Notes: I really appreciate the reviews that I received from my last chapter. I'm thankful to know that my writing isn't as bad as I think it is ^^; Thank you all so much! When I looked at all the reviews I got in a day, I was so shocked! And I halfway hoped they weren't bad ones either =P. Anyways, more plot bits, as it slowly advances into something good(hopefully) in the meantime, bear with me, it might be a little slow. More Sora/Riku bits as always, and a little bit of action.

                                                                                                ***

            Sora stood there in absolute shock. He had expected her to be there, possibly waiting for him or on the way out to go wake him up. It was really late into the day, and he hadn't seen her on the way out.

            ::What if she saw Riku and me last night? What if she ran away because she was so upset…or what if she did something even worse?:: he thought to himself. He didn't want to think about what the "even worse" thing could be. She wouldn't go to such drastic measures because of that…would she?

            Hoping, praying that he wouldn't find anything suicide relevant, he search around her room for any clues. He didn't find any suicide notes(thankfully)or anything of the sort, but he did find something very particular. Inscribed on the wall was a strange message that seemed to be written in a foreign language:

~NOS HABEMUS LUCET IGITUR ADVESPERASCIT~

            Sora reached around for something to write with and on. He quickly grabbed a nearby pen and wrote on his hand the cryptic message. He had to figure out what this meant…it had to be a hint to Kairi's location. All that he could guess was that she was taken away by somebody, and they left this incomprehensible message. Suddenly, the door burst open behind him.

            "Kairi?" he asked hopefully. But standing there instead was Riku.

            "Oh, I'm sorry, Riku. I just…came here to tell Kairi something important and I saw that she was gone, so I thought that…" Sora began to say, but Riku shushed him by putting his fingertip on Sora's mouth.

            "It's all right, Sora. I already know," he said.

            "You know what?" Sora questioned.

            "That Kairi's missing," Riku answered.

            "How'd you find out before me?" he inquired.

            "Let's see…Kairi usually comes out a lot earlier to come and get you…and since I was up even earlier, I noticed that she hadn't come out. So I went to her room and saw that she was missing. I was going to get you, but I couldn't even get you to budge," Riku explained. Sora made a face of disbelief.

            "You were up early? After last night…" Sora said, while blushing, but then shook it off immediately. Riku grinned at his best friend(they weren't really officially boyfriends yet).

            "Um, anyways, that's not important right now. We have to find her!" Sora said.

            "Why are you so worried?" Riku asked with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

            "Riku, I told you I still have feelings for her. Plus she still is my friend," Sora explained. He saw that Riku looked slightly hurt, but then he erased it with a smile.

            "It's okay. We'll be able to find her," Riku assured him. Sora gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek and grinned at Riku's surprised face.

            "That doesn't mean I don't love you," Sora said with a grin, repeating the same words from the previous night. He tapped Riku slightly on the nose and kissed him again on the cheek.

            Riku was stunned for a moment. Here was innocent little Sora, actually flirting with him! But even so, there was still that hint of innocence within his affectionate actions. That was one thing Riku absolutely adored about Sora, was his ability to remain the way he was no matter what he was doing. He smiled down at him and stroked his face gently with his hand. He had acknowledged from Sora's reactions that this was something that Sora seemed to enjoy. As always, he let out a small sigh of ecstasy as he felt the nerves on his face tingle under Riku's touch. But he then grabbed Riku's hand, and looked up at him seriously.

            "Riku…we have to find Kairi, or at least find out what happened to her," he said.

            "I know. I've been trying to find out what that dream was trying to tell us, but just Kairi disappearing…it doesn't go along with…or maybe it does! The fact that it was only the two of us that had the dream could have been a clue to her disappearance," Riku proclaimed.

            "That's true, but how do you explain the island caving in?" Sora inquired. Riku thought about this for a moment.

            "Perhaps we'll find out soon, since it's just the two of us now," Riku said thoughtfully.

            "Hey Riku, do you know what this means?" Sora asked, showing the message he wrote down on his hand. Riku stared at it for a while with a baffled expression.

            "I have no idea what that could be," he said.

            "Me, neither," Sora said despairingly.

            "Is that the only thing you could find?" Riku questioned. Sora nodded, and pointed to the wall where it was on.

            "See, I wrote it off of that wall," he pointed out. Riku stared at the direction that Sora pointed, but he saw nothing.

            "I don't see it," he said.

            "But it was there just a few minutes ago!" Sora protested. He looked over to the wall and saw the same words that he had written down before. How come Riku couldn't see them?

            "Well, we should at least look around for any more hints of her disappearance. You look after yourself," Riku said and ruffled Sora's hair. He made a slight pouting face and Riku laughed out loud.

            "You're too cute," he told Sora.

            "I'm not cute!" Sora said defensively. Riku only continued to laugh and signaled him to come forward…

                                                                                                            ***

            It was the end of a long day, as Riku and Sora had continuously searched for clues of Kairi suddenly vanishing. None of the other island inhabitants knew anything about it, and there was only so far to look for anything. They both sat on the small island, and were fatigued from the long, strenuous investigation. Sora sat on the trunk of the paopu tree, and looked extremely uneasy. Riku noticed Sora's anxiety, and hugged him from behind.

            "Don't worry about it, Sora. We are going to find her soon," Riku comforted. Sora noticed the extra tenderness in Riku's voice and touch, and was grateful for both. He needed his (boy?)friend the most right now.

            "Hey, Riku? Would you consider me to be your…boyfriend?" Sora cautioned.

