Title: Another Side, Another Story
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that deals with Square Enix, never have never will.
Summary: Riku's been dealing with some issues since his two best friends have decided to start a relationship, yet even a complete stranger can prove to help him out. What's more is that this stranger is no stranger to the darkness, could this person help unravel the dark past of the Keyblade War, and the Chasers?

Chapter: Destati

"Hey Riku, you aren't coming?"

"Naw, I'm good here, you two go ahead."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't worry about it Sora, I have some things to do here anyway," the teenager waited for his friend to finish speaking once more, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll talk to you later." With that he clicked, and stuffed his cell phone back into his pocket.

The boy walked down the shores of the beach, letting the afternoon sun touch his skin. Riku was wearing a white sleeveless, with black cargo pants, and stripped shoes. He still looked the same as he did a couple of months ago when he finally came back home. His other friends had remembered him, and they did forgive him for the sins he committed in the past, they knew he did something wrong, just that they never bothered to ask what it was.

Riku's turquoise eyes scanned the clear water of the beach, and seemed to be shimmering, just like it always did. He sat down at stared out into the ocean, collecting his thoughts just relaxing. And that's all he ever did, he just relaxed.

'We'll be the darkness…' those were the very words he said to Sora. Now that the light was restored the darkness was the only thing left.

Other than that there were other things on his mind. He was happy that Sora and Kairi decided to start dating each other, but he didn't always want to tag along with them. They needed their space, so he figured leaving them be sometimes was good for them.

Riku never really cared about dating, he was always busy training to always get better than Sora. To be honest he never thought about dating, or going out by himself. The only time he could be found by himself, alone, was only when he went to island where the three of them use to play as children.

Sure at times he would go out, but that was only when he felt really bored. A lot of people would just call him lazy, and maybe they had a good reason to do that…

At that point his phone rang out a melody, and Riku blinked for a couple of seconds. 'Who is it now?' he thought while he answered the phone.

"Riku, Sora told me you can't come, is that true?"

"Yeah, but don't worry Kairi, I'll be okay. You two deserve some time alone together."

"Wha, Riku?!" she protested.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, you two!" Riku said teasing the two of them.

"Yeah we'll be on our best behavior," Sora's voice could be heard in the background.

"All right then Riku, we'll talk to you later."

Then there was silence, and he placed his phone back into his pocket. He was getting ready to head back home. 'I think I'm just getting lazy…' he thought as he made it down the pier to his boat.

Now to Sora and Kairi…

Sora walked alongside Kairi, and both were talking about their friend Riku. The wine-red haired girl looked at her crush, and sighed. The brunette just looked at her feeling a bit confused about the whole thing.

"He's been acting like this since we started to date," Kairi said staring at the ground as they walked. "You think he's feeling left out?"

"I don't think so, I think he's just giving us some space," Sora said trying to cheer up his date.

"Hey, you know what, we should by him some sea-salt ice cream later on." She said.

"Yeah that's a good idea. I just really think he needs a girlfriend…"

"Are we gonna start this all over again?"

"I'm just saying…"

Kairi just sighed and decided to just let it go. In part Sora did seem to hold some truth into what he just said. They both did start to think that Riku needed to start dating, either that, or at least go out some more.

"He's just getting lazy." They both said.

About a couple of feet away from them there was a park. The two teenagers decided that they should hang out there for the day. Sora picked out a spot under one of the big trees that was there. There were a couple of hills here and there, and it was very green. Kairi spotted out a little puppy that was running around.

"It's so cute," Kairi said pointing out to Sora. "I wish I could have one…"

"That thing? It's so… so little…" he frowned a bit looking at the puppy.

"It is a puppy after all…" Kairi remarked.

The puppy was coming closer towards them, and the owner was nowhere to be seen for now at least. Sora tried to shoo the animal away, he thought it belonged to some crazy person. He had a bad experience when a cat was following him because he smelled like tuna, and some lady thought he was abducting cats…

Kairi patted the puppy softly, and smiled at the little thing. It had these curious looking ears with a lot of fur sticking out. It had a black and tan tinted coat, it looked like a terrier, or some sort of mix.

