He felt it already back then. He registered the person turned away from him, his heart skipping a beat as he did so. He wondered why. He saw the person turning, sending ripples across the calm surface in the water in which he was standing. The young man hold out a hand towards the other.

“Come on. Take it. You know you can’t make it without me, Sora.” Sora did comprehend the words, but the other did never move his lips.

Sora reached out, running in water trying to hold him back. Closer, closer, not knowing what the boy wanted with him, nor why he was running. And then the waves crashed down over them both, pulling them down into a blue, indistinct blur. Even though, Sora was trying to grip the other’s hand, fingertips not even touching as Sora was growing desperate.

“Riku! Riku, what are you doing? Why don’t you catch me up and get us outta this? The young Sora tried to shout, but he failed. “Riku, stop acting so strange! I need you...” None of these words really came out of Sora’s mouth. After all, it was all just a fuzzy dream inside his mind. It wouldn’t really have matter if he had shouted those three last words. Or would it?


That was the beginning. And the end was already past. The end of the story, for everyone else. But for them... It was just the beginning of the rest. The end of it, for most people, was when Xemnas was defeated. The worlds were at peace again. And the heroes finally found the end of the road, appearing to be an endless, vast sea drenched in moonlight.
And they didn’t even know what to say to each other. All this time... All this time, searching for each other. The missing had become longing, the longing had become lusting. You never know what you have until it’s gone. And when you find it again, the happiness can be overwhelming.

Sora had always admired Riku. He had looked up to him, trusting him with all his heart and knowing him like the back of his hand. Probably the only person in the universe who got that close to Riku, who could be quite distant. Then Riku disappeared from him. And when he met Riku again, he wasn’t the same. Sora blamed himself for destroying Riku, making him hurt, turning his back and running from the pain that was Sora.
And so Sora began searching for him again, wanting to set things right. He couldn’t lose Riku. He wouldn’t be able to live with such pain, as being without him... Somehow he felt like he was made to be with Riku. Why did he feel so addicted to him? Why would his heart ache when he looked at Rikus face, and met eyes that wasn’t Riku but belonged to someone who desired him to suffer? All that time, having Riku’s being right in front of him, the silky silver hair, pink soft lips and those indescribable beautiful aquamarine eyes. But the real Riku was nowhere to be found.
During this period, Sora wasn’t alone. But still, when night fell over him and tried to embrace him in its comforting darkness; he felt alone. He felt so miserably alone that his body physically ached. And it all was longing. Longing for him. For years he had experimented with the thought, being more than Riku’s best friend. In the beginning, it scared the crap out of him. And then the feeling became familiar. Then natural. And then no lie, no imagination, just a pure, simple and clean feeling in which Sora admitted that he would give anything and everything just to hold Riku close.

Yes, he was in love. Unquestioned, madly and deeply. And he had let all those held-back emotions run free... That day...

“We... We’re back.”

Sora got out of the water, dragged upp by Kairi’s lithe little hand. Soaking wet, he let out a sigh in relief, letting Kairi hug him close. They were all okay.
“I’m so glad... So glad you’re okay...” Her gaze wondered over to Riku, her body jumping into the water and hugging Riku as well. Maybe he didn’t understand it himself, and Kairi did surely not get it, but he had serious trouble realizing what whas happening. He was registering things slowly; his mind was recognizing the shores of Destiny Island, while the back of his head had only begun to understand what he had done. Xemnas was dead. Or annihilated, or whatever term people would use to describe the killing of a nobody. Maybe he would never again have to fight hideous heartless, saving worlds from madmens with purposes he would never understand. Perhaps it was all an ended story, the last chapter in an unwritten book. But that wasn’t what mattered right now. Behind him... He stood. Riku. After a painful, long time he could ask Riku whatever he want, and look how he had wasted the time. And how quickly time had interrupted them at the End of the Road...

Of course, Riku shared Sora’s feelings. They just didn’t know it yet. Most likely, he had always had a crush on Sora. He was so pure, so adorable and innocent. And as sure as Riku loved Sora, he was jealous at Kairi. He tried to suppress that feeling, but it always ended up with him mentally beating up himself.

