Konoko: hey guys, taking a break from the Passions Arc. DOn't worry, totally not leaving you hanging but this little plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone so i'm gonna work on this to keep ya busy while i put Aozora no Shita together. Let me know what you think of this one kay

Disclaimer: totally don't own it otherwise there would be hot smex in the freakin game and it would be rated m. Anyway don't own it but i do own this storyline so yeah, i'll get you if you do anything remotely stealing. Don't make me get Aros on you!

"Say, Riku, you ever woke up in the morning with the sun shining, the birds singing beautiful melodies and the breeze coming through the window is just right? It's all surreal like you're still dreaming and then, immediately you know this day is going to be one of the worst days of your life…

"But you know…it's all just a dream anyway, so that bad day is just a nightmare that's going to circle back into a dream…

"Life is just a long weary dream…

"But, we can't dream forever can we, Riku?

"No, I guess that's a stupid question, because the world is waiting for us all to wake up…"

"So when do we wake up, Cloud?"

"I'll wake up soon…"

"What about me?"

"I dunno, you're so tired Riku, I wonder if you'll ever wake up…"

The breeze was cool but the night air was hot and sticky showing the effects of summer on the island. Streetlamps buzzed with electricity as they beamed unnatural yellow light down onto the asphalt that was the street. Windows were dark in the asymmetrical houses that lined the lonely street. Silence was ruler of this neighborhood during the witching hours and watched over the houses deafening any sound that tried to filter through. Yet, the silence could not quell the sound of shoes steadily hitting the concrete in heavy taps. Black boots hit the ground in a metronome beat that never sped up and never broke. The shuffling of white cargo pants added a nice swooshing sound to the metronome shoes and the light clinking of a wallet chain became the chime of a long walk. A white sleeveless hoody lay open with only a white tank beneath it to protect the wearer from the elements. Deep blue eyes mimicking the sky on a clear day were glazed over in a daydream and bright seeming artificial in the fluorescent light. A round face of beautifully darkened peach skin that had greeted the sun happily everyday rocked from side to say to music that was inside the dream world of the traveler's head. This made cinnamon tainted spikes bounce and shift in the faint breeze Rose petal lips were pursed while light breath blew between the creases of soft lips making high pitched notes to a song that only he knew.

The street lights seemed to shy away from the traveler in white as he passed by the houses without a single glance, not once stealing a peek into the black windows. He knew better than to enter those houses because the lights were not on and when the lights are not on he was not welcome in that home. Yet every house on this lonely street had burned a light for him at one point whether they had realized it or not, and he knew for fact that a light would burn in each and every window again some day. It may be one or two a night, but there would be a light, just like the one he saw near the cul-de-sac at the end of the street. It was dim from normal perspective but to his sky blue orbs it was a light house beckoning him forward. Yes, this would be his target for the night. He ceased his whistling and made his way to the house that still burned a light for him. He stepped carelessly on the perfectly manicured lawn and gazed up at the large double window. He watched two silhouettes hidden by thin curtains move against each other in the lamp light. However, this was not the light in which he had sought to find; oh no. the light in which beckoned him from three blocks down was the dim light dead center of one of the silhouettes. The traveler could feel every touch and every kiss placed upon his target's body and the light brightened drawing in every small sign of affection it received to a starved soul.

The traveler smiled when the light shined its brightest before returning to a dim light almost invisible. The silhouettes stopped moving and remained still for the night giving the traveler his welcome mat. He walked up to the door of the house waving his hand slightly to unlock the doors with a small click. His foot falls were silent on the carpet and even on the stairs as he traversed through theses strangers' house. The whooshing of his pants had stopped and his wallet chain made no sound when he opened the door to the lamp lit room. A wave of his hand and the room lay in the dark of night with only the moonlight as guidance. Ignoring the heavy smell of blood and sex he walked toward the bed slowly with a serene smile on his face. His eyes fell on a sleeping blonde whose hair was plastered to his forehead from sweat and his pale cheeks were barely flushed from the activities. The scars all over once gorgeous porcelain skin made the traveler's serene smile fade to a pitying smile. He glanced at what he assumes was his targets lover, a man of long hair like liquid mercury who was putting on his clothing. It angered him a bit to know that this silver haired brute didn't even notice that tragic blonde held injuries that the eyes could not see. He didn't even notice the light going out or the labored breathing of his "lover" as he left the house content from his own pleasure.

