Chapter 13 - Same Hearts

Chapter 16

And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for... (drumroll) Riku speaks!!

~Riku~
I turned away from the window, hoping she hadn’t seen me. It was weird, the way she had looked around, as though she had heard my thoughts. But then, the girls claimed they could. I sighed. Listening in on people wasn’t something I normally did, but if I was going to be traveling with them, I felt justified in trying to figure them out. And these two definitely needed to be figured out.

The first one...what was her name? Yuffie? She was annoying. The constant chatter, the mischievous grin, as though she knew a secret you didn’t...It was enough to drive anyone nuts. I honestly didn’t know why the other girl- Melanie? -stuck around her. The contrast between them was huge. She was generally quiet, and when she did talk, she actually had something intelligent to say. Her smile came easily, but it was halfhearted. Like mine. We both carried a burden.

I looked back out the window. She was standing up now, angrily brushing away tears as she strode toward the ship. She had been crying? I wished I could too, but my pride wouldn’t let me. What if someone saw? I winced guiltily , realizing that was exactly what I’d been doing to her. She didn’t like people to see her cry either. Wait a minute- how did I know that? Ugh. My thoughts were making no sense. I decided to call it a night.

I was halfway to the couch before I remembered that Yuffie occupied it. That left me with one other choice. The scientist lady had built two bunks into the ship, so that while one of us drove the ship, the others could rest. I headed out the door, but not before making sure Melanie was nowhere in sight.

I heard sniffling as I poked my head through the hatch. It hadn’t occurred to me she’d be in here. Feeling foolish, I turned to leave, but was stopped when she asked, “Is someone there?” “It’s me, Riku,” I said, turning to face her. “Oh, hi!” That same fake smile was plastered on her face, hiding the fact she’d been crying a minute before. It matched the one I wore. Shaking my head at my thoughts, I climbed into the bunk above her. Lying on my back, I let the smile fade. I decided as long as we were both awake, I’d ask her about a few things that had been bothering me.

“So...you guys said you could read minds, right?” There was a quiet laugh from the bunk below.


“Not exactly. It only works with a few people. I can’t just walk up to someone and tell what they’re thinking. They have to ‘send’ their thoughts to me. Sort of like a letter.”

“So, what I was doing back there was ‘sending’?”

“Must’ve been. Otherwise I wouldn’t have heard you... You know, ‘received’ your letter.”

“Do you think...” I was almost afraid to say it, “I could ‘receive’ too?” “Probably,” she said, then more cautiously suggested, “You never know unless you try.”

“Would you...?” I didn’t know how to finish, but she understood anyway.

“Sure.”

Very carefully, very gently, her mind touched mine. The feeling was familiar, and I realized that this was what I’d been doing inadvertently all along. As the connection became stronger, I could feel her dominating sadness, and she felt mine. She gasped, and tried to break off the connection. It didn’t work entirely, because I could still feel her embarrassment at having her true feelings revealed. And underneath the embarrassment, realization. “You... You’re sad, too,” she finally said, still reeling from the experience, just like I was. “I’m sorry, I should never have suggested it, you’re probably so embarrassed-” What I did next was totally impulsive. Leaning over the side of my bunk, I reached down to cover her mouth with my hand.. “It’s okay,” I told her. “It’s okay. Actually,” I said more slowly, “It’s kind of nice to know someone understands me.” She removed my hand from her mouth, but didn’t let it go. She just held it, and smiled. I smiled, too, and this time, both smiles were for real.

~*~*~*~

“Wakey wakey!” a voice demanded. I groaned. Not that annoying girl again! I opened my eyes and tried to put on some semblance of wakefulness. I could just imagine what sort of tricks she would play to get me up if I didn’t. What actually happened was even worse.

Yuffie bounded into the room, and her mouth abruptly fell open as she looked at something just below me. I tried to see what she was gaping at and groaned again. My hand still held Melanie’s. I had, apparently, fallen asleep that way. I heard her groan too when she realized what was going on, and she jerked her hand away, but not before Yuffie started chanting in an annoying sing-song voice, “Melanie has a booooyfriend, Melanie has a bo-” “Shaddup,” she growled, stuffing her head under her pillow and blushing. “It’s not what it looks like. We were just talking and...” She sighed in exasperation, as Yuffie continued to chant. ‘It’s okay,’ I said mentally ‘Just ignore her,’ and received a burst of happy surprise in return. ‘You’re sending!’

‘Wow, the mute boy speaks!’ Yuffie joined in the mental conversation, which (thankfully) made her stop chanting. ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I taught him how to send thoughts last night.’ Yuffie stayed quiet while she explained, conveniently leaving out any embarrassing parts. But even that didn’t work. “Sending doesn’t usually require physical contact, does it?” Yuffie commented, and Melanie protested, “We were only holding hands!” blushing the whole time. Shaking my head, I followed them outside.

~*~*~*~

C.C.: Pointless fluff, I know. But it was cute, wasn’t it? I bet you laughed at least once while reading this.

Yuffie: Yeah, or else they went and puked in the toilet!

C.C.: (blushes) We were only holding hands!

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