When he lost Sora, that night on Destiny Island, his heart gained its first little crack. Both Sora and Kairi were swept away, and it was all, all, his fault. He thought that his heart was a strong one, but when Sora’s little fingers couldn’t reach his, though he tried for all he was worth, his heart began to crackle. Why couldn’t he? Why couldn’t he take that single step forward to reach his love? Was... Was he not supposed to exist in the same world as him?

And, after a while in confusion and awkward searching, he had found the young teenager again. And that was when he learnt never to be sure about anything. Sora had found new friends, and showed no further happiness in being reunited with Riku. And then...  He was just asking about Kairi. Riku, already tempted by darkness at that time, disappeared without a trace as his hearts cracked again, nearly shattered.
Then he lost it. His body was possessed, yes, possessed and he wasn’t strong enough to withstand it. He began to fight Sora.

He hated himself for doing it. Oh, how he hated himself for each and every word that passed between his lips, hitting Sora in the heart like sharpened spears. He did even hurt him physically, though that too caused Sora’s heart more pain than it did to his body. And when Riku finally was able to deal with the devouring darkness inside him, it was too late for apologizes.

The next time he saw him, Sora wasn’t really available to talk with. He was sleeping. Peacefully, he was sleeping inside Castle Oblivion to regain his memories, which were so grievously lost. Riku had the picture of Sora’s sleeping face clearly in his mind. The spiky, messy brown hair, chestnut bangs hanging down over closed eyeslids. Riku remembered those eyes; he could imagine that breathtaking blue nuance, even though Sora was fast asleep. And he knew why Sora was named after the sky. His body was hovering in the air, and Riku admired it. That skin, it was like touching velvet and flower petals. Not that Riku had touched it in the way he really wanted to, of course.
But an unsurmountable obstacle was in their way. And this one was made of glass.
“

Sora?” Sora jumped, feeling a wet hand touching his arm. Without looking, he could register whom it belonged to, because he wouldn’t jump and his skin wouln’t crawl if someone else than Riku touched him.
“You’re already spacing out...” Sora blushed faintly as he looked into those mesmerizing green eyes. It would have been quite absentminded of Riku to miss that, and he gaped slightly as he clearly saw Soras cheeks turning red.
“Um, Sorry... It’s just that... So many things have happened...”
“Well, I have a little trouble realizing we are back as Destiny Island, as well.” Riku bent forward slightly, Sora watchfully reversing a little.
“Yeah, me too, and, um, I’ve finally found you and I have so much to say and...”
“In other words, you’re spacing out.” Riku stated, grinning in spite of his tiredness.
“Hey, are you guys coming?” Donald called, walking away and supposing them to follow.
“I bet your parents will eat you whole, but you have to see them anyway.” Kairi laughed. “They know more than you know, so they’ll just be so happy to see you...”
“U-um, yeah.” Sora answered, hesitating. “Sure.” He added, a little brighter.
“And Sora... We should really change clothes. You know you smell... Like sweat.” Riku informated him. Riku looked pale, exhausted. To put it simple, the same as Sora. The only difference was the healthy blush on Sora’s cheeks. He splashed up from the water, rustling his brown hair a little before setting off to meet up with his family, who he in fact, hadn’t thought much about at all.