With a shake of his head, the traveler reached over and caressed the panting blonde's face which was now contorted in pain. His peers called him unmerciful in his work, but this beautiful man was like a wounded angel and deserved his mercy. A life alone, unwanted and uncared for with only this horrible man to cling to was a far greater cruelty than anything he could put forth. With mercy in his blue eyes he placed a hand on the blonde's chest and gently as possible stopped frantic rhythm there that had once been so soothing to the traveler's ears. Mercy was given to those who deserved it. This was what he had been taught as a traveler. He felt the body stiffening and growing cold beneath his touch as lips slightly parted allowed a last breath to slide from cooling lips. The white-clad traveler stepped back away from the bed as the blonde opened his eyes slowly as if waking from a dream. He met the eyes of the traveler and smiled at him. The traveler felt his heart flutter at that smile. Like the sun rising into a cloudless sky, it warmed his blood to know that the blonde had been ready. The blonde sat up leaving his vessel upon the bed.

"Baby bear…?"

The traveler nodded innocently.

"I'm…awake now?" he asked softly.

The traveler smiled tilting his head playfully to the side. "Yes, Cloud Strife, you're finally awake."

"I didn't think you'd ever come for me…Sora."

Sora smiled gently. "I told you; the day that I woke I would come and take you with me, brother."

Phantasmagoria

Meeting

Riku watched distantly as yet another member of the Strife family was laid to rest in the ground. That made two in less than three years. The doctors had explained that he had died of heart problems. It was an illness that had been around on the island for many hundreds of years called Shallow Sleep. It was a very unique disease that deteriorated the ability to stay awake. It attacks the brain sending false messages of fatigue to the body. This causes the carrier to fall into random bouts of sleep like narcolepsy and cause the person to dream the strangest things. Eventually, the carrier would stop eating and drinking just to sleep until it deteriorated the muscles and even the heart which was the case of Cloud Strife. Or they would fall into a near vegetative state in which they could not speak or move before slipping into eternal sleep as was the case with Sora Strife. It was a fifty-fifty chance of catching it. Either you were immune or you were not and scientist still couldn't find a cure or what made some immune to it. Hell, they didn't even know what caused it. Some people fought it hard, like Cloud had before his little brother died of it two years before. Then slowly it seemed the blonde had begun to give up and then this…

Riku knew that Shallow Sleep was not the only reason he died. As much as Riku cared about his eldest brother, he knew him to be cruel and uncaring when it came to Cloud. The blond had always been kind to Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo and he but there was a pain his eyes that shown every time Sephiroth came around to pull him away from them. He stole a glance at the mock sentiments Sephiroth gave to Cloud's remaining family, the youngest brother and final Strife, Roxas, who had lost his twin merely two years ago and Zack, the cousin whom they had all been living with. It was cruel to stand there and try to give condolences to a seventeen year old who had went to wake his brother for breakfast only to find him dead. Still, as always Riku said nothing. Some how, in the back of his mind, he knew this was somewhat his fault. Hell, all of the Crescent brothers shared the fault. They had all known of the abuse but, fearing Sephiroth, they had chosen to say nothing and this was the end result. He bowed his head knowing that Cloud could've lived if he had said something. Then again, in his last few talks with Cloud, he learned just how much the man had desired death. Riku shook his head not wanting to think about it.

