Hey!! I'm soooo happy! Chapter 3 got a lot of reviews! Arigato! I'm going to start chapter 4 now… because I feel like it and I have time for once. XD Here goes! Thanks again for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts or any of its characters!

Chapter 4: Giving up

Looking down at this kid… it just makes me feel… weird. How could anyone do something so hideous to such a vulnerable kid? If I hadn't been there, what would've happened to him?

Riku kneeled next to the bed on which he had placed his classmate and ran a hand through the boy's hair. After having rescued him, Riku had brought Sora to his house and then cleaned and wrapped up his wounds. Somehow, he had known that the other boy wouldn't have been happy if he had taken him to the hospital.

Since Riku lived alone, he had no problem with keeping the teen with him, it's not like his mom was there to tell him to take him to the hospital.

The passed few days, I haven't been able to sleep. All I can think about his is face, the poor battered and bloodied expression that was spread across it, the blood that soaked his clothes and stained the floor, his cries of agony as he was being beat… He shuddered. It's been four days now… I've missed three days of school because I'm too afraid to leave him here; too afraid that he might disappear and that I won't ever see him again. Please wake up Sora. I barely know a thing about you but I really want to. I want you to know that I'm here for you and that I will never leave…

Just then, Sora shot up into a sitting position gasping for air and crying.

"No stop!" he yelled and closed his eyes. Riku held his hand and urged him to stop yelling.

"It's ok Sora", he said. "You're safe now, just calm down."

Sora turned and looked at him and started to sob heavily. Riku took the brunet's head in his arms and held it against his chest in a soothing embrace.

"I'm here now Sora", he whispered. "But I need you to calm down and to lie back down, you're body isn't in its greatest condition…" He eased the younger boy back down and smiled.

"Where am I?" asked Sora. "What…" he winced in pain.

Doesn't he remember? thought Riku.

Sora looked into the mirror that was placed in front of the bed, horrified. Oh how he had wished that what had happened was only a dream… how he wished it wasn't real, but it was. The pain was real, the bruises were real, the fear was real… everything was real! He started to cry again and he could feel the pain tighten in his chest and make breathing very difficult. Every breath he took was accompanied by a low whistling sound.

"Sora", said Riku. "Sora you need to calm down and breathe deeply. You hear that whistling sound? That's not good. Calm down."

Despite his efforts, Riku couldn't manage to calm him down. When he tried to hold him back, not only was the boy wheezing, but he also started to thrash around, making matters worse. The emo boy started to scream and yell as he tried to brake free.

"Let me go!" he yelled. "This isn't happening to me! This isn't real!"

"Stop Sora!"

Seeing no other solution, and sensing that Sora might pass out if he didn't start breathing properly; Riku brought his lips down onto the other boy's. Immediately, the brunet stopped thrashing and calmed down. The whistling sound diminished and he lay back down on his back. Riku pulled away.

"It was real Sora… and that was real too. Will you please calm down now?"

Sora nodded and took slow and deep breaths.

"Riku…" he started. Riku nodded to prove he was listening. "It really hurts."

"I know… but you have to be strong, or else I'll have to take you to the hospital."

"I can't go to school like this…"

"I will be there with you Sora. I promise."

"I'm so sorry…"

"For what?"

"…forget it."

Riku didn't want to push it too much so he dropped the subject. If Sora had something to say, eventually when he was ready, he would say it.

Night time came quickly as Riku watched over his new friend. Sound asleep, Sora seemed didn't seem to have too much trouble breathing, but every now and then the silver haired boy saw him stir in his sleep and grimace in pain.

Fatigue slowly settled and Riku was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Eventually, he gave in entirely, closing his eyes and falling asleep on the cold wood floor.

Dream

"Don't touch me!" I screamed as I pushed the other kid away from me. "Go hang out with someone else!"

"Yeah! Someone like you!" added another boy. All the kids laughed and sneered at the little boy crying on the cement school yard. I looked at him, my expression lined with disgust. He had touched me! That thing had the nerve to touch me! Teachers continued to circle around the school yard, ignoring the horrendous scene of abuse going on not too far away. What did they care? They didn't want to get their hands dirty.

"Let them fight", they would say. "It's part of growing up." But then again, what did I care? As if I had ever listened to them before.

I watched the little boy start to cry as he looked up at me with a shocked expression. That little boy had once been my best friend; he had once meant something to me; he had once believed in me… Now though, I couldn't stand to look at him. He had no friends and everyone was getting tired of seeing him, tired of having him around. There was a conflict between him and my other friends, and I chose to stand by them. Those stronger kids who seemed to have so much more fun, those stronger kids whom everyone wanted to be with, those stronger kids that I admired. Yoru on the other hand was the complete opposite of them. He was short and thin and no one admired him. He was weak and easy to pick on. I didn't want to be picked on. I wanted to be accepted, and I was willing to do anything to reach my goal… even if it meant leaving him behind.