Oh, how Riku loved to look at him. It had been so many years, so many years of untold love. So many nights where the admission had remained unsaid. Of course, he knew that it would come sooner or later. The only thing stopping the usually bold boy was... That he was afraid, afraid that Sora should shatter his world and break his heart. And Riku, who had called himself tough, was terrified to death of just a little “yes” or “no” from another boy’s mouth. And that was, of course, one of the greater problems. Sora was a boy and Riku wasn’t even supposed to be in love with him. But sure as hell had he screwed that for a very long time ago. What he felt... What had begun with a little uncertain feeling of liking, and which had grown to become larger than any other feeling in Riku’s being, hadn’t in mind to be silenced forever. This feeling... It was stronger than ordinary love. It was all there, including the lusting, the longning, but it was also the extraordinary strong willing to protect Sora, doing everything that was in Riku’s power to make his life easier. When he looked at Sora, when Sora smiled, he was melting inside. When Sora was suffering, plagued by any sort of pain, Riku ached with compassion. He wanted his body, he wanted his trust, his heart, he wanted it all so badly but not in a greedy way. As much as Sora gave him, he would be willing to give Sora.
He had questioned it before, but now he knew as sure as the sun would rise and set every morning and night, as sure as the waves should continue to caress the sea, that he wouldn’t be able to live without seeing that adorable face, hearing that sweet, sweet voice, feeling the presence of that person next to himself. Simply, he wouldn’t be able to live without Sora.
...Sora...



“Oooh, Sora! My little boy! You’re back!” Sora’s mother shouted, literally tossing herself at Sora and pulling him close. Sora struggled to get free, suffering from an extreme lack of air, while Riku’s mother freaked out somewhere in the background because of a certain talking duck. When Sora had stepped into his house, followed by his five compainons, his emotional mother had embraced them all at the same time, shouting “where the hell have you been!?” She was hardly believing Kairi’s “fairytales” about the two young heroes. So, this was not the first time today when she bursted into tears and hugged Sora like she would never ever see him again. But, to be honest, her acting was quite natural, compared to the situation.

And so it went on for hours forward. Neither Sora nor Riku was in the mood of telling about where they had been and what they had done, deciding that the task of traveling between several different universes, defeating darkness and so saving the world from going under was an all too amazing and unbelivable story in the ears of parents who hadn’t even realized that their sons was over ten years old. At least, Sora’s mother hadn’t. Forcing the two exhausted boys down to the couch in Riku’s living room wasn’t too appreciated, either. They had been all too chastily interrupted, forced to go, not altogheter ready to face their families again. Surely, it was a big relief and a source of calmness to come back to the islands. But still... No one could see trought the eyes of Sora and Riku. This was all a too great change, impossible to adjust to just to satisfy another. So, Sora and Riku did not say much during the parents’ Q&A, complaining about tiredness or a non-excisting headache. And no one seemed to understand, except for a certain king, who was freaking Riku’s mother out just as much as Donald did. He was sitting on a chair, throwing suspicious gazes at the woman who was slowly breaking apart ‘cause of several different emotions tormenting her. Poor parents.

And all this was just a waste of time for Sora, a couple of very long moments before he could talk to Riku alone... That was all he wanted, all he really needed, and all this was just complications, stubbornly getting in the way.

“Um...” Sora didn’t look up as he tried to speak, his words drowning even though he was the one supposed to speak. Every person in Riku’s living room could wait, except for the one leaning back against the couch beside him. Sora knew this was ignorant of him, he didn’t even know if Riku would understand him, but he had to, and he didn’t have the time to see or think from the perspective of anyone else. His heart was pounding just from the fact that Riku was sitting by his side, and he could say none of the things that he wanted to say. But to be honest, he had trouble stopping those words from escaping up his troath.

Because, love was here. Love was just inches from him, and he could just watch it. Or, to be more specific, watch him. His body was so full of emotions, making his body itch unpleasurable when they couldn’t be spoken out loud.