            Riku was a little surprised, but then again, he had always expected that this question would come up sooner or later. He wasn't exactly sure himself. He knew he would love to be, but it wouldn't be right without having Kairi know.

            "Well, I know that you love me, and I love you, too. But, I don't think we should make anything official until Kairi at least knows about it," Riku answered.

            "I guess you're right. I feel a little guilty saying this, but that doesn't mean we have to back off or anything, right?" Sora asked.

            "Hell, no!" Riku immediately said. Sora laughed, and relaxed in the arms of his friend.

            "I guess not, since we've, er, 'been together' for only a day, and we've barely done anything," Sora explained.

            "More the reason for us not to stop," Riku said while smirking, and he held Sora even closer to him. Sora snuggled into Riku's lower body,(he was standing above him,) and relaxed even more. Even with his worries of Kairi weighing on his mind, he could still enjoy this new experience with Riku. He saw Riku's face coming down closer to his, and before he knew it, had received a second kiss from Riku, only this time it was just a light one on the tip of his mouth. A part of him wanted Riku to go deeper into the kiss, like the one they had before, but he usually tried to ignore that desire. After all, they couldn't go too far before they had Kairi back.

                                                                                                           ***

            As the hours went on, the two boys flirted with each other, and sometimes went a little beyond that, until it was finally night. This particular night was stiflingly hot, but the air was clear. One by one, the stars peered out from their hiding place as the darkness was pulled over the sky, like a velvet cloth being pulled over the brilliant oranges and reds of the sunset, and lit up the island with a gentle glow. The moon was facing away from the world and gave no hint of light. The stars were the only thing to guide the young lovers, as they enjoyed the sights that nature displayed to them. The gentle waters of the vast ocean stretched out before them twinkled with the tiny balls of light shining down upon it, as if the heavens had managed to reach the land below. Riku gazed upon these sights with a faraway expression printed on his face. Sora glanced over, and knew immediately that there was no use of speaking to him right now. He knew his friend well, he was dreaming again about the worlds beyond their own. It was one of the things he always adored about him…his ability to dream, to let his mind fly away so far from their own world. He never understood why Riku always told him he sometimes felt like he was trapped in a prison, since his soul always seemed to be free to fly beyond the boundaries of this world.

            "Sora…don't you ever want to just be able to fly away from here, and see what else is out there?" Riku said in a soft, faraway voice. Sora smiled, and looked over at him.

            "I don't see why, since your mind always seems to be away all the time," Sora pointed out. Riku smiled at him, and sighed to himself. He hadn't expected Sora to understand what he had said. Sure, Sora had always been eager for exploring, but the two never felt quite the same way about it. To him, any other worlds out there had seemed so unreachable, so intangible, that he would never be able to seek them out. It was all because they were trapped on this one lonely island, isolated from anything else that may be out there…

            He was pulled out of his thoughts by something he suddenly remembered. He stood up, dusted himself off, and walked over to the other side of the oasis. Sora watched him curiously, as he stood up too. Suddenly, an all too familiar breeze swept across the island, with the patches of grass shifting to the side slightly. Sora remembered these details, and knew exactly what they meant.

            "Hey Sora, come over here. I want to show you something," Riku said, and beckoned with his finger for Sora to come forward.

            "Riku…don't!" Sora cautioned. He felt the land beneath him begin to crack, and he ran over to Riku, his arm outstretched for him to grab.

            But it was too late. Sora, within two inches of reaching him, had fallen in with the land and plunged into the depths of the ocean. He could hear Riku calling out his name, but he knew it was no use. If everything went as the dream had planned, he would die very soon. He felt the cold water engulf him and the same feeling of pressure weighing down on him so that he could not reach the surface. He tried to fight it, but could not reach the surface. Even though he knew all odds were against it though, he still did not give up. He thrashed and wailed his arms against the force against him, and did everything he could to reach the surface. He felt a hand grab his own, and he immediately accepted it. He felt himself being pulled up, and as he reached the surface, he gasped for air. He coughed up the water that had been in his lungs, but even with the water removed, his chest still burned. But he could breathe now, and he kept constantly breathing heavily, as if he had to make sure there was still air around him. Riku picked him up and carried him to shore in his arms. Sora clung on to Riku's shirt protectively and buried his head into Riku's chest. Once they reached shore, the burning in Sora's lungs had ceased, and he had stopped breathing heavily.

            "Riku…God, I  thought I was going to die," Sora whispered.

            "Shh…you're fine now…I'll make sure nothing ever happens to you," Riku promised.

            "Really?" Sora said, looking up at Riku with large, innocent eyes.

            "Of course. I promise I'll always protect you," he said. Sora wrapped his arms around Riku's shoulders in an embrace. Riku returned it with one of his own, and the two of them stayed like that for a while, both wrapped up within each other.

            "Riku…I love you. I am absolutely sure of it," Sora said.

            "I love you too. I always have, and I always will," Riku replied.

            "I'm sorry, for all that pain I put you through before," Sora said.

            "It was worth it if I finally have you," Riku assured him.

            "I know…but you know I still love her too," Sora reminded him.

            "As long as I have your love, it's enough for me," Riku said.

            Eventually, the two felt the waves of sleep overcome them. There they rested in each others arms at last.

                                                                                                            ~***~

            *Phew* I never thought I'd finish this chapter! I kept getting stuck, and I sort of made it up as I went along ^^; Hope you enjoyed it! I'm fairly satisfied with this one, so I hope it's as good as I think it is. Remember, if you want to see more, reviews do inspire me to keep updating sooner J. Until then…