That day he had run up to me and pulled my sleeve, he had to tell me something important, something that was slowly killing him and I had violently pushed him away.

"Riku", he mumbled but was cut short as I tiny rock was flung at him, and then another and another until all the kids had taken part in his horrific beating. Screaming and sobbing, the younger boy ran away. He was limping and holding his heart. I watched him curiously. Why was he holding his heart like that? Why was he wheezing so loudly that I could hear him from where I stood? Why did he suddenly fall over? Why did my heart skip a beat when I saw his older sister run over to his side?

Within fifteen minutes, I could hear the sound of sirens approaching and surely enough I saw the ambulance pull into the school yard. It rushed off with Yoru and his sister. The others seemed oblivious to my shocked and terrified expression, they continued to laugh and play as if nothing had ever happened…

Later that night, my mother called me downstairs sounding very upset. I hurried to go see her, expecting her to scold me for not having washed the dishes, but the lecture never came. She told me to sit next to her on the couch and I obeyed.

"Riku honey", she managed to say with difficulty. "Your friend Yoru died not too long ago." I was in shock. I didn't want to hear what she had to say, but she continued anyways. "He had cancer in his heart; they found that out over the weekend." In my mind I was begging her to stop. "They couldn't do an operation and told him that he only had a few weeks to live… but something happened in the school yard today that caused the cancer to react earlier than it should have…"

I don't think I'd ever managed to go up those stairs as fast as I had just then. I slammed my door and threw myself onto my bed. It was completely my fault! If I hadn't been so mean… all he wanted was to tell me that he was going to die and I killed him! Murdered him because I wanted to look good and be accepted. Was it really worth losing him? Not the slightest bit and I regretted every second of it.

Right then and there, I was ready to give up; I wanted to be with him. I wanted to go find my lost friend and bring him back; bring him back so I could apologize and tell him how much he meant to me.

"Yoru… I'm so sorry."

End Dream

Riku woke up, drenched in sweat and shaking. He hadn't had that dream in years and yet now it had decided to come back to haunt him. He wasn't going to lose another friend just to satisfy his thirst for a good image. This time, he was going to be there, no matter how tough things got.

He stroked Sora's hair before getting up and going to take a shower to try to wash away his pain…

A few minutes later, once he had gotten out of the shower, he went back to check on Sora. To his astonishment, the younger boy was sitting up in the bed and holding his head in his hands.

"You should lie down", Riku mumbled with difficulty, seeing the other boy made him very uneasy. The brunet didn't look at him, but he nodded anyways.

"I know", he replied, "I just… I don't know what I'm going to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't go back home… not anymore. Where am I going to stay?"

Riku sat beside his guest on the bed. "You're welcome to stay here you know. I really don't mind."

"Yeah but what about your parents?"

"They're never here, so it doesn't matter."

Sora nodded again and then he lay back down with a huge sigh. He didn't want to say it, but what as really bothering him was not the question of where he was going to stay, it was what would happen when he finally went back to school. Riku stroked his cheek gently and Sora closed his eyes. In the end, it wouldn't really matter, as long as Riku stayed with him…

Before he knew it, the rest of the week and the weekend had come and passed and Sora knew that he had to go back to school. Riku had gone over to his house a few days earlier after school when no one was home and brought over all his clothes so he had no real reason to not go. He sighed as he got up; Riku smiled and kissed him lightly.

"Don't worry about it", he said reassuringly. "Things will work out fine in the end!"

In the days that they had missed school together, the two teenagers had gotten to know each other better, even if Sora avoided speaking of his past.

"Are you alright with walking to school?" asked the silver haired boy.

"That's fine. I should be alright…"

They left as soon as they were both dressed and ready to leave. Sora wore a long sleeved black top with Jack Skellington on it to hide the marks on his arms, navy blue jeans and his black converse. Not even all the make-up in the world could cover up the bruises on his face, but he put on his eye-liner as he always had and tried to hide as much of his face as he could with his bangs. Riku on the other hand wore a long sleeved brown shirt with the Chinese symbol for "spirit" written on it in gold and blue jeans.

The morning cool, Riku went back inside to grab a hoodie for his friend before officially leaving for school. They walked in silence, neither of them knew what to say, but in this case, the silence was comforting not awkward.

Soon after, they arrived at school; people shot them questioning looks, especially at Riku who they never expected to see with that freak. All around students were whispering amongst each-other but Riku, strong and proud as usual, waved at most and said good morning to others. Sora was amazed at how fast the silver haired boy had made friends and got noticed. He really admired him… He really loved him.

Well that's the end of this chapter guys! I'm probably going to say this at the end of every chapter, but I really am trying to make them longer and hopefully more interesting! xD Also, I've already got my idea for chapter 5 but I have no idea when I'm going to have time to write it. I promise that I'll do my best though! Sparks will fly! (But I can't tell you between who! Ahaha!) Thanks again for the reviews I really appreciate it!!

Hikari