“Could I... Could I possibly...” Sora did another attempt to say what he desired.
“Could I just... Talk to Riku alone for a while?” Several voices sank immediately, shushed down with disappointment.
“I... Haven’t seen him for a long time... And I wanted to talk about some things...” Sora’s father raised an eyebrow, and Riku’s dad just smirked.
“You haven’t seen us either in a long time, my son... Can’t you tell us, as well? Not that you two have been willing to tell us anything this evening, but...”
“NO!” Sora yelped, growing both more irritated, tired and, of course, embarrassment struck him right in the heart. And Riku hadn’t participated much at all in the conversation.
“Here you just disappear, and you don’t even give us the slightest hint of an explanation!”
“Did you even remember him?” Kairis voice broke trought Sora’s mother’s, leaving an utter silence behind as the mother looked terrified.
“You... Kairi...” Her voice sank to a whisper.
“Do you really know that Sora’s been missing for more than a year?” Kairi continued, glancing worrying at Sora and Riku, who didn’t seem to mind too badly.
“The same with Riku. But... Everyone was missing him very much, me too, its just that... None of us, none of you, not even I, did remember Sora... Until we saw him.”
“That is... That is... Not true...” The mother’s voice was suddenly a whole different one.
“Is it not true that you were mostly worried about Riku?”
This was not to blame Sora’s mother and father, not at all, not to put any unwanted pressure on them and making them feel even worse. It was just the naked truth, a little reminder before words that were not entirely truthful were spoken.
“And when Sora came back, you remembered him, and... That is how it is, I think.” Kairi put a lithe little hand on the mother’s shoulder, comfortingly.
“You just weren’t worried, and that’s why you don’t.... Remember that he was missing just as long as Riku.”
“And it’s not’s your fault.” Riku was the one to continue, after listening carefully to the whole conversation in silence.
“It’s not Sora’s fault either... It just had to be that way, and you’ll all... Understand why. I don’t think you’ll be able get it right now, under these circumstances and we don’t suppose you to. And we have missed you all very much, but right now, please just give me and Sora a little time to settle down and you’ll get to know all about this, sooner or later.”
Oh, didn’t Riku sound mature.
“Could you please give us a little time?” Riku was probably just using this well-mannered language to wiggle out of this living room, and maybe a little to calm the sobbing mother of Sora’s.  

And then, he turned to face Sora fully, looking him straight in the eyes. Not suspicious in the eyes of another, just an ordinary look, but to Sora it was firing his body up as if he’d been striked by lightning. Those eyes... He knew he could drown in them, no difference if he was looking into them by night as moon caressed Riku’s beathtaking beautiful face or if it was in a couch, along with two upset families, some friends and a king who looked like a mouse.
“I would really appreciate to talk with Sora. Would you mind?” Silence again.
“I can understand you...” Kairi finally said, still rubbing Sora’s mother’s shoulder gently in a way to calm her down.
“Oh God thank you.” Sora mumbled wordlessly back in the couch.
“Maybe I should take my responsibility and tell you what I know about this, then.” The king finally spoke from his chair. “And that, is a whole lot. If you don’t mind, of course.”
“Of course not.” Riku assured him. And no one really tried to stop them.
  Riku just let all worries about the family members go, giving the king a deeply grateful look as he took Sora by the arm and hurried out of the now steaming hot living room.



The very same moment Sora stepped outside the house, a swarm of butterflies nested in his stomach, fluttering wildly against his chest to break free. The sun was already about to set, coloring the calm idyllic Islands in pink and orange, melting the warm colours into the original cold shades that were laying like a blanket over the island hills and cliffs, blending and mixing and making the most beautiful scenery Sora had ever seen. Still, his attention was just fixed to that one person, now looking at him, face impossible to read, but...
“God, I never thought we would be able to escape...” He sighed, grinning while Sora was huffing like they had had to run to become alone. Riku was a little unhappy with Sora’s sudden distantness, a hint of insecureness glimmering in his eyes.
“Hey, let’s go somewhere where we can be alone, hm?” Sora jumped at this, waking up a little from his slow-running train of thought.
“Oh... Oh, yes. You know Riku, I know it’s so much I want to say, and now... My brain just got blank.” He scratched the back of his head, looking stuipdly at the other, who merely chuckled.
“Don’t worry about that, even you’ll remember it sooner or later.” Riku assured him teasingly.
“Hey, that’s-“ Sora pouted again, so adorable Riku’s vocabulary didn’t know any words for it.
“Your house.”
“What?”
“Let’s go to it. At least it’s empty, isn’t it?”
“Um... Yeah. But should we really just go?” Sora hesitated, knowing in the back of his head that it was far too late to worry about his family.
“Ah, we can worry about that later.” And that was enought for Sora, thrilled just by the fact that Riku wanted to talk with him, without no other hearing. And it was also enough to make the butterflies set flight, wanting no more than take Sora’s unspoken love up his troath and declare it right here and now. But it had to wait. It had to. For, there were other feelings taking place in his body. One, especially, was now crawling under his skin, begging to come out and to be forgiven.
The feeling of guilt.


