "Wasn't that hard…" Riku remarked as he moved all the way in. Sora was seated on the round, his back turned to Riku.

            "Its ok. You can sit by me." Sora spoke as if he could read Riku's mind, "After all, its not like we ever fell in love. So that makes us just friends."

            "Sora…" Riku reached back in his back pocket and pulled out something, tossing it to Sora. Being Riku, it landed expertly on Sora's lap. Sora blinked and turned to Riku as Riku sat next to him.

            "A Paopu fruit…but Riku, why?" Riku grinned at Sora and turned to face him.

            "I think it got messed up last time because we didn't eat the whole fruit. So I thought, well, I'll just go get us a whole one. Because I would never risk losing you Sora. I'll do anything, stupid myth or not. What do you say? Should we give it a try?"

            Sora grinned, ever so slightly, though he tried to hide it. "They taste pretty disgusting…"

            "Anything for you fuzz muffin!" Riku declared with a dead serious expression on his face. Sora couldn't take it. He burst out laughing and broke the fruit in half, giving Riku half. The two of them took a deep breath and quickly shoved the fruit in their mouths, chewing quickly and swallowing as soon as they can.

            "Funny…didn't taste as bad as last time. Kinda sweet and fresh…like an apple mixed with a mango sorta…" Sora commented as he wiped a bit of the juice off his mouth.

            "You missed a spot," Riku commented.

            "Huh? Where?" Sora was cut off suddenly as Riku pressed his lips against his. It was a swift kiss, but gentle, so unlike Riku, just a gentle caressing of Riku's lips against Sora's. Riku pulled away a few inches and licked Sora's lips.

            "Never mind. I got it for you…" Riku said with a smile. Sora laughed and smiled, cuddling up to his best friend and love, and allowing himself to be held against Riku's chest.

            "Thanks Floofy…you're the best."

Author's Commentary: And that's it! The final chapter! Did you love it? Hate it? Loved it so much you're going to throw stuff at me because it's the last chapter? ^^ Tell me!