Disclaimer: I do not own Sukisho or any of the characters. If I did I don't believe it would be considered a fanfic any longer.

Notes:

Much thanks to my betareader Shading Source for all of the help and support! You're awesome!

This is the first fanfic that I've finished. I'd really like feedback good or bad. I'd PREFER feedback that included something that could be improved upon, but anything's welcome! :-)

Hope you enjoy!

Love of Love

"Hashiba!" Nao yelled as he waved energetically to his roommate. This was pretty rare for Nao to do, since he wasn't typically an energetic person. But Sora had been away for a school change program for quite some time. Of course, Sora had been against it at first. After all, he and Sunao had been through so much recently that he didn't want to leave him behind. It was Shinichiro who had finally convinced him to go. Sora would be sent to a more prestigious school where, Shinichiro claimed, he would meet people who could help him find a successful career in the future. Shinichiro had also whispered something in Sora's ear which made Sora's face turn deep red as he sighed and finally nodded in agreement.

"Don't you want to be able to support Nao-kun after high school?"

As Sora stepped off of the bus, he sighted Nao and looked away. Nao dropped his arms to his side and eyed Sora suspiciously. After being apart for three months, he thought that Sora would at least be happy to see him. Then why did he act so different? Was something wrong with Sora? However, Nao was suddenly interrupted in his thoughts.

"Sora-sempai!" shouted a raven-haired boy as he lunged out of the bus, nearly knocking Sora down. At the sight, the brightness in Nao's eyes burned out. All he could do was stare at this new boy who was now latched onto his lover. Stare, and hope to god it wasn't true. What had happened at that other school? What could've possible led to something like this?

Meanwhile, Matsuri, who had been hiding himself behind some bushes in hopes of getting a good snapshot of the couple to sell to their peers, stepped out and walked up to Sora, acting as if he had just gotten there.

"Sora-kun," Matsuri said as he waved, ever smiling. However, upon 'first sight' of the other boy, Matsuri put his arm down and frowned. "Who's that, Sora?"

"Oh, him?" Sora said drearily, pointing to the boy on his back, "This is Kai Imura. He's a grade below us." Sora didn't seem all too happy about the boy clinging to him for dear life.

Matsuri nodded his head, his smile returning again and quickly snapped a picture of the two. As he did so, a certain pink haired boy in the distance was finally adjusting to the reality in front of his eyes. His expression slowly changed from one of shock to an icy cold glare. He suddenly stormed toward Sora and Matsuri, ramming his arm into Sora's side as he passed him and grabbing hold of Matsuri's arm. Matsuri grinned and allowed himself to be dragged away by Nao-kun. Sora rubbed his now sore side, while being a bit shocked, and sighed as his two friends left him behind with a certain boy still clinging unto him.

Once they had gotten to the dorms, Nao let go of Matsuri's arm and darted to his dorm room, slamming the door behind him. Matsuri attempted to open the door, but Nao had locked it. He could hear things being thrashed around in the room and tried to knock loud enough for Nao to hear.

"Nao-kun! Nao-kun, open up!"

"I hate Hashiba!" Matsuri sighed as he continued knocking, louder and louder.

"Open the door, Nao-kun! I'll kick it down again! Then you'll have no door to shut! Five! Four!"

The room went quiet and Matsuri smiled, knowing he would be let in. Though he continued counting, acting as if he were still mad.

"Three! Two!"
"Fine!" Nao yelled as he flung the door open, "What?!"

Red surrounded Nao's eyes as he wiped away the remaining tears onto his arm.

Matsuri sighed at the looks of his friend.

"Here." He said as he handed him a handkerchief and watched him sympathetically.

"Why don't we wait for Sora-kun to come back here? I'm sure he has an explanation for this."

Nao's eyes narrowed once again at the mention of Sora's name. He spoke up, quite determined now.

"Matsuri. I want to switch rooms again. Permanently."

Matsuri shook his head and sighed again. That was just like Nao, always the one to overreact with his emotions.

"Nao-kun. You had me do that before, but you moved right back in. Don't you think-"

"I'm never sharing a room with him again! Whether you switch me into another room or not, I don't care! But I am not staying here!"

The look in the boy's eyes was completely serious. Nao was so filled with hurt and the feeling of abandonment. His last statement scared Matsuri, and he didn't want to risk Nao doing something dangerous. Matsuri's smile faded.

"Okay," the blonde whispered in defeat.

Sora dragged his body into the dormitory. He was completely worn out, and he hadn't even been home for 3 hours yet. His feet felt heavy and his back hurt, probably because a certain someone had been abusing it with his weight. However, as he neared his room he stopped dead in his tracks. Sei and the others were coming out of his room carrying boxes of things. As he glimpsed at one of the boxes which was over-packed he saw that it weren't just any things that were being carried out of the room. Those were Nao's things. A lot of them… Wait… Did that mean…

Sora ran to his dorm door and looked inside as Sei carried the last box out.

"Hi Sora-niichan."

