[{(WARNING: This is a yaoi (boy-on-boy) fanfiction AND will only make sense if you know the Kingdom Hearts video games very well. Also, it was born in my mind from the ramblings of Riku's thoughts as I played the game. It's incomplete, but it feels better that way. I may add on to it later, but for now this is it. Enjoy!)}]

The first moment had been the hardest. The muscle-clenching, blood-warming punch to the gut, the shaky thrill as he realized he didn't think of Sora as just a friend anymore. In that moment, it had been almost impossible not to reach out, to tangle his fingers in the unruly brown hair and kiss him brainless. It had gotten easier as he'd learned control, as he'd subdued the cravings more and more, but the feeling itself didn't go away. Riku would have done anything, everything, for the chance to slide his tongue into Sora's mouth just once, to taste every sweet, honeyed inch of the moist cavern and entice the small, pointed tongue to play with his own.

Grimacing, Riku leaned back in his desk, legs spread to take the pressure off his partial erection. He knew better than think about Sora in a public place, but it was practically impossible not to. Especially when Sora sat next to him, in the desk between his and the window, and every little breeze sent the scent of his clean skin washing over Riku like a wave. How was he supposed to stand it? He'd been so freaked out last year, when Sora was a sweet and tender thirteen and Riku had first felt the curl of aggressive desire. He'd known that to try anything would ruin their friendship, and so he'd taken to skipping school and seeking distractions. Good for strengthening his self-control, bad for his grades. He'd been held back a year and was repeating the freshman year beside Sora. Literally beside him. If Riku reached his arm out, he could circle one fragile wrist with his fingers and drag Sora into his lap . . .

Riku shifted again and mentally groaned. He had to stop thinking about it.

"Hey Riku, what's the matter?" asked the bright, innocent voice next to him, just starting to curl with that teenaged rebellious lilt he'd probably learned from Riku. He felt a little bit like laughing or crying, but mostly he felt horny.

"Nothing. Just an itch." Riku yawned, eyes flicking up as their teacher bustled in. She was five-five, built like a porn star, with the face of a disapproving pixie. Every male in the classroom sat up straighter when she came in and nearly had a heart attack if she dropped a pencil. Nothing particularly interesting, in his opinion, but Riku was obliged to make occasional remarks about her ass or breasts to affirm he was a male and avert suspicion. And for the rush of watching Sora's sweet face blush. How much pinker would he get if he could see the fantasy running through Riku's head? The one where Riku pinned him on the teacher's desk and pulled his jeans off with his teeth?

"All right, class, time for a History pop quiz!" Everyone else groaned, but he was glad for the distraction. Anything was better than longing for what he couldn't have.

~ Three Weeks Later

Riku felt the rush of power, of darkness sinking and settling into him, felt the darkness inside him stretch out to meet it's match, and nearly laughed for the beauty of it. Finally, the unexplained shadow was rushing up and he had it firmly in his grasp, in his control, and he had the power to do anything he liked. He could escape this tiny island where he was trapped and stifled, take Sora and Kairi and get far, far away-

"Riku!"

Sora. A rush of feeling hit him and he smiled, giddy from the power and the lust rising in him. "The door, the door has opened, Sora!" He wasn't sure what he was saying, but it bubbled up anyway. His thoughts of escape, of leaving the island behind even if it meant their parents and their friends, he said all of them out loud.

"B-but what about Kairi?" Sora asked, confused and worried.

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku said fiercely, refusing to leave behind the girl who was like a little sister to him. Even if he knew Sora would grow to love her and she would take him away, he couldn't feel anything but affection and protectiveness for her. Feeling the darkness surge, he held out his hand to Sora, offering everything he had, his feelings manifesting in black vines that grew up over his body and Sora's, and grew deeper and deeper within him.

Sora was straining, trying to reach him, then blackness filled his mind and jerked him away as something bright and shining swept past. For a second Riku felt a connection- brutal, pure, fierce, kind, beautiful, shining with light- then it was wrenched away by the shadows around him and the dark became complete.