He looked over at Squall Leonhart; they called him Leon for short, or in Cloud's case Leo. He stoically stood with his piercing hawk eyes on the casket like he was trying to will the man to rise from the dead. The teen knew what was going through the man's head as he stood there. Leon had always harbored feelings for Cloud, true feelings that Sephiroth did not but he never spoke a word to him about them. Now that Cloud was gone, Leon would never be able to save the blonde from Sephiroth like he had always wanted. Death had beaten him to it. A few of Cloud's former friends, Yuffie, Aerith, Tifa, and Cid dismally looked everywhere but at the casket that lay before them. Riku couldn't blame them at all. He loved Cloud like another brother, but to watch them put his body in the ground and chunk dirt on him was an injustice to the blonde's memory.

Riku, wanting to get away from the coffin, walked to Roxas as his brother left. He had not known Sora Strife considering that he had been hospitalized before Riku had come to the island with the triplets. However, he knew Roxas well and had been a clutch for him since Sora died. They were best friends and now was a time when they needed each other without Sephiroth hanging over them. Riku came near Roxas who stared deftly at that ground with dulled eyes. He placed a hand on his shoulder waking him from his daze and hugged him to his chest. Roxas stood prone in the embrace but eventually his body trembled and his emotions gave way in Riku's hold. This was unfair to the little blonde and he knew it. To first loose his twin, someone he was forever connected to and then loose his brother who had been their mother and father through everything. He silently prayed that these blows would not make Roxas weak and vulnerable to the sickness as well. They say it attacked the emotionally weak which is why none of the Crescent bloodline was ever infected. They were too cold according to most people.

"This…wasn't the way…why? Why did he leave me, Riku! Sora had already gone, wasn't that enough?!" Roxas cried. Riku had always known Roxas to be the strongest of the Strife children. Naturally, seeing Roxas break down like this was disturbing and made him not want to be the one the blonde was clinging to. He wasn't being heartless; it just hurt badly to know that Roxas could be reduced to this. It almost made him push him away and accuse him of not being his friend, of not being his Roxas. He couldn't recognize this wounded heap that trembled in his arms and he did not want to get to know him. Still, he knew the blonde would never be the same. Never…

Riku looked toward Cloud's plot taking a labored breath. Yeah, they said it hadn't hit him yet. That's why he didn't cry for the blonde. Then again, like Sephiroth, he had never cried before. Loz had sobbed hugging Yazoo who allowed a few tears to fall but tried to remain stoic for his younger twin. Kadaj stood a little ways apart from his twins with a single solitary tear trailing from his aquatic eyes. Riku knew that it hadn't fully hit Kadaj and it didn't even touch him yet, but he knew it wouldn't be long for Kadaj because like Leon, his older brother had fallen for Cloud because he was so kind to him. He had given his first kiss to the blonde not too long ago when Sephiroth had not been around. Cloud had gently rejected his small affection and Riku believed he knew why. It was because he knew he was going to die and the Kadaj couldn't fully love anyone. None of them could.

Their dad, Vincent Valentine had come to pay his respects as well. Though he was older than Cloud, they had been very good friends which was an amazing thing since Vincent rarely gave anyone the time of day. He wasn't really their father by blood though Riku wished he were. He was their mother's first husband who had chosen to take in Sephiroth when he was born and then the four of them when their mother did not want them to be around their true father. His eyes were such an unnatural shade of red that entranced all who looked or made them piss themselves. Either way, Vincent didn't warrant too many friends. Still, Riku respected him and loved him like the real dad that they had never had. He wondered if the notorious 'it' had hit the man. No, he knew it couldn't touch dark mysterious Vincent Valentine. If it could then it definitely would've hit Riku by now.

The funeral had lasted for so long, like a bad play dragging out for as long as it possibly could. Everyone had broken down at some point save for Vincent, Sephiroth, and himself. Idly, he questioned where Sephiroth had gotten his disregard for life. The three of them stood there outcasts from the crowd of people who loved Cloud enough to allow the tears to come. They were unreachable to the ebbing grief that surrounded the graveyard. Riku still didn't cry. He wanted to…he really did want to give the blonde his first tears but he couldn't. For that he felt ashamed.

