I woke slowly, still clutching his body to mine. Eyes still closed, I breathed deeply, taking in his scent and his being. How I wished we could always be that way.

How I wish we could be that way again.

I moved one hand up his back, the loose cloth of his open shirt sliding over my fingers. He was so soft, so fragile. And he was mine. "Riku." I whispered softly near his ear, my breath causing him to stir slightly. He sighed and I felt his hands trail along my shoulder blades and down my back, resting on my hips.

"Hey" He said quietly, his sleepy eyes meeting mine in a peaceful gaze. It was so nice to trust someone so much that I could sleep with them. Our relationship now stemmed beyond trust and friendship, this had to be love. It just /had/ to be. To be this close, to feel this wa-

"Hey yourself."

"AH!" I sat straight up, dropping Riku a bit roughly. I saw Kairi sitting next to us laughing. How long had she been there? "Shit, Kairi! Don't do that!"

"Nyah, I'll do what I want." She smiled and stuck out her tongue.

Riku sat up and rubbed the back of his head. I must've dropped him harder than I thought. "What's going on? Oh." He noted Kairi's presence. "Kairi."

"Riku." She replied casually. I had noticed a lot of tension between them since Kairi and I had kissed about a month before. Even though we'd decided that it wasn't right for us to be together, word spread quickly. That first week, they looked like they /hated/ each other. At least they could acknowledge the other's presence now. Heh, I knew Riku could get jealous, but I'd never thought he'd get that mad at Kairi for something she regretted doing.

"Would you guys stop it?" I shot them both pleading glances. "I'm getting sick of this. You two have been fighting for over a month now and I'm stuck in the middle. It's driving me crazy."

"We're not fighting." Kairi stated matter-of-factly. "I'm just waiting for him to apologize." She motioned to Riku.

"Me? What about you! What about what you did!" He looked at her incredulously.

"What /I/ did? Hey, you hadn't claimed him! As far as I was concerned, he was fair game. Put a label on him next time so I know before I offend you, your highness." She glared at him.

Riku scowled at her. He really had no reason to be mad. She was right; there had been no reason for her not to kiss me. I was single, and we had been flirting for a long time. Our kiss wasn't really planned, it just kind of happened. We both felt awkward after that and agreed it wasn't right. I guess Tidus or someone saw us kiss and told the others. When Riku found out, there was a definite change in the mood of the island. And I had been stuck in the middle.

"I just want you to apologize for what you said." Kairi stared at him.

My eyes widened as I looked over to him. "What did you say?"

He pulled his knees up to his chest and looked away from us. "I said... Certain things to her. ...Called her a name. I didn't really mean it. Well, not now. I might've meant it then. I just... Got jealous."

"You can't be jealous of something you don't have." She crossed her arms. "Though it looks like you have him now." She glanced over at me and half- smiled, but scowled once she had Riku in her cross hairs again. "I just want you to say you're sorry. I don't care that you have him now. In fact, I'm glad. When we kissed, he told me that it didn't feel right to him, like he was supposed to be with someone else. I'm just gonna take a wild stab here and assume that someone else is you."

He looked back over to her, resting his chin on his knees. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Kairi. I'll try not to let my 'jealousy' interfere with my judgement anymore. Just as long as you don't kiss him /now/, then we're cool." He smiled at her, though a bit half- heartedly.

Kairi uncrossed her arms and smiled at him. "Apology accepted. Was that so hard?" She laughed. "I'm glad you're together, really. I always thought there was something behind those friendly glances. Guess I was right!" She slapped me on the shoulder and stood up. "I assume you two want some 'alone time'?" Riku nodded at her and she laughed again. "Well, you might want to find somewhere more secluded than this. But, then again, the sun's almost set. We should head home."

I noted the darkening sky and stood as well. "Damn, my mom's gonna kill me!" I looked to Riku and grinned at him. "Guess we won't have much time to cherish our relationship. TAKE ME NOW!" I jumped on him and kissed him, then rolled off, laughing at his shocked expression. I sometimes forget how young we were, how young I am even now.

"Damn, Sora, I didn't know you were like that." He stared at me, still wide- eyed, but eventually he burst into laughter as well. "C'mon, let's go home."

The three of us walked to the dock and I noted that only our boats were left. Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka must've gone home hours ago. So why had Kairi stayed? She must've sat there for a while waiting for us to wake up. Well, Kairi's weird like that, I guess.

I was finding it hard to keep my eyes off Riku, making it difficult to row. He had since zipped his shirt back up, its tight fabric showing his muscles flex and relax with every powerful stroke. Must... Look... Away... Aw, why bother? I could row back to the main island in my sleep. But looking at him? Well, I could try.

By the time we docked again, it was dark. The feeble lamplight didn't help much as I stumbled to get out of my small boat. Riku laughed as he pulled me up and into his arms. He kissed me gently and the light played on his face as he spoke. "You're so clumsy sometimes! How will you ever protect me?" He smiled widely and hugged me.

I wanted to protect you...

We waved goodbye to Kairi as she set off in the direction of her house. Riku held out his hand and I took it, intertwining our fingers. "I'll walk you home." He looked so beautiful in the half-light. I smiled appreciatively at him. His parents wouldn't care if he were late. Mine, though...

The walk to my house was total bliss. Just to have him by my side, that warmth only inches away, I could stay like that forever. The deserted streets added to the feeling that we were the only people in the world. When we arrived at the rickety gate to my house, he kissed me quickly one last time and waited until I had shut the door before he left.

"SORA! Do you have /any/ idea what time it is?!" My mother shouted at me. She was sitting in a chair in the living room. Thankfully, she could not see the front gate from there. I mentally smiled at that.

"No, mom. I'm sorry. I fell asleep and didn't realize how late it was 'til Kairi woke us up." I muttered apologetically.

"Who's 'us'?" She looked at me questioningly.

"Huh? Oh, Me an' Riku. We were fighting and I guess it took a lot out of us. Just collapsed right there." I grinned at her.

She smiled at me and hugged me. "You and your fighting. Maybe it wouldn't wear you out so much if you slept at night. Now go on, straight to bed!"

"Yes, mom." I sighed exasperatedly for effect and tromped up the stairs to my bedroom. Once the door was shut, I threw my clothes on the ground and climbed under the covers. For the second night in a row I would dream only of him.

As I have every night since.

+++

Gar, hate my job, hate my job, hate my job. Can barely even write e-mail. .

Anyway, HINT! HIIIIINT about the end of the story at the beginning of this chapter! +highlights it, circles it in red, hops around it pointing, then undoes everything she just did and walks away whistling+ If you know what it is and what it meant, DON'T SAY SO IN YOUR REVIEW! Some people are slower than you are, love, and they'll catch on later when the hints become bigger and more frequent.

Well, I'm off to shoot customers.