But Sei's comment was lost on deaf ears. The only thing being processed in Sora's brain right now was the empty half of the room, which had previously been occupied by a pink haired boy. Matsuri looked at Sora from a distance but he walked up next to Sora and put his hand on his shoulder. Sora's gaze drifted to the ground as he allowed his hair to cover his eyes. He should have known it was a mistake not to run up to Nao and explain.

"Where did he go?" Sora whispered, choking back tears that threatened to overtake him. It's not that this was the first time Nao had gotten mad at him, but Sora knew that he had really hurt Nao this time. Bad enough to make him move out so suddenly. Even after Sora had sworn that he'd never leave Nao again, he let it seem as though he'd abandoned his friend…his lover.

Matsuri remained silent, which was a rare thing and for once not at all convenient. Sora looked up, facing his friend desperately.

"Matsuri."

Matsuri took a deep breath, then shoved papers into Sora's face. Putting on an obviously fake smile and hyper demeanor, Matsuri said:

"The school's Do-It-All shop has been really backed up since you left. So many people need so much done right now! You should get started right away! If you get those all completed today, I'll increase your pay by 20 for each of those jobs."

Not wasting any more time, and with one last big smile, Matsuri turned around and walked away. Sora let the papers drop to the ground in front of him, his eyes drifting back to the empty half of the room. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move. He stood there for half an hour, just staring into the distance before he finally began picking up the papers. Maybe Nao just needed some time. He could be really hot-headed after all, and very quick to judge. It would work out, eventually. And when he saw Nao again, Sora planned to apologize from the bottom of his heart.

Apologizing from the bottom of your heart is very hard when the person receiving the apology ducks out of sight every time he comes into view. Sora had been trying to talk with Nao and explain everything for 2 weeks now, but Nao would have nothing to do with him. In class, Nao would glare at him and when Sora would notice that he was looking, Nao would turn his head back around. And of course, it didn't help that Kai jumped Sora at every chance that he got. The kid was attention crazy, though he only desired attention from the blue haired boy.

After school, and managing to escape from a certain boy, Sora hid at the side of the school building as he waited for Nao to make his daily pass by. He sighed as time slowly, to slow for his liking, went by. Sora kept repeating to himself how he was going to apologize, trying to keep himself steady. As soon as he caught sight of the boy, Sora caught onto his arm and pulled him to the side of the building as well. Sunao struggled at first, but when he saw the look in Sora's eyes he stopped. Sora opened his mouth to begin his apology but suddenly he found that he couldn't talk. His throat had dried up on him, his brain went dead and he couldn't remember anything that he was going to say.

"F-Fujimori," he whispered as he tried to gather his thoughts. Nao forced his outward expression to stay cold and guarded, but his eyes betrayed a shimmer hope that Sora would ask him to come back home.

"Fujimori, I-" What was wrong with him? He had finally gotten Nao to stand still and listen to him! Why couldn't he say anything now?! Tears of frustration filled Sora's eyes. Now he had to hold back tears as well as find his long lost ability to speak a sentence or two. Nao's expression softened at this sight. He took a step closer to Sora and brought his arm up, about to wipe away the tears on his face…

"Sora-kun!" called a raven-haired boy as he jumped onto Sora once again. Nao's gaze quickly turned back into a glare. Clenching his hand into a fist he punched Sora in the stomach and ran out of sight.

Pain and sadness gave way to one huge flow of emotion as Sora realized what had just caused Nao to leave. He jerked back into the wall, causing Kai to be slammed against it and to fall off. He turned around and looked down at Kai, who was lying on the ground.

"I don't care who's kid you are or where you're from or how much money you have or what great crap you guys will do for our school if you finish the year here! Do you know what you just did?! I'm not your god damn babysitter! Don't follow me around anymore! I'm not your friend and I'm not being your damn school buddy any longer! Just leave me alone!"

Kai's eyes widened from fear and hurt and became watery. Quickly, he got up from the ground and ran out of sight. Just like Nao had. Sora looked at him as he realized what he'd just done. He sighed in frustration.

"Great!" Sora muttered as he slammed his fist into the building, "Now I even hurt the kid."

Sora stared in the direction that Nao had run off in before he let himself fall to the ground; tears streaming down his face.

"W-Why?" He continued crying until he suddenly felt a familiar sensation. Sora rose back up again as his left eye flashed a certain color of gold.

"It's okay Sora. I'm here for you again."

Nao had skipped the next few days of class, but not just because of Sora. The situation was bringing up so many painful memories that Nao was losing his sense of reality. All of the stress, fear, and pain was causing his body to be so weary that even when he wasn't seeing flashbacks of his past, he could barely get up, let alone walk. Nanami had insisted that he stayed with him and Shinichiro after he had a check up. He had to stay until he recovered. Nao was in no position to refuse.