After the funeral, Riku took Roxas to the play island on which he and Sora use to play. He bought the boy sea-salt ice cream which pulled a soft smile from still grieving face. They sat in silence on the edge of the dock watching the world settle into twilight. Roxas, amazingly, was the first to break the pregnant quiet.

"Say, Riku? I always wondered why we interact with people. Why we try to connect with every living thing around us when one of us bites it?"

"Connect?" Riku murmured through his ice cream.

"Yeah, we all become so distant from each other but when one of us is lost we just meld into each to other trying to push away the numbness that comes with one of us just dropping dead."

Riku leaned back on his hands. "Then maybe that's why. We're so desperate not to feel that we distance ourselves as far as possible from everyone, but when the numbness finally hits us we change and become desperate to feel the warmth of another body. That desperate feeling is what pushes us to take condolence from people we don't know and really don't want to know. Just for that moment, they can drive that numbness away."

Roxas smiled sadly. "The only thing that could drive the numbness away was my twin. You never got to meet him did you Riku?"

"No…I came after he was hospitalized."

"That's right, I remember now. I was such an asshole to you when you first came here," Roxas said with a light chuckle.

"Well you're still an asshole to me, you're just not trying to kick my ass as much anymore," Riku said licking away the melted ice cream on the stick.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's just your way of bragging. You're just happy that you could bust my ass."

Riku sputtered. "Bragging? I had to pummel your head in the sand to get you off me! I wouldn't call that being happy, I'd call that surviving."

Roxas punched him in the arm lightly while laughing. "That's beside the point. I'm trying to make you understand that I don't have anyone anymore. Zack is alright but he could never be Cloud and you're great but you couldn't be my Sora. Though I like being able to talk like this. It makes think Cloud is still here…"

"Well that's good, I can't get my hair to stand up like yours anyway," Riku said offhandedly but something in the way Roxas had said he didn't have anyone put a strange sort of pain in his body. He also hated how Roxas was acting. Sitting on a beach with ice-cream reminiscing about the past and deep inner thoughts was strange for Riku. He felt out of place next to the kid and he knew why. "Say, tell me about Sora. You know, you never told me much about it him. If it's alright with you I mean."

Riku wasn't the one he was talking to and it pained Riku to have to remind him every now and then. Riku had come to find out that Sora was not the best subject wit Roxas but for once it seemed to bring him to a happier place. "Sora was like a rainy day with a clear sky. He was always happy even when the sickness took hold of him. He always understood and always listened. Was a little kooky but he was always fun and made everyone smile. Cloud loved him to death and so did I. If you ever met him, I think you would've loved him too. I think I'd have to share you."

In the process of this small description, Riku caught the hint of jealousy when he mentioned how much Cloud loved Sora. Riku scooted closer to Roxas going as far as the blonde would allow. When he showed no signs of pushing him away, Riku leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his temple, something of a brush of lips against warm skin. Roxas's baby blues fell shut and his head tilted to the side showing his pale throat. Riku took the invitation given to him gratefully and placed butterfly kisses along Roxas's neck until he reached the boy's pulse. He pressed forward and sucked on the area scrapping his teeth on the sensitive skin. Roxas ran his fingers through the soft silk of his hair. Riku bit the younger boy's neck and those arms finally wrapped around him. Why did it take so much for Roxas to show that he had emotion? Why did it take pain to make him feel? Why was Riku always the one to make him feel? And then again, why did this feel out of place as well? Like this was meant for someone else too…

Riku kissed hiss temple again as he rested peacefully on the dock naked with only Riku's jacket to provide modesty. He never knew when he and Roxas had become this type of best friends. They had gone from killing each other to hurting each other to comforting and then finally to fucking. That was what Riku called it, because there was no love in their trysts. This was just a way to forget, a way to let it all melt away. Yet in Riku's mind he did love the blonde as much as a Crescent could possibly love anything and because he loved him he hated sleeping with him. At the same time, he couldn't seem to stop doing it, since he always was the one who initiated it.