Kairi was watching the dog as it was sniffing the area where Sora was sitting. He was blissfully unaware of the situation.

"Sora, I think that dog has to use the potty…"

"He can go around."

"But I don't think he can hold it…"

In the distance the most awful sound ever known to man could be heard at least two blocks away. Birds were scared out of the trees, and a couple of people looked at the problem.

"…" Sora blinked and looked at the side of his shirt. It was very moist, and it had a bad smell to it. He just stared at the puppy still trying to figure out what had happened to him. "I got peed on… It actually peed on me…"

"I was trying to tell you to move…" Kairi couldn't help but laugh at this whole thing.

The animals ears perked up, and it looked ahead, it could see someone running towards them. It was person around their age. She was wearing a pair of jeans, and a black shirt with the word 'The Black Mages' printed in white, and black sport shoes with yellow stripes on them. She had light brown skin, and dark brown hair with blue streaks. Her eyes were of a dark color, probably a dark brown.

"Chico, bad dog," she said waving a finger to the dog, and scolding him with her firm voice. She turned to Kairi and Sora, "I'm really sorry if he was any trouble, he likes coming here from time to time…"

"We're okay…It's just that…" Kairi then explained what had happened.

"Oh that… He does that to people he doesn't like," the owner said feeling a bit embarrassed. "I'm really sorry he did that… Sora was it?" she said looking at the blue eyed teen.

"Yeah, but don't worry I'll live…" he said starting to take off his stained shirt. He had an extra shirt underneath.

"I-..I can wash it for you if you like." She offered. "I'm really sorry we ruined your date though…" she bowed slightly. She noted the blush on the other two, and smiled. "We'll be on our way then, come on Chico let's go." And with that they walked away.

Now to Riku…

Riku was walking down the sidewalk, trying to play that game the little kids use to play, the one where you use to avoid stepping on the cracks. He frowned as he saw his foot underneath one of the cracks, even as a little kid he could never do it all the way.

Riku pushed some of the silver strands away from his face, he was pretty close to his house, and it wasn't that far away from the park where Sora and Kairi were at. 'I could really go for some sea-salt ice-cream,' he thought as he started to get a craving for it.

"Chico, hey!" a girl yelled out close to his house.

Riku looked at the scene and noted that she was trying to get her dog back; it had wandered into his yard. She looked around, and stepped onto his lawn, and snatched the dog up. It ended up getting away from her though as it had struggled in her arms, and she couldn't hold on to the animal.

Riku was still on his way to house and decided to help the girl, if she still couldn't get her dog. He felt something tug on the lace of his right shoe, he looked down and saw the puppy playfully pull the lace, it growled at the shoe.

"Chico, hey leave that guy alone." The girl said in a firm voice. At that moment the puppy went back to the owner's side.

Riku finally let his eyes catch a glimpse of the owner. She had light brown skin, with blue streaks on her dark brown hair, she looked to be Kairi's age. She wore a fan made shirt with the name of a band called 'The Black Mages', with jeans and black tennis shoes with yellow stripes. He was able to make out that she had dark colored eyes.

"He's been causing some trouble today…" she said shyly, as she finally looked at Riku, and noticed what he was wearing. She stared down at the ground, and then looked at her puppy. "He peed on some guy today…" she finally picked the puppy up and held him tight.

Riku let out a small laugh, "Really?"

"Yeah…" she said laughing a little. "Do you live far from here?" she asked.

"No, you stepped on my lawn earlier," he pointed out giving her a small hint.

She looked back at the lawn she was previously on. The house was pretty small, it had a beige color to it with the window panes in a light tan color. She looked back at Riku and felt a bit more embarrassed, "Oh… He didn't do anything on your lawn, if that's what you're worried about…" she said looking at the puppy in her arms.

"How about you, where do you live?" he asked trying to get her a bit more comfortable. "Is it far from here?"

"No," she shook her head, "I live a block away from here." She said turning her head in the direction where she lived. In that moment she heard a small growling noise, she looked at her dog, but it wasn't him.

"That was me…" Riku said she saw that he had blushed a bit.

"You're hungry… what have you been doing all day?"

"Relaxing…" he said honestly.

"…You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," he said giving a big smile.

