[KH] The Next Life: Ringlets

The Next Life: Ringlets (rough draft)
A Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl

Attempted and mostly failed fic for 14 January 2014, Riku/Xion Day

Summary:  Riku has a talent he'd never really given much thought to before.

A/N:  Takes place fairly soon after the kids are found.

This drabble is a little sequel to a certain scene in The Next Life: Battle Stance - Rejection of Fate, the first two chapters of which I just posted.

Riku was surprised to get a call from Lea as he was heading to Radiant Garden for Dawn's first day at his new school.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Riku!  You were planning to stop by here this morning, right?"

Riku frowned in confusion.  "Stop by...what, your house?"

"Yeah," Lea said, as if it had been obvious.

"Why would I stop by your house?  I have to go to work after I drop off Dawn."

"Xion's been asking for you, man!"

"Xion?" Riku said in surprise.

"Yeah.  She wants you to do her hair again."

"Her hair?!"

"Yeah.  She loved it last time, she keeps asking when you're gonna come back."

"Seriously?  I--"  Riku suddenly noticed what his replica / little brother / adopted son was doing to the control panel.  "DAWN!  Sit down and put your seat belt back on!"

"It's blinking!" Dawn insisted, pointing at the interior gravitational simulation indicator.

"It's supposed to blink.  Put your seat belt on."

"It itches."

"Put it on, or I'll tell Father you've been bad."

"Don't tell him!" Dawn squeaked, jerking the seat belt down across himself.  His encounter with Sephiroth had left him in great awe, and just enough fear for Riku to be able to use the ultimate SOLDIER as a threat.

"Dawn's being Dawn?" Lea observed with a chuckle.

"Yes," Riku grumbled.  "I can stop by your house, but only if you take Dawn to school for me."

"Sure."

'Like it's no trouble at all,' Riku thought.  The thing was, with Lea, it usually wasn't any trouble to saddle him with extra children, even unruly ones.  "We'll be there in about five minutes."

When they arrived at the house, Xion came running out in excitement to meet them.  "Riku!  Riku!  Riku!  You came back!"

"Yeah, Lea asked me to."

"Hi, Dawn!"

"Hi.  Let's play Legos."

"Okay!"

Riku raised an eyebrow.  "Do you want to play with Dawn, or do you want me to fix your hair?  We don't have time for both."

"Fix my hair, Riku!  Pleeeeeaaaase please fix my hair and make it pretty like last time!"

"That's why I came."

They went into the house.  Lea's mother and Roxas were in the kitchen, making pancakes.  "I can't do it!" Roxas yelled in frustration, throwing the spatula across the stove.

"Roxas, don't throw things.  Here, try again, I'll help you."

"No!  I can't do it!  I can't do anything!" Roxas cried, and burst into tears.

"Hah!  Crybaby," Dawn taunted, doing to Roxas exactly what he hated Kazé always doing to him.

"I hate you!" Roxas screamed, launching himself at Dawn with Keyblade in hand.

Riku caught him expertly.  "Hey.  Remember the rule?  Keyblades are for Heartless, not bullies."

"I'm not a bully!" Dawn cried.  "Kazé is!"

"You're a bully when you make fun of people.  Go help Mrs. Hayes make pancakes."

"Why?"

"Or play Legos.  Pick one."

"He can't play with my Legos!" Roxas cried furiously, tears still in his eyes.

"You can play with my Legos," Xion offered.

"I wanna make pancakes."  Dawn clambered up onto the stepstool beside Mrs. Hayes.

Riku rolled his eyes and carried the still sniffling Roxas into the back hallway, where Lea was gelling his hair in the bathroom.  Roxas scrambled down and ran through the open door.  "Axeeeelll!"

"Whaaaat?!" Lea cried, hastily setting down the gel bottle so he could put an arm around his friend/foster-brother.

"Make Dawn go awaaay!" Roxas sobbed, though his tone had shifted from genuine distress to make-a-fuss-over-me whining.

"Make Dawn go away?"

"I hate hiiiiim!"

"You hate him?!" Lea exclaimed in mock-astonishment.

"He's frustrated because he couldn't flip the pancakes very well," Riku explained.

Lea's face softened in understanding.  "Ah."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT PANCAKES."

While Lea soothed Roxas, Riku dug a pile of things out of the cabinets, then sat down on the closed toilet lid and tugged Xion to stand in front of him.  "Hmmm...."  He'd never actually styled another person's hair in a premeditated context before.  "Do you want...I dunno...curls or something?"

"Make me pretty," Xion ordered.

"You already are pretty, Xion," Lea assured her, back to work on his own hair.  Roxas was using his finger to draw hearts and X shapes in some splotches of gel that had fallen on the edge of the sink.