Roxas's eyes opened and he smiled softly at Riku. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" Riku asked playing with Roxas's hair.

"Like you're in love with me, cause you're not. Nobody is," he answered reaching for his clothes.

No, Riku thought. I'm not in love because a Crescent can't love…we can only possess things…

This was the world they lived in. Destiny Islands was a place where the sun shined over death like a close friend and grief wrapped tightly around inhabitants like a constrictor making it near impossible to breath. Still everyone lived, everyone died, and everyone cried; except for the members of the Valentine household. This was where Riku had finally come to terms with the fact that he didn't know how to cry and neither did Vincent or Sephiroth. Worst of all, he didn't know how to be in love. Vincent had said he'd been in love once and hurt everyday. But he wasn't in love with Roxas and it still hurt. Kadaj wasn't in love with Cloud yet he still dropped tears for him. Sephiroth said that love is a pointless emotion for weak people who need to cling to another person in order to prove their existence, but why had he looked so strangely when he had heard of Cloud's death. Riku had no idea what love was anyway or why that pang of hurt stayed in his chest so much when he was around Roxas and the people he called friends. He wanted to be able to love and cry but he didn't because he had no knowledge of how. He was so weary with it all…so tired yet he couldn't change it. So what to do? Feh, nothing at all…

-------------------

That night the traveler walked the street again and found several lights calling to him yet none he had deemed ready. They were all too bright, they weren't broken enough for him to be merciful and taking them now would be cruel so he passed them by. His eyes closed and breathed in the breeze. Even with all the souls calling to him for a bit of affection, he felt so lonely tonight. He had taken Cloud to heaven to rest. It somewhat hurt Sora that he had immediately asked to be a guardian angel to Roxas. He wasn't jealous but he had hoped that his brother would want to stay with him. They would barely see each other now because Sora was not a guardian. Sora never wanted to be elevated to a guardian angel, he was happy as he was. A reaper was fine because that meant he could haunt his home and be around everything he was familiar with; because, you see, when he died Sora had found no happiness. His parents were not waiting for him nor were any family that had passed on. All he had had was Cloud and Roxas. He hadn't wanted to die because that meant that Roxas and Cloud were alone and now he was the one alone.

Scrapping his shoes on the asphalt, he spun around in a circle to music in his head making his white hoody flail a bit in the wind. He wanted to pretend he was still sleeping, that he was still dreaming and he had never woken up. He just really wanted to sleep. He missed laughing, smiling having fun and most of all, music. There wasn't good music in heaven like he expected, it was all choirs and songs that he didn't understand. He missed the deep soulful lyrics of earthly artist who knew nothing of heaven. He wanted to feel the vibration of emotion flowing through him again but he knew that there was no way he could. Sora couldn't feel alive anymore even though his job was to roam among the living. He was dead now and there was nothing he could do. He just felt so alone.

Maybe that was the reason he felt his heart flutter suddenly. Maybe that was the reason he saw a beautiful light shining directly into his eyes coming from the house up the street. Maybe that was the reason he heard such a beautiful melody dancing on the breeze coming down to caress his face. Maybe that was the reason he had followed the melody's call. Whatever it was, he found himself in the Valentine house with a boy whom he had barely heard about from his brother. He didn't even know his name. Hair like water cascaded over broad shoulders down to brush a thick chest covered by a black muscle shirt. Pale skin that reminded Sora of piano keys he had seen at his old school in the music room. No one should be so pale but this was so fitting for this boy. Eyes stared blankly ahead at the wall behind Sora, crystalline cerulean eyes like a tropical sea after a storm. But these eyes…they were so haunted and oh so empty. Thin fingers plucked the six strings in time to an invisible beat that no one heard but he and Sora. Lips curved slowly into the lightest of sincere smiles. His lips parted slightly as his voice poured out of his throat vocalizing in harmony with the melody that drifted from the guitar. The music hesitated a bit but continued on and the eyes of the guitarist closed with his head swaying as though he could hear the soft sounds of the angel in the room. Sora leaned against the wall with his own eyes fluttering shut at the sounds of his voice mingled with the notes on the guitar. The guitarist continued and the strumming got louder and louder bringing Sora higher and higher. The door bursting open scared him from their unconscious harmonizing and there stood the man who had tortured his brother into death.

