Happy New Year! Thank you again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. This one has a lot of kissy-face, as do the next few after it, so just giving you fair warning. I know I said earlier that it wouldn't contain a lot of SoKu stuff, but apparently I lied. XD

Also, much thanks to Hito Me Bore for derailing all of my plans for this story and forcing an extra week between updates. It got a much needed plot boost, so I guess I can forgive her. :)

Riku woke up to one of the most horrible noises he had ever experienced in his entire existence.

A deep, pounding was coming from downstairs, like a hundred war drums battling for the highest volume. Mixed in was an eerie hissing and wheezing sound, much like Sora when he had a head cold, and a sharp sound like wood splintering into thousands of pieces at the will of a hurricane added in to give the whole auditory experience that extra touch of pain.

The whole thing was heightened by the fact that he hadn't even been out of bed when he heard it, and the horrid racket didn't just wake him up, but rather, it scared him up.

As he sat up in bed, nearly giving himself whiplash in the process, he listened to the sound to determine where exactly his house was being attacked. He leaped out of bed and scurried down the stairs, nearly stubbing his toes in the process. All that mattered was that his home was being assaulted by some wildly aggressive beast, and he had to do all in his power to save it.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he realized that the ferocious din was coming from the other side of his door, and as soon as the realization sunk into his mind, he let out a deep sigh. Had he actually been awake, he would have been able to guess what the clatter came from, and he probably would have spared himself a near heart attack, too.

He looked up at his poor door, and it was doing all within its power to not splinter. The middle of it was bulging as it was attacked from the other side, and he was certain he saw some of the paint chip off.

With another sigh, he twisted the knob.

"Riku!" Sora yelled, shoving past his friend as soon as he had seen his face appear in the opening. "Riku, I've got a big problem!"

It had to have been much bigger than the one the day before, Riku decided, taking a few moments to survey the abused wood. Yesterday he had managed to sleep past a significant portion of the knocking...

"Sora, if you keep this up, you're going to have to buy me a new door."

Sora looked confused for a moment, then noticed the careful attention Riku was paying to the wooden object. Doors were far less significant than this problem. Sora would buy him a hundred doors if that was what he wanted. Right then though, he needed to have a nice informational chat with Riku. "Whatever," he waved him away. "We have more important things to talk about!"

"Like how much sand is going to blow in because I won't have an adequate barrier protecting the inside of my home from the elements? Or how my privacy will be nonexistent on this level of the house because of gaping holes in the wood?"

"No! Much bigger than that!"

"Is that so?" Riku said with a sigh, closing the tortured wood and cringing as it had a little trouble fitting into frame. "Well, what is it this time? More kissing woes?"

"You'd better believe it!" Sora all but shouted. "And I'd thank you to answer your door quicker, please! That's a fine way to treat someone facing imminent disaster."

Riku frowned. "It's seven in the morning! Couldn't you have waited until at least nine? Didn't you learn your lesson yesterday?"

"No!" Sora roared, already feeling precious time tick away. "I most certainly could not have waited! Maybe you should just start getting up earlier."

"So says someone who usually sleeps until noon."

"Yeah, well, I'm in a state of emergency."

"You could try calling! I have a functioning telephone for just such formalities."

Sora waved him off. "We've been friends long enough to where formalities aren't necessary anymore."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't get the memo."

"Well, here it is." Sora frowned. "But that's not even important right now. I just need you to help me."

Riku ran a hand through his hair and groaned a little. He supposed it was one thing for Sora to barge over unannounced for something random, but if he really was in as serious of trouble as he claimed to be, he supposed he should do the proper thing and help him, regardless of how reluctant he was to get up early for the second day in a row. "Okay," he said. "Am I allowed to take a shower before we talk, or would you prefer my rustic, unkempt, rugged glow?"

"Shower if you must, but hurry it up. Don't waste time with unnecessary stuff like lotion."

Riku chuckled and headed up the stairs. "Right, I'll be back in a minute."

"I'm timing you!" Sora called out, watching his form disappear up the staircase. He huffed and walked in the living room to sit on the couch.

This entire week was already turning out to be a fine mess. He hoped he hadn't damaged his relationship with Kairi too badly in one night, but he suspected that if things kept going how they were going, that might become very real possibility. If he had just known how to kiss in the first place, then none of this would have even been an issue. Now he was getting Riku involved, and he was getting up early...