“You’re here... Riku’s here...”
That simple fact had put it all together, made shattered, broken emotions whole again, had been the only cure that soothed Sora’s heart. And hadn’t he been surprised. That man, tall with dark skin, the worst nemesis of Riku’s who only made him suffer, standing there before Sora’s very eyes and declaring to be Riku. At first, Sora refused to believe it. This was just another trick, to trick him into doing something chastily and not thoroughly thought out. Ansem surely know Sora’s weaknesses, and using his friends against him was a way that Ansem knew made Sora’s heart ache with pain. And Sora was sure he had done it again, trying to lure him into darkness pretending to be the person most precious to him.
Why wasn’t Kairi responding to this? Did she already believe him? And then she stepped forth, taking Sora’s hand and showing him the truth.

This was not the first time when Sora had felt these unbreakable love emotions escape from his body, forming words on his lips and coming out as hot tears from his eyes. It had always been there, only hiding, making itself remembered now and then and seeping out as tears and emptiness when Riku was far away.



As Sora closed Kingdom Hearts, not the final time but the first, Riku had been on the other side. On the other side, there were darkness and nothingness, it made Riku so vulnerable. Yet he wanted it to be so, for the sake of people suffering the darkness.
It had been sad, seeing Riku’s face so near, yet so very far away. And then he was gone, without a trace, and Sora knew he would have a long journey ahead. By the time, he thought the worlds were at peace again, but nothing were at peace in him as long as Riku was gone...
A flashack had taken its form inside of Sora’s head. A distant memory, yet very close for it was a precious one. Just sitting there with Riku, on a trunk of a palm tree, looking out over the calm, glittering sea. The sky was clouded, but not even the most massive clouds could ruin Sora’s plain happiness. Then Riku hugged him, in a friendship way of course, smiling and ruffling Sora’s hair. And Sora never wanted these moments to end.
“I love you, Riku. I love you.”

“Man, I’m beat.” Riku collapsed onto Sora’s bed, rolling over on his back and sighing heavily.
“Never thought we were going to get outta that... Er, well, I know you can say we had a couple of things to explain, but that can wait until we have realized that we are home and...”
Riku turned to Sora, seeing the young boy in a state that made Riku really curious. Head bowed, not looking either at Riku or his own feet, Sora looked as he was dying to say words not coming out. This made the silver haired boy’s heart jump slightly, standing up again and taking a few steps towards Sora.
“Hey, Sora... What’s wrong?” What could possibly be bothering Sora now? All since the homecoming, Sora had been spacing out completely, and had been even more impossible to reach.
“Did something happen to you, Sora? I’m sorry if it did... And I don’t know what to say to you after all this time...” Riku knew that he didn’t sound very serious, yet he wanted to be, and it left a little mark of remorse glowing inside him.
And then, Sora tossed his arms around Riku. He held him in silence, eyes shut, maybe he did this without knowing why and just embarrassed himself. But he didn’t let go.
“Sora...?” Riku said slowly, arms hanging on his side, looking down at a mess of brown, soft hair. This had happen so fast that Riku’s body didn’t give the tiniest hint of reaction, though he really would have froze, or melt like a cube of ice in a desert when he felt Sora’s body this close to his.
“God Riku, you’re really here.” Sora’s voice was still steady... He wasn’t acting on impulse. A moment of silence, Riku blinked stupidly at Sora’s words.
“I... I missed you...” It was a sheer whisper, not much more than lips moving, but this said more to Riku than anything else he had ever heard.