Nanami and Shinichiro had been aware that Sora and Nao had gotten into a fight. Sure, they originally thought that they should let the boys work it out, but with Nao so sick from all the strain it was putting on him, they couldn't help but try to intervene. They would give the boys one more chance to work it out by themselves. Maybe they could finally talk things through if they were in a calm, relaxing environment. Nanami talked Sora into joining them for dinner, conveniently forgetting to mention Nao's presence in the household. When Sora first arrived, Nao was asleep in a bedroom down the hall.

"Ah, Hashiba-kun. Just take seat, dinner will be ready in a minute." Nanami said in a sweet, almost angelic tone. Sora nodded and followed Shinichiro into the living room.

"So, Sora," Shinichiro said as he pointed out a seat for Sora, "How are you doing? How's school?" Sora avoided Shinichiro's eyes as he looked at his own hands, fumbling them while he mumbled his simple answer.

"It's going fine." Shinichiro sighed as he realized that Sora was not very talkative. Of course, given the situation, that was understandable. He was about to speak up again but Nanami appeared, placing a nicely filled plate in front of him. After he'd given Sora his food, Nanami took his own seat. He smiled as he looked at Sora, waiting for the boy to take his first bite. Sora looked down at his plate. He had to admit it smelled really good. Well then, he shouldn't waste any more time.

"I-Itadakimasu." He mumbled. Nanami felt relieved as Sora began to eat. He looked at his own lover, who merely nodded at him before starting to eat as well.

In the midst of dinner Sora's attention was taken by a door opening down the hall. He looked down the hall to find Nao carefully shutting the door behind him. At first, numerous thoughts began racing through his minds. What should he do? What was Nao doing here? Why was he… Shaking his head, Sora stood up quietly and began walking down the hallway.

Nao froze in place as he saw Sora coming toward him. Why… Why was Sora here? He stared into his former roommate's eyes only to catch sight of a golden flash of color. Nao's eyes opened even wider as he mouthed a name that he dare not say aloud and attract attention to. Yoru. Suddenly Nao's vision blurred. He felt the nauseating yet familiar feeling of his consciousness being funneled into the back of his mind. Ran. Yoru. But they were supposed to be gone.

Sora could hazily see the scene that was being played out by his body. Yoru nodding his head toward the room; Ran's serious confirming nod as he re-opened the door; Yoru shutting the door behind them; Ran's instant tears as he ran into Yoru's accepting arms and held on to him for dear life, sobbing into his chest. Yoru stroking through Ran's hair, caressing his face; wiping away the tears as he lead him to the bed. Sora watched in fear of what may happen next. The bed… They wouldn't… Were they really going to do something like that in Shinichiro's home, after such a fight had gone on?

Yoru laid back onto the bed and pulled Ran down beside him, holding the boy as close as he could. The two remained like that for a while. After a few minutes the two were brave enough to loosen their grip and look into each others' eyes.

Sora had to admit that he had missed the feeling of Nao close to him. More than he had ever thought possible. He missed the feeling of Nao's fragile body laying safely in his arms. The warmth that he felt both in and outside of his body when he knew that Sora was laying in peace. The sound of his soft breathing against Sora's neck. The gentle times that he had been robbed of for nearly 4 months now.

Even though it was Ran who was really out, and even though it was Yoru who was holding Ran, Nao could still feel how it was when he and Sora laid in each other's arms. He could feel the peace all around him, the absolute lack of fear because Sora provided him with a physical shelter from the rest of the world. In fact, the rest of the world had no existence whatsoever while he and Sora layed in that serenity. The pure nirvana that he hadn't felt for so long. And as he stared at Yoru through Ran's eyes, he almost felt as though he was coming closer and closer to Sora.

Sora focused so strongly on Ran's eyes that it felt like he was being dragged into another place. A place where he could be the same way with Nao, the situation that he was dying to be a part of. He wanted it so much that he could feel his arms around his pink-haired love, he could feel Nao's calm breath against his skin, he could feel the warmth wrap around his entire existence.

Nao could feel the closeness of another body, the safety of a gentle embrace, the way his hair was slightly blown by the breath of his partner, and the sound of a heart beating strongly no matter the pace. And as he continued to stare into the eyes of the one who held him so dear, he finally knew the reality.

"Fujimori," Nao heard to other boy whisper once more, "I'm-"

He still couldn't figure out what he could possibly say. He was willing to completely destroy himself if he said the wrong thing this time, if he destroyed this perfect heaven that they had been allowed place in. But those eyes, Nao's eyes, were hanging on his every breath, waiting, just waiting to hear the words that would make it all better. The words that would let them put this whole situation behind them. But there were no words strong enough to use. Sora was still at a loss, but this time…this time he knew how he could make up for his illiteracy.

A hand gently brushed back the hair that had fallen into Nao's face and softly caressed his face as the lips of the other drew closer and closer.

It was a moment they could have lived in forever, where all problems were solved, all differences disappeared, all pain and anger, all regret, all sorrow, all of it disappeared without a trace. And all that was left in existence were two lovers embraced in a moment that could never be less than heaven in the world that had pained them so much.