This all would have been marginally better if kissing Kairi the night before was a little less bland, but even after all of the work he (and subsequently Riku) had put into this, he wasn't even properly rewarded for his efforts.

On top of all that, he had to learn what in the heck that open mouth thing was all about, and he had to learn it before he saw Kairi again, lest he look like a complete and utter invalid in front of her.

Briefly, he wondered how many years he had shaved off his life with all of the worrying he had done in the past two days.

He hoped Riku would be able to solve this problem as easily as he had the day before.

A few moments later, the person in mind stood at the top of the staircase, this time sans towel. His hair was still a bit damp, but he looked put-together enough.

"Okay," he said with a huff, descending the stairs with a quirked eyebrow. "What happened now?"

"I kissed Kairi last night."

The eyebrow arched up even further, disappearing under the fall of silver bangs. "Wow. You certainly didn't waste any time."

"I didn't want to forget anything."

Riku sat down on the couch next to him. Immediately he felt sympathetic. "She liked it, right?"

Sora fidgeted in his seat, his face flushing to an impossible shade of red. Riku didn't know how to console someone after a botched kiss, but he certainly felt badly for him.

"Actually, yeah." Sora said at last, seemingly forcing the words out. "She liked it. That's the problem."

Riku frowned, now thoroughly confused. He didn't see how Kairi liking a kiss from her boyfriend was a problem for anyone but himself. Hurriedly, he tucked the last bit of that thought away. "Um...what?"

Sora was glowing at this point, and his knee bobbed up and down rapidly as he spoke. "I did everything you said to do yesterday. I aimed, I closed my eyes, and I hit it right on the mark. I remembered not to kiss her too hard." He found it important to mention his improvisation so as to cushion his ego for later on. "I even put my hand around her waist, because she put her hand on my shoulder, and it just seemed like something I should do!"

"Well, that's good, right?" He felt a very faint pang of envy course through him.

"Yeah, but Riku...she...she did something."

Riku frowned again wondering what on earth the girl could have done to make Sora that nervous. All of the things that popped into his mind seemed inappropriate, and a few of them were downright impossible. He quickly decided to let Sora fill in the blanks before he made any definite assumptions. "What?"

"Well, when I kissed her...she kind of...she kind of opened her mouth."

It was as if Sora's very cells were embarrassed at the thought, and the red hue his skin was turning was downright unbelievable.

Riku didn't know what to think. It was clear that his attempt at keeping the more intimate aspects of kissing hidden were unexpectedly being unraveled. He grimaced internally, because he knew what this visit would ultimately lead to. Sure, he would enjoy instructing Sora on the finer aspects of kissing, and he would have that lovely internal debate about exactly how guilty he should feel about enjoying it, but ultimately, everything he had taught Sora, no matter how much affection Riku would end up pumping into it, would be taken back and used on Kairi.

With the inevitability of it all though, he could at least dismiss some of the guilt from himself, after all it wasn't like he was making Sora cheat on Kairi. As far as he was concerned, Sora was only interested in learning from him, not enjoying it from him. It didn't matter what Riku felt about any of it because Sora's heart, as always, was in the noble, pure, and correct place. Instead, he could focus all of his guilt on the fact that he was using Sora's problem for his own advantage, but that was something he could ignore pretty easily for the time being.

Trying not to get too wrapped up in his own thoughts, lest Sora think he had stopped listening, he pushed them away. "She opened her mouth, huh? Sounds like she wanted more than just a peck on the lips, Sora."

"What would that be?"

Amusement coursed through Riku, briefly cutting through his somewhat depressing thoughts. Sora was so oblivious that it was downright adorable. "You engage your whole mouth."

Apparently the red had receded some during the few words he had uttered, but as soon as Riku let his brief explanation out into the open air, the red was back at full intensity. "What?"

Riku nodded. "You remember all of those romance movies, right? It's the same thing, without the makeup and the really bad lines...and the confidence in knowing that whatever gets messed up will end up on the editing room floor."

Sora looked as if he was about to come unglued at his very seams, so Riku put a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"You've got to be kidding me. Riku, I don't know how to do any of that! What am I supposed to do?"