For so long, Sora had been gone, so long without contact. Day after day hopelessly searcing, with a flame of hope never going out though it burnt him incessantly.
Night after night, dreaming of Sora’s body, dreams that drove him mad, dreams that woke an often forgotten part of Riku up, leaving him unsatisfied every night like a lonely wolf in heat. Because he only wanted Sora, and he could be anywhere, but not where Riku were... Sora was light, Riku darkness. Sora was to good for him, and the big question that really didn’t want an answer, was if Sora was risking life and limb just to find him...
If only Riku could understand that the opposites attract each other.

Maybe he did, late, but not too late. Maybe the right time was now...


Waves crashed down on him, not literally of course, but the feeling was no different. Sora was holding him, like he would never ever have the change to do it again, whispering those three words... Okay, not those three words, but sweet and deep enough to make Riku shiver.
“I’ve... Missed you too...” Awkwardly, Riku’s arms were around Sora, hands slowly stroking the outlines of his shoulders, brain adjusting slower than the body to the situation as he heard Sora let out a small sigh. Which emotions were hid in that sigh? Then he grew confident, it was just an ordinary hug, but to Riku it was like holding the world in his arms, or something precious, fragile, something that may shatter if you treat it harshly.

And what was this feeling, just holding him? It was like being comforted by moonlight when you are tired, like sleeping in front of an open fire a cold winter night, it was like listening to the soft sounds of night when you look at the stars in the woods. It was soothing, gentle, conforting, secure...
It was like being home.

Sora slowly let go of his grip on Rikus sides, body jumping when he noticed that Riku was now the one holding him. Now what was this? Surely it was Riku, declaring that he had missed Sora too, but...
“Riku...” Sora lifted his head, looking straight into those brilliant green eyes. God, how this feeling of guilt was eating him from the inside right now. He could see it, Riku was all right, physically undamaged, but Sora was sure he had done horrible things to him and he was too sorry to describe it with mere words. Unfortunately, Riku was no mind reader.
“Riku... I’m sorry... I haven’t seen you for so long, maybe I was ignoring you but I promise I was searching for you the whole time... I really was... Worried...” One certain though was gnawing on Sora’s chest, but he wasn’t able to say it just yet. Riku looked down at him, reaching an eyebrow, apparently not getting the hang of what Sora was talking about. Sora knew he was being all too serious, maybe Riku was just happy to be home, maybe he wanted to see his family and Kairi and here was Sora, kidnapping him to ramble about nothing.

“Hey, Sora...” Riku bowed his head, lightly leaning his chin against the top of Sora’s head, and just that was more than enought to make Sora’s world go spinning, thought very similiar things had taken place in the World that never was.
“Something’s really worrying you, am I right?” He asked in a low voice, arms seeking their way around Sora’s waist, not seducive, even if that was how Riku really would have liked it to be. There was a silence.
“I don’t really know, I just feel like I’m going to cry...” Sora’s gaze fell again, sighing heavily and hiding his face in Riku’s shoulder. Silky silver hair against his lips... The very thing not to focus on right now.
“It feels like I have done something terrible.”
Riku thought this over for a moment. Here he stood, on the floor, holding a hero in his arms and he was almost crying over doing something bad. Riku should ask, but it was something else that seemed to matter more. Sora was not all right. And, after months and months, he was holding his beloved in his arms, confortingly, tender, gentle and all that was Sora.






“Sora, didn’t I tell you not to cry?” Soras bit his lip, then admit and nodded.
“No... No I’m not supposed to... M’sorry, I’ll pull it together.” That seemed to be fine with Riku, who to Sora’s unwilligness let go of him.
“You know what, Sora...” Riku said dawdingly, still holding hands on Sora’s shoulders.
“The last time I saw you... You kno-“ Quickly, Riku cut himself off, as if the worlds burnt his tounge. Was there something plaguing him, too?
“Anyway, what I was going to say was that you’ve become... A real man.”