Riku jumped when Sephiroth burst into his room groggy and pissed. "Riku, you play one more chord on that damnable thing and I will rip every string off and lacerate you with them but not before shoving the end of that guitar up your narrow ass! Go to bed!"

Riku immediately dropped the guitar as if it burned him and kept his hands up. He may not have been a very responsive person but he knew not to make any sudden movements around the man because he would not hesitate to attempt murder on family. Sephiroth yanked the plug of his amp out of the wall and chunked it across the room making Riku wince. He gave a threatening glare to the teen and shoved him into bed.

"You are solely lucky that you are family and that I actually give a shit if you breathing considering you may turn out better than those three dumb asses downstairs! But constantly playing at three in the morning is pushing me past the medication stage. Go to sleep or I'll put you to sleep."

Riku remained silent and stayed on the bed as Sephiroth kicked his guitar out of the way and stormed out of the room. It was alright, he'd just play acoustic. Once he heard his brother's door slam shut he sat up slowly stilling the rapid beating his heat. He sighed and looked around the room toward the brutalized guitar. If this kept up he would have to ask Vincent to make Sephiroth pay for another. It wasn't as if he meant to play so loudly because he never did; there was just suddenly some strange inspiration that hit him. He could've sworn he heard a faint voice that was harmonizing with the music begging him to play louder but that was impossible, there was no way anyone else could've bee there. Maybe he was imagining things. He stepped out of bed and picked up his guitar.

Sora watched the boy climb back on the bed and settled to play a softer tune. Riku, he thought. So that was his name. He sat down to watch the boy play humming to the tune again deciding not to sing because it was obvious that the boy could sense his presence through the music. The last thing he wanted the boy to know was that there was a phantom in the room. He sat there for an hour before Riku had decided to go to bed and even then, Sora did not leave. Riku's soul light drew him closer to bed as the boy slept and it wasn't long before Sora was near the bed.

"Riku…"

It nearly made the brunette jump out of his skin when the sleeping boy murmured back. "Who are you…?"

Sora, slightly startled, pulled away from him. He examined the boy from a distance and realized that he was sleeping soundly. He dared to go closer to the bed once more. This wasn't really new to him. He talked to Roxas sometimes as he slept and the boy would only think it was a dream so this wasn't out of the ordinary. What wasn't ordinary was that Sora had not initiated any conversation with the boy. Sora squatted next to the bed balancing on the balls of his feet and the palms of his hands. He tilted his head at the boy slightly excited.

"You…can hear me?"

A sleepy nod came from the boy and Sora smiled. He admitted it wasn't ordinary but every now and then, there was said to be someone who could connect with them and could sometimes see them. If Riku could see him, that would change everything but one thing at a time. "I'm…I'm Sora."

"So…ra…Sora?" Riku's sleeping face contorted in recognition.

"Yes, Sora Yoruno," Sora said softly.

"Oh, I thought…never mind…" His face relaxed again. "You…were singing. It was you, wasn't it?"

Sora gasped. "You could hear that?"

Riku nodded a little and turned over opening his eyes partially. "It was beautiful…you're the reason I got in trouble aren't you?"

Sora blushed at the beautiful glowing eyes staring at him. An excited smile crossed his face. "You…can see me too?"

"Why do you answer questions with more questions?" Riku murmured tiredly.

Sora blushed more. "I'm sorry. Yes it was me. I heard you playing so I came to listen."

Riku sat up still not sure if he was dreaming or not. Here he was lying in bed with some strange brunette with freaky hair squatting next to him. Yes, definitely a dream, but he could play along. He really didn't mine because his imagination had come up with a good looking one this time. Though he wasn't one to often indulge in his dreams, he usually found Roxas waiting for him when he did. So who was this blue eyed kid?