It was on Riku's lips to discourage him from taking any actions at all, thus hindering any further physical contact he and Kairi would have for the next several months at least, but he began to get those pangs of guilt again, and it was this that made him conclude that the friendship clause was not in his favor today. Instead, he replied, "You can start by relaxing."

Sora obliged Riku by taking a few deep breaths, but it didn't help in the slightest. He knew that the only thing that could cure his nerves would be the instantaneous learning of how to kiss, but he wasn't sure about how reluctant Riku would be about being the instructor. He knew that Riku had said the day before that he would be willing to help him out again, and he had conveniently added that it included any further lessons in kissing, but Sora wasn't sure how far he would be able to exploit it.

If the whole thing sounded as involved as he thought it did, he wasn't sure Riku would feel as comfortable sharing such an intimate moment with him, especially since he supposed it wasn't gratifying for him at all. He didn't want to make Riku feel obligated (even though he was...he had said it after all), and he certainly didn't want to take advantage of their friendship.

But, this was the proverbial 'desperate time,' and Sora's personal needs were immediate enough to call for those desperate measures. If he had to, he would exploit Riku's offer from the day before. He would hold every instance Riku had ever owed him over his head. He would whine, cry, and if all else failed, he would refuse to leave his friend's house until he had properly instructed him onto the more complicated aspects of kissing. If they had to lock lips for the next few hours, then so be it. Riku could just shake the awkwardness of it off after Sora left his house in a while, while Sora could take the much needed experience to prevent potentially mortifying embarrassment. The sacrifice was worth it.

"Teach me how to do it, then." Sora said at last, forcing himself to look Riku in the eye even after the hand twitched slightly on his shoulder.

Riku's eyes widened. Of course the prospect had crossed his mind, but hearing it out loud, furthermore from a mouth that was definitely not his, was startling. His jaw hung open. "You want me to teach you?"

"Well, I'm kind of out of options here!"

"But me?"

Sora began to get just a touch insulted. He wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea either, but it wasn't that horrible. The two of them were best friends, possibly closer than Sora was to his own parents, so a little practice kissing here and there seemed almost like a natural thing to participate in, especially when it was of high importance. Moreover, Riku had suggested it the day before, and had been more than happy to oblige his knowledge for a few hours. The only difference here was that there was a bit more...activity. Sora was positive both of them would be able to overlook it rather easily.

Riku would just have to suck it up.

"Yes you! You're going to teach me how to kiss, and that's final."

Riku was having such a bad morning. He had barely been up an hour and already his morality and responsibility were being tried against the highly biased and more often than not treacherous bounds of his own satisfaction. Making the right decisions wasn't part of his realm of thinking at this point; he was more concerned with not making the wrong one. A winner could not be declared for quite some time, so it seemed.

It was hard to think about, but this whole thing could turn out to be life changing, namely, he and Sora could potentially never speak to each other again. Of course, that would mean that he would have to expose his more than platonic thoughts, and he wasn't about to do that any time soon, but the lingering, nagging thought that the truth could come out sent his reluctance on overdrive.

Then there was the fact that he was taking advantage of a friend. The idea of ignoring it was pretty easily entertained earlier, but now that the opportunity was lying fresh and tempting in his lap, his reservations were starting to poke through his once fairly sturdy barrier of self-assurance. It wasn't right, no matter how concealable the facts were.

Then there was that little issue with Kairi, which opened up a museum full of Pandora's boxes, and sorting through the proper path through them was something a lifetime of mental stamina wouldn't be able to get him through. The easiest and best way to get out of this mess was to just neatly and politely excuse himself from it altogether.

"Sora, maybe you should talk to Kairi about this. I'm sure she'll underst—"

Sora roughly grabbed his shoulders, eyebrows arched so sharply downwards that he resembled some sort of evil creature. "'No' is not an option, Riku!"

Riku was taken aback, and had no choice but watch with a touch of fear as Sora inhaled.

"Listen, Riku, you're my best friend, and I had better be yours. We've been through thick, and thin, and thinner, and thinnest, and through all of it, I've considered your feelings before taking any action on anything. I respect your opinions, and your wishes, and I try my best to oblige you, but right now, I really don't care about what you think, or how uncomfortable this makes you. You're going to teach me how to kiss with your entire mouth, or I will drag you by the hair to your basement and beat you until you do!"