~ One Week Later

Who were they? Riku fumed on the inside even as he grinned and bantered with Sora, looking so cute in those goofy jumper shorts he was still wearing. He despised those two idiots who were laughing and touching, God, touching Sora, as if they had the right! It was infuriating enough to ruin the lingering taste of Sora's fingers in his mouth. To distract himself, Riku picked up Sora's weird sword, turning it this way and that, watched it glinting in the light. The key and crown motif seemed a little lame to him, but the power that hummed beneath his hand was considerable. For a second, he wondered at the connection he felt, the readiness in his hands, then tossed it back to an irate Sora. Apparently Sora was the Chosen Wielder of that blade and it didn't do to have Riku snagging it right out of his hand.

Still, when Sora began bickering with those two idiots over their airship and taking Riku with them, he had to slide away before he did something regrettable, like slice them to pieces and claim Sora violently right there on the ground.

"See? It's just as I told you. He's found new companions. He doesn't need you anymore."

He gritted his teeth together, barely keeping his temper in check. Maleficent, poofing up from green fire, as always with her crazy outfit and her oily, evil voice. She drove him absolutely batshit, she was so fucking annoying. It didn't help that she was yakking about the very thing that bugged Riku the most: the cozy little scene that Sora was in and he was not. It hurt- God, it hurt- to think that Sora didn't need him, didn't even think of him, while Riku couldn't breathe for missing him.

Pulling away from Maleficent and her ongoing chatter, he opened a dark portal and slid away to brood and plan. The witch demanded his service in exchange for the means to get Kairi back. Once Sora had been part of that deal too, but . . . he now seemed out of reach.

Riku's heart stuttered, ached. His face hardened. If he couldn't get Sora to join him, the least he could do was get his attention . . .

~ Undetermined Later

Oh God. Was there a name for this pain, this madness?

Memory flashed through his mind and he sobbed again, pressing the heels of his hands into his tear-wet eyes until the pain was almost as bad as the one in his chest. His body curled deeper into the tiny nook he had found in the most obscure corner of Maleficent's castle as he tried to hide from the image burning his eyes.

Sora, crouched in readiness and sword ready, blue eyes crackling with energy and anger as he prepared to fight Riku. Over a stupid puppet that could save Kairi from the void of a lost heart.

"Heart or not, at least he has a conscience."

Heart ripping and burning painful fury, Riku had sneered, snarling, "Conscience?" in a mocking voice. What did Sora know of such a thing? He could never know the bitter taste of having to choose between following his heart or letting his beloved stay innocent, between staying on the path of 'good' or saving his friends. He'd never had to choose like Riku had.

"My conscience is saying you're on the wrong side!"

Riku couldn't breathe. So this was his payment, then, for letting Sora stay naive all this time. He'd played it as a game, competitive and brash as all best friends were, never letting the darkness of his feelings eclipse the joy of Sora's smile. That innocence, that childish belief in all things good had now alienated him from the very person he cared for most of all. Perhaps he should've taken that innocence when he'd had the chance, by force if necessary.

The darkness in him surged, furious and wounded, seeking a target. Sora had spurned him, rejected his feelings, attacked the loyalty that was all Riku had left to cling to. His hands were dirty, his honor compromised for the sake of the ones he loved, and now even that had been questioned.

Sora did not love him back. He never would.

Fine, then. Black fire rose to burn cold and vicious in Riku's heart, bitterness and pain replacing love as his motivation. Resentment, even hatred began to eat away at the image of Sora he'd always kept in his heart.

If this was how Sora wanted it, then Riku would play it that way. They would see just who was better at breaking a good friend's heart. He was nothing if not competitive, he thought with a cold smile, aqua eyes shining with darkness and acid tears. They would see, wouldn't they, just who could play this dark game better.

If Sora would not accept him, if he wanted Riku as an enemy, then that's what he would be. He would be an enemy of such horror that Sora's heart would break to pieces from the pain. The darkness in Riku's soul rose and rippled in pleasure.