AN: You know they're not mine. They never are.
Passion. Something we had in spades. Bucketloads, even, as Kairi used to say. I wonder if she was jealous, but she always seemed so happy with Axel, so probably not. We used to annoy her, though. Insatiable, she called us once, after we were found in her bathroom during a birthday party. Indiscreet, Axel put it, when we fell asleep afterwards, on the beach, before we'd put our clothes back on. Even Yuffie, who's almost impossible to embarrass, blushed bright red that morning. We always were close, even as kids. We used to talk about escaping from the islands, and even built a raft. That's what we were doing when our world was swallowed by darkness and we ended up being separated. Of course, it was all much more innocent back then, although we joked about sharing the paopu fruit with Kairi. You'll have heard the legend, of course. Everybody has.
Anyway, I never did find out exactly what happened to Riku during that time – he's never said. I told him what I was doing, and Kairi related her story, but Riku won't talk about it much.
I took him to see lots of the worlds I'd visited, after persuading Donald to let us have the gummi ship. Travelling was something we'd never become tired of, though it might be a bit more difficult now.
Oh, that's right, you don't know what happened. Well, we were taking part in one of the Underworld championships, don't remember which one, when Riku took a nasty blow to the head. He was knocked unconscious and hasn't woken up yet. Even Aerith's best healing spells haven't had any effect, and she's the best white mage there is. Apparently, we just have to sit and wait. See what happens. I never was any good at that.
Everyone visits, though they're not really here to see Riku. They're here to make sure I don't do anything stupid, like not eat for a week or something. Actually, considering my previous appetite, I have hardly eaten since this happened. "You're wasting away, Sora," they tell me. I'm not the one they should be worried about. Riku is.
If Riku dies, I don't know what I'd do. We're paired for life, he told me, just like… oh, what were they called? Some type of bird. Kairi would know, I'll ask her. Swans, that was it. Apparently, when one dies, the other dies of a broken heart. That's me and Riku, definitely.
I'm going to stay here until he wakes up. I don't care how long it takes, I'm not moving. Well, maybe to go to the bathroom, but I'm not going home without him. It just wouldn't be right, going back to our house without him. Kairi keeps trying to persuade me to leave and get a proper night's sleep, but I won't. There's no point. There's no point precisely because I can't sleep without Riku any more. I've got a mattress on the floor next to his bed, which is fine for me. I want, I need, to be here when he wakes up.
I shuffle around in my chair, trying to get more comfortable. I'm holding his right hand in my left, and I squeeze it gently, as though to reassure him that I'm still here. What I'm really doing is reassuring myself, actually. When I feel him gently returning the gesture, I almost leap out of the chair in shock.
"Riku!"
"Hello, Sora."
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
AN: Reviews, anyone? Just click the button.