“Wha... Whatdidyousay?!” Sora gaped, and so the mood in Sora’s room popped and vanished like a bubble shaking hands with a cactus.
“Real man? Riku, that sounded quite stupid you know that?” Sora giggled, mentally giving Riku a “friendly” slap in the face.
“Oh, I take back then, you are still acting like a child.” He growled under his breath, mentally hitting Sora back.
“Oh, aren’t you a very mean one...” Sora was about to go berserk on Riku, but Riku beat him to it and grabbed his wrists.
“Still naïve, I see...” Riku mused, smirking.
“You’ll see.” Sora leaned forward, turning, and before Riku knew it, he was lying on his back on Sora’s bed again. Sadly, no Sora over him. But if there had been a Sora lying on top of him, Riku would very likely woke up right now and realize that he had dreamt the whole thing.
But no, the dream about Sora remained as a fantasy, even though Riku would offer anything to make it real.

With a gentle “thud”, Sora tossed himself onto the bed and sprawled across it, lying just beside Riku who only bothered to look stubbornly up at the ceiling. Then Sora rolled over on his back, staring at the same spot in the roof as Riku until his eyes was smarting. What was he doing? He had run because he loved Riku, it was as simple as that, and now he had nothing to say that would make any sense. Maybe he was thinking too much... Riku was here, no illusion and from none of Sora’s wet dreams (yes it was embarrassing but too true to be lied about). Maybe he just had to let all worries of what he was supposed to say vanish, and just act on instinct right now...

“Riku...” Sora rolled over to his side, craving attention from Riku and making him roll over to his side too.
“Mm?” Riku mumbled drowzingly; twicthing unnoticed when he saw the expression in the other’s eyes. Sora’s skin was pale, blinded by the last sunlight shining in from Sora’s window, soft brown bangs of hair bobbing over his eyes. He had that face again, that heartbraking expression like he would burst into tears. But if he should do so, Riku was at last close enought to confort him, and if Sora’d shed a singe little tear Riku would hold him till there was no trace of the tear left. Sora was though, Riku had more than enought proof to that, but right now he seemed so fragile... His black, blue, red and yellow clothes were mattered with dirt, and Riku forgot that they both had forgot to change. Well, maybe being dirty wasn’t the biggest problem right now.







“Riku... Riku I can’t believe you’re here...” The voice of Sora’s caused a slight unbalance in Riku’s system. It was like this was wrong, a sad Sora wasn’t supposed to exist in the presence of Riku. And if there was, it was Riku’s purpose on earth to make the pain go away...
“Sora... Why?” Sure Riku was worried, it took advance of him, and he really had to find the source of the unhappiness in Sora’s eyes.
“It’s been... Months... Maybe more than a year, Riku...It’s almost like I can’t believe that you’re here...” He blinked, stubborly trying to shut unwanted tears out.
“C’mon, Sora... I am...” Riku was surprised about the way Sora acted, but somehow it made sparkles burn pleasurably in his stomach.
“Feel for yourself.” He lifted a hand; the palm against Sora’s direction, ignoring that someone or other would find it silly. Sora blinked again, looking at Riku, then at the hand, like he really was doubting that Riku was for real.
So Sora reached up a hand, warm fingertips against the palm of Rikus hand, eyes overflowing with a mix of wonder, curiousity, melancholy and awe.
And when he did, it was like someone was smiling upon them, like someone told them not to worry, not to agitate or be uneasy with each other, like there was nothing to fear when they was together, like this was how it was supposed to be, and like holding Sora’s hand like this was why Riku’s hands were made, like his whole body was made to protect Sora. At least this was what Riku felt, and he could tell Sora felt the same, or something similiar.
Sora ran his fingers slowly over Rikus hand, closing his eyes and hiding the sky blue under thick eyeslashes, entangling his fingers with Riku’s.
“See? I am here, Sora...” Riku whispered, smiling, something soft and bittersweet in the smile that made Sora tremble with some kind of sadness. Or maybe very deep happiness.
A silence, rich sky blue meeting aqua green again. Then Sora sighed, he knew, he could make a statement, he could be definitiely sure.
“You are.”