Monochromatic .Riku/Xion

The sunset was all kinds of different colours that evening from the bent tree upon Destiny Islands. Even through his blindfold, Riku could see the way the streaks of red spread across the tangerine sky, with dusty pink clouds intermingling the parts where the sun was unable to shine through with golden rays. The expression of the colours gleamed peach upon the silky sand of beyond the azure ocean, which looked magenta because of the reflection. Riku licked his ice-cream and stretched.
That girl was late – again.

"Guess what!" a feminine voice echoed from the other side of the bridge nearby the mini island Riku was relaxing on. Riku didn't even bother to turn around. He veered his neck to the side and licked his ice-cream again.

"What, Xion?" he said, in the most uninterested voice he could manage. Truth be told, he wanted very much to know the thing that she wanted him to guess. Xion skipped up and took a seat next to him.

"I told you to guess," she said bluntly. Riku held pulled out an ice-cream from his pocket. He then defrosted the ice spell he had cast to keep it cool. He ripped the wrapper with his teeth and offered it to her.

"You know I'm no good at these games," he said. Xion smiled cheekily and pulled his blindfold off. He didn't even flinch as she wrenched it from his eyes – he was used to her jesting. The black strip of cloth fluttered down into the pale sand.

Xion gazed into Riku's eyes, and felt the sympathy bubble up within her. One eye was a rich amber colour, the other a silky aquamarine. Even as she looked harder, Xion could see the small amount of gold creeping into his other eye. The darkness of Xehanort was getting to him, and she knew that. That's why she tried so hard to make him brighter.

"Well, since you're so bad at this game," Xion said, smiling, "I'll just tell you." She twirled Riku's silver locks playfully in her pale fingers. Riku groaned.

"Stop stalling Xion," he said, annoyed. Xion looked at him happily with her sapphire eyes. She blinked and giggled.

"I spent a whole afternoon with Naminé," she informed him. She licked her ice-cream, stood up and spun around on the creamy sand. Riku smiled at her carefree attitude. It made him happy to know that she wasn't like other nobodies, drowning in their own melancholy. Xion was different – if you told her she could actually feel emotion, then she would actually feel it instead of moping around like every other in the organization, who didn't believe anything except the words of the superior.

DiZ had asked him specifically to keep an eye on Xion. Not just to make sure she wasn't doing bad things, but also to help her regain her memories, even if that meant teaching Xion things she should have learnt when she was a child.
But Riku wasn't complaining.

He licked his ice-cream.

"And what did you learn?" Riku asked. Xion stopped spinning and wavered awkwardly, off-balanced from her joyous rotation.

"I learnt all about colours," she said, smiling wistfully, feeling dizzy from her previous endeavour. Riku finished his ice-cream and tossed the stick away. Xion nearly fell, but Riku was up and she was in his arms before she could fall to the ground. She giggled drunkenly and bit her ice-cream.

"Well, there's warm colours," she said with a mouthful of salty and sweet, pointing to the sky, "colours like red, and yellow and orange and sometimes purple," She regained her balance and pushed her silky dark hair behind her ear, "and brown and hot pink," she said, staring at the glittering ocean, which was now changing colour into a deep blue. They sky was gradually exchanging reds for purples, and pinks for blues. Riku felt the chilly evening wind blow his silver locks away from his face. Instinctively, he put his arms around Xion.

"What else?" he asked, feeling pleased with where this conversation was going. Xion looked up at him.

"Well, there are also cool colours," she said, "They make the image look dark, frightening or even sad," she said, gazing at the sky, which had now morphed into a silky navy blue. Small, white, glowing stars dotted various parts of the sky. She shivered involuntarily. Riku tightened his arms.

"What would the colours be?" he asked. The silver haired boy was so close that Xion could feel his warm cheek against her. She blushed with pleasure and continued informing Riku about what she learnt.

"Well, the main cool colours are green and blue and purple," she went on, "but purple's a funny colour. It can either be warm and cool or warm or cool, depending on how it's used in the picture," she said. Riku smiled.

"Some things are like that, with two sides to them," he said nonchalantly to the sky. It had turned a beautiful array of blue, yellow, indigo and purple. The moon was also revealing itself in the night. It was a picturesque, crisp cream crescent in the heavens. Xion didn't know how to reply to that, so she didn't. Instead, she pressed her head into Riku's chest. It was nice and warm there.

"There are neutral colours, too," she expressed, "they're usually less bright and more duller than red or yellow, but they can still give an indication of the mood of the piece," Xion's ice-cream was finished, so she tossed the stick away. It landed perfectly beside Riku's popsicle stick. She felt Riku playing with her hair, twisting it gently in his gloved hands.

"Anything else?" he asked, pressing her closer to his chest.

"And there are tones," she said quietly, watching the stars twinkle above," which are black and white," she closed her eyes, "they're called the monochromatic colours."

"What do they do?"

"They're mostly used to make colours lighter or darker. They're not really called colours; you know," she said, "because they don't really play much emotion when used in the piece of art." She walked out onto the beach and looked at herself in the silvery reflection of the moon in the water. Riku walked up to her and stood next to her. A tear ran down her face.

"What's wrong?" he said, wiping it away. Xion looked up at him.

"I only wish I was more colourful," she said, "then maybe I would have more feeling in this masterpiece of life."

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, momentarily confused. Xion looked at him with her indignant sapphire eyes.

"Look at me Riku! I'm black and white! I'm monochromatic with absolutely no feeling at all!" she cried. Riku pulled her into a hug.

"You're such a silly girl," he teased, patting down her hair. "Why does it bother you so much?" Xion peeked at Riku through her eyelashes.

"Why? Doesn't it bother you?" she asked him tearfully. Riku smiled.

"You've never seen black and white photography, have you?" he asked. Xion shook her head miserably.

"No."

"Some of it is really powerful. It can make you cry sometimes," He twisted a dark lock of Xion's hair in his fingers, "do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Kind of," she said, sniffling and wiping her eyes, "that you don't have to be the most colourful piece of work in the gallery to create a feeling within a viewer, or to create an impact in their heart?" Riku only half understood her answer.

"Uhh… something like that," he said. He hugged her tightly and whispered "smile," in her ear. She giggled, sniffing and choking at the same time.

"Now, tell me. What's the most wonderful thing to come into existence and is black and white all over?"
"What?" she asked, laughing. She returned Riku's hug.

"You, Xion. Don't ever change."