Words were lost to Riku. All of the careful thoughts he had planted in his head had died before even germinating properly, and the only thing occupying his barren wasteland of a mental garden was the sight of Sora's strangely angry—and a tiny bit flustered—face. If he opened his mouth he feared that he would never be able to close it again, so instead, he nodded slowly.

"Good," Sora said, letting out a breath. A shade or two of red crept back onto his face, and he folded his hands in his lap. "And...um...thank you."

Riku nodded again, unsure of how he was supposed to feel. He waited a few moments for Sora to calm down, and perhaps for himself to collect a bit better too, before leaning his shoulder against the back of the couch.

"Okay," he said slowly, trying his best to keep the uncertainty out of his voice. He felt that more-than-platonic feeling creep into his bones, so he vocally banished it away. "I'll be Kairi, you be you."

Sora nodded enthusiastically, the red color of his skin blurring a little with the movement.

He couldn't keep his eyes off of Riku's lips, as he knew that in a matter of seconds they would be mashed against his own. Still though, he tried to pay attention as his friend spoke, lest he be in for an embarrassingly avoidable surprise.

"The last time it might not have been as big of a deal, but if you freak out with this one, chances are you're going to—"

"Botch it up. Right."

Riku nodded, sighing. "Uh, since you're going to initiate it, when you want to go for it, you're going to have to...uh…brush your tongue over my...uh, lips."

Sora blanched, offering an interesting change of pigment to the previous rose. "What? Why?"

"It's a signal."

"Well, obviously not everyone is well versed in kissing signals. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask?"

"Okay Sora. The next time you're engaged in an otherwise fairly romantic moment with Kairi, break lips with her and politely ask if you can shove your tongue in her mouth."

That seemed to get him to quiet for a moment, and for this Riku was glad. He needed to concentrate. "Don't go putting the whole thing in, either. Just kind of...touch."

Sora quirked his head to the side, partially because he wasn't sure Riku's vague instructions were helpful, and partly because he felt somewhat awkward that he was having this discussion with him in the first place.

Riku noticed his expression and rolled his eyes. It was bad enough that this was occurring, but it was even worse that neither one of them were all that comfortable with it, regardless of how their reasons differed. "We should just...do it. You'll learn faster that way."

Sora nodded, again, watching Riku's lips as he formed each letter, not fully convinced that this was going to end well at all. Swallowing his nerves—as he had no choice—he watched with a mixture of apprehension and anticipation as Riku neared him, his eyes slid shut just moments before their lips connected.

Sora felt better as he was in the midst of it all. It was no different than yesterday thus far, he thought calmly, reveling in the easy familiarity of Riku's lips pressing softly against his. There was a faint smack when he briefly lifted up, then he came back down, Riku's bottom lip wedging just slightly between his own.

His nerves all but dissolved. This was easy; this required no initiation on his part. Riku was kissing him now, and he was kissing back, of course, but at that moment, nothing was being expected of him beyond his capabilities.

He was considering this quite merrily, when he felt Riku increase pressure just a bit, the soft expanse of his lips becoming a just a touch more pert.

He supposed that was his signal to signal and with a mixture of fear, shyness and curiosity, he parted his lips just enough to let the tip of his tongue slide out, and graze the underside of Riku's upper lip. There was a tiny jolt as the sensitive tip of his tongue met warm, soft flesh, and he nearly let out a startled gasp when he adjusted to fit the new contour of his lips.

Whatever uneasiness Sora had felt in those moments had vanished. A somato-sensory experience like Sora had never felt erupted from within.

Riku inhaled ever so slightly, just enough to where the light scent of mint toothpaste ghosting about the contours of his mouth flickered into Sora's nostrils; just enough so that the very tail end of Sora's own released breath was sucked in to the warm, pink cavern, spiraling down his steadily moving throat and into the pit of his chest, and he quite literally took his breath away; just enough so that his own tongue could slip through the small opening and he could enthusiastically return the gesture.

Sora felt his balance leave him, and he instinctively reached for Riku's shoulder. His fingers clasped the partially damp material, reflexively twitching when the tip of Riku's tongue slid down the middle of his own, taste buds positively bristling with some sort of internal electrical current.