"...Curls it is," Riku mumbled uncertainly.  He picked up a comb, but had only made one stroke before he noticed something that gave him pause.  "Lea...."  He set the comb down again and ran his fingers gently through Xion's hair, observing the slightly greasy roots.  "Did they bathe last night?"

"I forgot," Lea admitted sheepishly, "'til I took my own shower this morning, but I don't have time to give them a bath before school....  I'm new to this whole taking-care-of-little-kids thing!  And mom was out last night, so she didn't remember, either."

"It's fine," Riku assured him, whole-heartedly sympathetic.  He was painfully new to parenting as well, and unlike Lea, he was doing it all on his own.

"Are we taking a bath now?" Xion wondered.

"No.  Hold still."  Riku sprinkled out some baby powder and then combed it through until Xion's hair looked clean.

"Whoooaaa!  How'd you do that?!" Lea marveled.

"You just watched me do it...."

"How did you know to do that?!"

Riku wasn't sure how to respond, since it was something he felt like he'd been born knowing.

"Cool!"  Lea snatched up the bottle of powder.  "C'mere, Roxas."

"No!" Roxas yelled, throwing his arms protectively over his head and backing up against the wall.

"Oh, come on, buddy, it won't hurt!"

Riku rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his task.  He picked up a set of curling sticks and began wrapping lock after lock of Xion's hair around them, trying to work quickly.  "I'm gonna turn the blow dryer on, okay?"  They were in a hurry, so there wasn't enough time for her hair to set as much as he thought it probably should, and he decided to try a bit of hairspray to help hold the curls.  By that time, Lea had finished doing his own hair and left with Roxas to eat breakfast.

"Stop bouncing, Xion...I'm trying to finish, but it slows me down when you move."

"Sorry!"

When she restlessly started bouncing again, he asked her to tell him a story, and was glad when the talking seemed to be enough of a distraction for her to stand more calmly.

"So then Mulan pushed him and ran up and she was gonna shoot the bad guy with the cannon, but it hit the mountain instead and it snoooooowed a lot...."

"Mm."  Riku carefully drew the curling sticks back out, then reached for a bottle of gel.

Xion got excited by the feel of the curls softly brushing her face.  "Am I pretty?!  Is it pretty?!"

"Almost, Xion; stand still.  Did Mulan find anyone in the snow?"

At last he ran his hands through her hair for the final time, satisfied that the curls were now pretty and would hold for at least a few hours and were soft enough to look natural.  'Phew.  That was harder...and took longer...than I thought.'  He didn't mind, though.  Xion really did look lovely, and the utter delight on her face was reward enough.  He wasn't expecting her to stop squealing at her reflection and whirl back away from the mirror to throw her arms around his neck, squeeze him in a tight hug, and plant a kiss on his cheek.  "Thank you Riku soooooo much!"

'...Why couldn't Xion have been my replica instead of Sora's?' Riku thought wistfully.  Instead of a sweet, easily pleased girl, he'd been saddled with a total brat he could never imagine being able to truly love.  Riku almost sighed as he returned the hug, remembering just in time that she'd probably think he was unhappy if he sighed aloud.  "You're welcome, Xion.  I'm glad you like it."

Xion whirled back out and dashed down the hall.  "Axel!  Axel!  Mommy!  Look what Riku did to my hair!"

In the kitchen, Roxas was loudly slurping orange juice through a straw as Lea played some sort of game with Dawn nearby.  Dawn had made a circle with his hands, and tried to catch Lea as Lea swiftly poked his finger through it.  "Aah!  Got me again!" Lea exclaimed.

"I have ten points, you only have two!" Dawn declared, looking elated.

'Wow, so the little brat really can smile.  Why does Lea make it look so easy to play with him?' Riku pouted silently.

"AXEL LOOK AT MY HAIR," Xion demanded.

Lea turned to her with a wide smile and a compliment already on his tongue.  "Wow, Xi, you really--!"  He broke off when he actually saw her, his eyes widening in amazement.  "Whoa!  Xion, you look fantastic!"

"That's Xion?" Roxas said warily, eyes narrowed.  "You look like a girl."

"I am a girl!" she cried indignantly.

"Ohhh, my, Xion, it's beautiful!" Mrs. Hayes cried in admiration.  Her youngest son reached out to playfully ruffle Xion's hair.

"Nooooo!  Don't touch!" Xion shrieked, batting his arm away.

"Wooow, Riku, you're really good at that!" Lea's sister Kayla chimed in, giving him a thoughtful look.

"Can you do my hair sometime, too?" Belén asked shyly.

"Oooh!  Yeah, do my hair, too, Riku!" Kayla said enthusiastically.

"Do my hair too~ Riku~" Zeph chirped sweetly.  "NOT."

Riku raised his hands in self-defense.  "I'm not a hairdresser or anything, okay?  I just fixed Xion's hair because she asked; I don't even know how to do people's hair.  Except my own."