"You enjoyed it?"

Sora nodded and floated up to sit on Riku's bed startling its inhabitant. "What the hell?"

Sora gave a confused look and saw that the older boy was staring at how he was floating a few inches above the bed with his legs crossed. "What?"

"How…are you doing that?"

"Oh this, it's easy, though I doubt I could show you how to do it," Sora said with a small smile.

Riku passed his hand below and around Sora wondering if this was all some elaborate joke. He shrugged and looked up at Sora. "Can you come down a little? It's freaking me out just a bit."

Sora did as he was asked and put his weight onto the bed which was not much at all. Riku barely felt the bed shift when Sora squirmed a little in the silence. Blue eyes focused on him. "I've never seen you before, how long have you been on the islands?"

"For almost three years now…are you…are you real?"

Sora tilted his head and bit his bottom lip thinking of how to explain that one. "I'm…as real as you want me to be Riku."

Riku tilted his head slightly. That wasn't the answer he expected but oh well. If he really wanted to know if this Sora was real then he would have to test it for himself. He reached out slowly not sure whether the boy would be like Roxas and violently react to his touches at first. Sora looked at him strangely and stopped his hand from touching him. He held it there looking at their hands with a startled expression. The brunette felt everything that Riku had felt in his life. Happiness, love, warmth, touch, sadness, hurt, abuse, touch, hate, loneliness, pain, tired touch…tired…touch…tired…weary. Sora looked up into Riku's half lidded eyes. He hadn't meant to do that. He hadn't meant to see into Riku's soul but the history there, the coldness. Why was it there if Riku seemed content where he was? Why was this soul so weary? Why was Riku so…different?

Riku tried to force away the sleepy feeling that had suddenly crept up on him when Sora touched his hand. But he felt so content, so calm and serene and oh so tired. He raised his eyes to meet Sora's once more. Sora stared back with an unreadable expression, his soft hands still holding his hand. Riku thought he had done something wrong to earn such an emotionless expression but the longer he stared the more he saw something in Sora he knew that was unnatural for his dreams. Sora was, for lack of a better word, too surreal. He was too real yet too dreamlike. What person did he know have eyes like…like…?

Sora was like a rainy day with a clear sky…

Yeah, that was it…but he couldn't remember at the moment where he'd heard that. He didn't really care. All that mattered was the contact they made right at this moment; just the way their hands were suddenly intertwining with each other. He hadn't even noticed that they never broke eye contact or that they had gotten closer. Eye to eye, Riku could see Sora was searching. For what, though? What was he looking for in Riku's eyes?

"What are you, Sora?"

"I'm…" Sora trailed off when he looked out the window and saw dawn creeping over the horizon. He released Riku's hands. "I've got to go!" Riku blinked watching him scramble off the bed.

"Wait!" Riku said almost desperately.

Sora paused and looked back at the boy hurriedly. "What is it?"

"Will you…come back?"

Sora stared at the boy whose weary eyes pleaded with him. "I don't know…play for me and I'll come back. I promise!"

Riku nodded slowly. Sora went to him and kissed his cheek making the boys eyes grow heavy. "I…I hope you remember me…"

With that Sora disappeared before the sunlight rose fully into the sky. He was sorry to leave the boy with the weary soul but he was just a reaper, he was only allotted so much time on earth without penalty. Riku would probably forget about him in the whirl of the day and that would be the end of it. He wouldn't visit Riku anymore because the type of connection he shared with the boy was too dangerous. So connecting with humans wasn't against the rules, it was still dangerous to his space in heaven. No, he wouldn't visit Riku's house ever again…it just hurt too much.

Riku slipped into a dreamless sleep where the sound of an angel singing kept him company in the darkness. It was the most wonderful sleep he had gotten in years. He prayed silently that he would see this Sora Yoruno again.

Konoko: and that's it for now, hope you liked and hope it piqued your curiosity enough to keep you reading. see ya later.