He wasn't prone to be forgetful, Riku pondered as he sat on the familiar bent-over Paopu tree and looked out at the horizon. He remembered at least the important things, he liked to think, at least now that he grew up some – or so he liked to think.
The important people, the important times, and above it all, the things that made him realize just how much and why they meant so much to him.
He remembered it, each and every event, each and every word, each and every moment -
Or so he liked to think.
Why was it, then, that this one small thing that felt so important eluded him? Why was it that whenever he looked down at the colorful, chipped seashell in his hand, he drew a blank? A shell that fit so well in the palm of his hand...
Such a peculiar shell...
"That's a nice shell." The voice spoke suddenly, abruptly, and Riku blinked as he realized not only was he so deep in thought he missed his best friend's approach, but being snapped out of his daze made him drop what held his attention for quite a good while. It never reached the floor, however, as Riku managed to catch it. Seeing how both of them reached for it at the same time, though, it was no wonder it ended in an unintended head-butt.
"...sorry."
"It's ok."
–
"So what's up with that shell?" Sora asked after a while, after they both managed to settle down on the trunk and the world stopped spinning. During that time he kept alternating looking ahead and glancing at Riku; his best friend alternated clenching and unclenching his fist, all the while staring at his hand just the same. When that question came, it was when Riku clenched his fist, a fact which let him look up at Sora with less concern for the poor shell's fate.
"What do you mean?" He asked back and was rewarded with a questioning tilt of the head in his hand's direction.
"Well, it's kind of out of season. You don't see that type of shell wash to shore this time of the year." Riku turned to look at the shell again while Sora continued. "It's kind of chipped, and dry looking... like you've had it for a while now."
Riku hummed and nodded, only to notice the sly smirk on Sora's features a moment too late.
"You're not the type to pick stuff like that up on your own..."
Riku blinked before narrowing his eyes. "What're you getting at?"
Sora was unimpressed. "Where did you get it from, Riku?"
There was a long moment in which the two stared at each other in silence. Sora was holding firmly onto his smile, but the longer Riku kept gawking silently, the more Sora felt he was losing his resolve. His eyes twitched, his smile faltered, yet before his expression broke completely, Riku looked away. Sora let out a breath he failed to realize he was holding in while Riku turned to stare at the item in question. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and distant, disturbed even.
"I don't know." Was the somewhat morbid reply, and Sora had to blink.
"You don't know?" He asked in confusion, an act which only made Riku seem more frustrated.
"No. I just sort of realized I had it with me along the way."
Sora gasped softly. "Really? When was it?"
A frown crossed Riku's face as he tried to form the most precise answer. "A couple of weeks before you woke up." He replied eventually, earning him another awed sound from Sora.
"And you kept it for that long without knowing where it came from?"
Riku nodded and looked a bit sheepish. "Yeah... couldn't bring myself to throw it away for some reason." He shrugged as though to try and regain some semblance of composure. He hunched his shoulders just the same the next moment though.
"It's like it's on the tip of my tongue, like if I'll stare at it a bit longer, I'll remember where it came from..."
Sora tilted his head. "You sure it 'came' from somewhere?"
Riku snickered at the question. "You said it yourself, didn't you?" He asked and held the shell up so both could see it clearly. "I'm not the type to pick it up on my own."
Following Riku's gaze, Sora took a good look at the shell. It didn't seem all that unique, truth be told. Just another shell like many others that washed ashore, holding no significance to it save the fact his friend seemed to care about it.
Why was it then that the longer he looked, the more familiar it seemed? Like an old friend one hasn't seen in a while, standing in the middle of a crowd. It felt like he would realize something, if he just stared for long enough. Like he'd figure out something Riku missed, like... almost like he'd remember something.
"I know it's not a whole charm, but..." The girl smiled as she closed the boy's gloved hand around the moist, sand-covered shell.
"Maybe it could be something to remember me by..."
Sora blinked. The odd sensation vanished as quickly as it came, leaving him momentarily disoriented. When he regained his bearings, Riku was ready to put the shell back in his pocket; he managed to speak before it happened.
"You're lucky." Sora blurted out, making Riku come to a stop and turn to look at him. Sora in return looked ahead with a smile as he leaned back, his hands resting on the trunk between his legs.
"We like to think that we remember the important stuff." He hummed and idly kicked his feet about. "That because they're important that we won't forget about them." A shadow crossed his face and he lowered his gaze a bit.
"That's not true. At all."
A distant , blurry image came to mind, of a tear sliding down pale cheeks behind pale golden locks.
"Sometimes, it's not even our fault, but we still forget about it. So I think you're lucky, having something to remember it by."
He turned to Riku then, a reassuring smile on his lips.
"Wherever you got that from – whoever you got that from – you're lucky to know you forgot. And if you know that, you'll remember. That's how it works."
A long moment passed in silence then. Sora's smile held true even when Riku kept staring at him intently.
Could it really have been that easy, the older teen wondered as he stared at his best friend. He always did seem to over-think things, didn't he? Seemed to try and grasp an answer that didn't exist – because he was asking all the wrong questions?
He looked down at the shell again. Yes, he wanted to know, he wanted to remember. He wanted to call up a name, a voice, an event. That person he knew that mattered. Why else would he have held onto this shell, after all? If it wasn't important?
But that was a matter of time, wasn't it? Even if it was out of reach, the Memory was still in his Heart. It couldn't escape, not for forever – not when he had something to remember it by.
He clenched his fist around the shell before pushing it properly into his pocket. He then reached to ruffle Sora's hair with his free hand.
"When did you grow up?" He asked fondly in an obviously teasing manner. Sora in return huffed and puffed his cheeks.
"I was always mature, you were just too busy showing off to notice."
Riku laughed at that. It was a relieved laughter, one that lasted a while. At the end of it, Riku shook his head and pushed himself off the trunk. He stretched before offering Sora a grin.
"C'mon, I've gotten stiff, sitting there brooding. Let me clean the floor with you for a bit."
"As if!" Sora protested and jumped off the tree before turning to dash across the bridge. "I'll beat you, and I'll get there first, too!"
Riku shook his head and shrugged before turning to follow. "In your dreams, kid!"
He managed to round the tree before a soft giggle was carried by the breeze. Black hair blew along with black leather, and the girl reaching to pull the strands out of her eyes made her coat's decorations jingle as they brushed against each other.
When Riku spun around, all he found was the wind blowing in his face and the higher waves crashing against the tiny island's side. An odd sense of familiarity washed over him, making him reach into his pocket to clench at the shell.
"Riku?" Sora asked, seeing how he lost his racing body. "Something the matter?"
He walked back over the bridge slowly as he stared at Riku's back. For a long moment he frowned in confusion, only to then gasp in comprehension.
"Maybe... you remember-"
He was cut short when the older teen spun around and in a swift motion ran right past Sora.
"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Riku dared as he left Sora behind, fully utilizing the element of surprise. He quickly jumped off the bridge and skid to a half in the middle of the beach. He looked back at the small island then, and a small smile played on his lips.
No, he didn't remember. Not really, not enough to call it that. But he knew, without a doubt, that the Memory was still in his Heart. For him, if only for the time being, that was enough.
"Let's go, Sora!" Riku cried as he took his wooden sword and grinned as Sora did the same.
"Aaah!"
That was enough.