"Yeah.  I can see that," Lea teased, indicating Xion's lovely curls.  Roxas unhappily kept trying to poke her unfamiliar hair, until Xion finally got fed up with it and pinned his hands to the table.  Then she dipped her head down and took a bite of his pancakes.

"HEY!" He cried in outrage.  "That's mine!  Don't touch!"

"You don't touch."

"You!"

"My hair looks better," Dawn complained.

Riku shook his head.  "Whatever.  I'm taking off now, okay?  I'll pick you up later, Dawn."

Dawn's eyes widened, and he flew across the room to latch onto Riku's leg.  "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're staying here.  Lea's taking you to school, and I'm coming to get you afterwards, okay?"

"TAKE ME WITH YOU!"

"For crying out loud, Dawn, we talked about this last night!"  'This never even would have happened if you hadn't trashed the Islands school - it's your own fault, you little brat!'

"Daaaawwwnnn," Lea wheedled, "come to school with us and I'll buy you some ice cream later, okay?"

Dawn's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"He can't eat ice cream with us," Roxas declared.

"Yes I CAN!" Dawn cried furiously.

"No!  He can't, Axel!  He's mean!"

Lea's family was watching with great interest, his mother as if affectionately observing the two teenage boys' parenting skills, his siblings as if they were spectators enjoying a sports match.

"Rox, remember when we talked about being good friends?"

Roxas slipped completely out of his chair so he could sulk on the floor.

"We're gonna be your friends at school, Dawn!" Xion said.

Dawn looked down at the floor, his grip loosening a little.

"Hey," Lea said, "Riku has to go to work and earn lots of munny so he can buy you ice cream, okay?  Let's tell him to have a good day so he'll be happy when he comes back this afternoon."

Riku resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Dawn's grasp tightened again, but then he mumbled, "Bye, Riku.  I'll miss you.  Come back and don't leave me alone."

Riku was shocked.  'How does Lea do it?!'  "Uh," he said out loud, "of course.  I told you, I'll come back."  He gave a mental sigh.  "I'll always come back, okay, Dawn?  I promised I'd always be there for you, and I will."

There was a pause.  Then Dawn abruptly let go of him, dashed over to the table, and dragged the last two pancakes onto his plate, biting into them savagely.

"You're supposed to put SYRUP on them!" Roxas shouted, grabbing the syrup bottle and plopping out an obscene amount of liquid sugar on Dawn's pancakes before Lea managed to get the bottle away from him.

"Here," Xion offered, dropping a handful of blueberries on top.

Riku rolled his eyes, raised his hand in farewell to the Hayes household, then left.  'I don't understand kids at all....'

Author's Notes:  Apparently, Riku and his family are totally obsessed or associated with hair in my headcanon. XD  And ftr, it doesn't have to be baby powder; flour works fine, too.

I had to do more research than usual for this fic (which is weird, since it was so short o.O), but I was in a rush, so I didn't get to look up things as thoroughly as I would have liked.  Apologies for any mistakes, please point them out if you see anything amiss!

Even though I'm really busy this week, I looked at my calendar and noticed that the next day was Riku/Xion Day, and randomly decided to try a drabble for it.

I've discovered that often, when it comes to pairings I ship or don't ship, the key is how successfully and comfortably I can write the pairing. XD  If a pairing works when I write it, and I enjoy writing it, then I probably ship it.  On the other hand, when I try to write pairings that I dislike or don't particularly ship or have interest in, then the story tends to wander in different directions, or else I do manage to stay on-topic but don't enjoy the writing.  There can be exceptions, but that seems to be a general trend that I've noticed in my work.

Although I'd initially liked Riku/Xion, they haven't really worked out well in my stories - in my headcanon, Riku prefers being single and has migrated to Naminé when he needs a love interest, and Xion's gravitated toward Vanitas.  Still, I wanted to see if I could at least write a platonic Riku/Xion fic. Unfortunately, I was only able to come up with two Riku/Xion ideas. One takes place in the The Light In Their Eyes universe, but so far in the future that I can't write it until I get some other stories in that series written first. *sweatdrop* The other idea was this one I've just posted, but I had so much fun writing about the Next Life kids that Riku & Xion didn't get as much screentime together as they should have in a fic that was meant for their Day. *sweatdrop* Sorry.

And by the way, it was because of this fic being a fail and being so closely related to Rejection of Fate that, last-minute, I decided to feverishly type what I had so far of RoF, so that I could post it before this one and you guys wouldn't get confused.

Btw, I now have another job, am still doing my old job a little, and am continuing work on the novel I hope to publish someday. So I basically have three part-time jobs now, and I'm anticipating that my busyness level will rise accordingly. X'D Again, my sincere apologies if it takes me months or even years to answer your messages. :/