"Well me and my dog we're going to get some sea-salt ice-cream, do you want to go?" she said pulling out a leash from her back pocket, she hooked it up to the dog's collar.

"Yeah, all right…" at this point he didn't know what her name was.

"That's right, we didn't introduce ourselves…" she outstretched her hand, "My friends call me Selma."

"My name's Riku." He said shaking her hand. He then bent down and stroked the dog's fur mainly on top of his head, "and this must be Chico."

It had been about a good three weeks since that day, and a strong bond was formed from then on. Riku and Selma became inseparable, wherever one was there the other was right behind, no doubt about it. Kairi and Sora never met her personally, but Riku talked to them about her.

Kairi took a great note on how Riku acted around them now, he was a bit more cheerful than how he had been weeks before, and he was spending a bit more time with them. Other than that it was right as rain, well sort of anyway.

The silver haired teenager was walking down the block where Selma said she had lived. In his eyes she was a good friend, though she never talked so much about herself. He was surprised that she showed him where she lived. It had gotten dark the day he met her, and so maybe that was why she let him walk her home.

Selma was just waiting by the steps of her home, with Chico sleeping at her side. Her dark colored eyes spotted Riku from a couple of houses away. She waved to him, and he waved back at her.

"Did you bring it?" she called out.

"Hello to you too, Selma," he said jokingly.

"Sorry!" she shook her head.

He walked up the steps and sat next to Chico, he placed the black notebook at his side, and just sighed in relief.

"Did you tell your mom I said 'hi'?" she asked curious about the other day.

"Yeah, she says 'hi' too." He said.

"She seems really nice."

"You're mom's nicer though, she's cool."

"I'm glad to hear you think so," a women said opening the screen door, she was a middle aged woman, with brownish curly like hair. She was wearing an apron, she had just finished cooking.

"So, lunch is ready, Mamì?" she asked turning around.

"Yes it is. Riku, you know you're always welcomed to come and join us." She said.

"Thanks very much, Mrs. Hikari." He said politely.

"I'll call the two of you when I have the others at the table."

"Wait, all of us?" Selma asked a bit bewildered.

"I'm making everybody's favorite, Fettuccini with chicken breast, and that creamy sauce you like."

"Hey, then Riku, will you be able to stay and eat with us?" Selma asked him.

"Yeah, I'll stay then, besides I like you're mom's cooking."

"At the rate this is going, your mom might as well just give me the adoption forms… You practically spend more time here…" Mrs. Hikari said in a joking manner as she walked back inside the house.

As Mrs. Hikari left Selma heard the little jingle that sounded a lot like Chico's collar. She looked around and noted that Chico had just woken up, the smell of the food had gotten to him. She let him back inside the house, and sat back down on the steps.

"So then, Riku, how have you been feeling today?"

"Good, I guess you could say."

"Have you been spending some more time with Sora and Kairi?"

"Yep."

"Why were you avoiding them anyway?"

"I thought it was because I felt they needed some time alone… But now that I think about it, it was because I was a bit jealous…" he said embarrassed to admit it.

"Now why was that?" she asked, trying to get him to open up a bit more.

"I… I had this small crush on Kairi, but I knew she liked Sora… And I accepted it…"

"See that wasn't so hard to say!" she said patting him on the back.

"No, no it wasn't…" he said a bit surprised himself. 'I've only known her for a while, but she's been the only one who listens to me…I feel bad I don't ask her so many questions…' he thought for a moment.

"Oh yeah, hey did you write down your story?" she asked breaking his moment of thought.

"Umm, oh yeah..." he handed her the black notebook.

"So all of this really happened?" she asked reading what was written in the notebook. 'He has beautiful penmanship… Hell it's even better than mines, no offence but he writes like a girl,' she thought for a moment.

"You don't think I'm crazy?"

"Nope, in fact I believe you… You see the reason is because…"

"Hey you two, everybody else is ready!" another female called out from the doorway.

"That was my older sister…" she answered before Riku could even ask. "You would've meet them sooner or later…" she smiled. "Let's go and eat."

A/N: All right it seemed a bit dull but trust me it will get better... Poor Sora though he got peed on by a dog...