The feeling surprised him, and he jerked forward, his lips running forcefully into Riku's, their teeth scraping together a bit with the impact. Sora didn't think it was possible, but the movement seemed to encourage—or perhaps the term was signal now—some sort of equally as stunning movement from Riku. Sora didn't know if he was drawing form one of his ambiguous personal experiences, or not, but he slid his tongue slowly across his bottom row of teeth, a dull scraping sound in the background as his fingers clutched the back of the couch.

Sora didn't know what to do, but the jolts whizzing by every nerve ending in his mouth, especially the tip of his tongue were telling him things he could not quite pick up. He didn't understand their existence, and thoughts were dully clawing at the back of his mind like some sort of pet against the bars of a cage in the next room. He was curious about the tingles, and the shivers, and when Riku took another short breath, the scent of mint and the curious shock of nerve endings meeting nerve endings when their lips and tongues collided met his senses, his lips moved on their own accord, attacking Riku's with a fervor he did not knew he possessed. It was as if he was desperate to decode the sparks, to understand them, to consume them until he was overflowing.

Riku acknowledged the movement with only a touch of notable surprise, before he bowed his head just slightly, nose angled so that it brushed the side of Sora's faintly. Gently, he bit down on his lower lip, tugging ever so slightly so as to distract Sora from his urgency. He spoke so quietly his breath barely left his mouth. "Slow down a little."

And Sora obliged, temporarily stunned from the sound of Riku's voice melting into his ears, and the sensation of warm breath and moving lips dancing off the nerves in his own.

A few moments later Riku was instructing him again, his voice containing only a trace of vocal sound. He was telling him something about his hands, something about placement, but Sora had been deaf to most of it, as a wave of something crashed over him, and he was steadily trying to figure out a way to keep from drowning.

At some point though, he felt Riku's fingers trailing up the side of his neck, the heel of his palm resting in the groove between his neck and shoulder. He felt a digit slide across his jawbone, and then back down, until finally it came to a rest just at the base of his neck.

And then he heard it.

The unmistakably deep and obviously pleased sound…

Of a moan.

Sora's eyes snapped open in surprise.

Sora couldn't help but feel flattered. Afterall, if Riku was this excited, perhaps he wasn't that bad of a kisser after all. He stopped moving to thank Riku for all of his successful teaching, but Riku didn't stop, this time his other arm encircling around his shoulders, pulling Sora in deeper, his lips moving steadily. Another moan followed, and this time it carried his name, whispered, breathy and every bit beyond what would be considered normal for a teacher-pupil relationship.

Oh.

Shocked now into panic, Sora pushed back a little against Riku's shoulders, hoping he would get the hint, but if anything, Riku's grip tightened, fingers twisting into his hair. Had it been Kairi, Sora might have been a little bit more receptive to the idea, but this was certainly not her, and this was definitely his best friend.

"Um…Riku?" He squeaked a little louder this time. "Riku? You can stop kissing me now…"

Suddenly, Riku seemed to snap back into reality. He pulled back sharply, releasing Sora as if he were some kind of hazardous material; the color draining from his face.

Sora decided to speak up first. "Heh heh…wow, Riku! Thanks for all your help. I mean, clearly I've learned a lot since you were…"

The mortified look that crossed Riku's face kept him from completing his sentence. "Er…I mean, you're a really good teacher. I can't believe how helpful you've been. You're really the best friend in the world."

Riku's eyes were wide as dinner plates, his face still the color of chalk. He managed a very faint nod, and was able to croak out a nearly inaudible "you're welcome."

Sora was so uncomfortable he could barely see. This explained a lot of things, actually. "Heh, heh…right. I can't wait to try this out on my girlfriend…who is Kairi. Thanks again best friend. I owe you."

"No problem," Riku whispered again.

"Are um…are you okay?"

Riku paused for a moment, then shook his head, looking every bit as though he wanted to forget the day had even come. He cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes. "Yes, fine. Never better. But, you know, I just remembered that I have to—"

"—Right. Uh…"

"Er…yeah—"

"Okay so I'll see you—"

"Later then?"

"Yes, later."

"Okay!"

"Okay!"

Sora spared a final look at Riku, noticing how flushed his face had become, and felt the tips of his ears burning. "Bye!"

Riku muttered out his own goodbye, but Sora had already shuffled out the door.