A/N: Chapter numero... eight. Yeah, I guess you can say that stuff does happen in this chapter, and, what's more, you slash-seekers will soon be happy! The main plot doesn't move too much in this installment, but... Well, what am I saying? Read and find out for yourself! Enjoy!

-mo

...

The dark curtain of night had fallen when Sam and Ralph finally reached Castle Rock. Unable to carry the dead weight of the bodies up the steep and precarious cliffs, the boys had left the corpses of Henry and Johnny a few yards away from where the rocky ascension began.

Jack was eagerly awaiting the return of Ralph, and as soon as he saw the him and Sam walking toward the overhang, the chief sprang out, dancing excitedly. "Ralph! Ralph! You'll never believe what I found!"

"Jack." Ralph's voice was deadpan and serious, but the other boy didn't seem to take any notice.

"You've got to see it..."

"Jack."

"A waterfall in the jungle! You'd never imagine how wizard it is!"

"Jack, shut up." Ralph placed his hands on the other boy's bare shoulders, in an effort to quell his jumpiness.

"What is it?" Jack asked with a bit of annoyance, although he didn't shrug off Ralph's grasp.

"We found Johnny and Henry."

"Oh, good. Tomorrow morning I've got to show..."

Ralph frowned. "They're dead."

An uncomfortable silence stretched between the two boys, and Jack looked away, pretending to take interest in a small campfire blazing several feet from where they stood. "I... I..." He turned back to Ralph. "You didn't bury them, did you?"

"No, not yet."

"Take me to them, then." Jack glanced to Sam. "Keep a lookout on my cave. If you see Roger tell him to find me."

"But..." Sam protested.

"I'm your chief," the older boy growled, and seized a wooden spear. Jack turned back to Ralph. "Take me there." Carefully stepping down the rocky path, Ralph and Jack arrived at the foot of the granite outcrop. The bodies of the littluns were resting on the ground, hidden amongst the bushes and creepers and dead leaf matter. Jack knelt in the damp soil, and squinted through the darkness as he examined the dead boys. "Bloody hell," he murmured, not able to look away from the death that sprawled out in front of him. "Looks just like what happened to Eric. Were they here when you found them?"

Ralph shook his head. "No, Sam and I found them in the same place where you and I found Eric."

"Then it's the same guy," the chief decided, standing again. "Think it's Roger?"

Ralph nodded. "I can't think of anyone else."

"I wonder why he does it now, all of a sudden." Jack sighed, and glanced past the treetops to the dark sky above. Moonlight was peering out from behind the thinner cloud cover, bathing everything in an eerie, silver hue. "What should we do about it?"

"Why are you asking me? You're the chief."

There was more silence, and Jack frowned. "I... God, Ralph, you know I can't make these decisions! I don't care if I'm chief or not, it's obvious that you're the more rational of the two of us!" He stared intently at the dark jungle growth, the organic blackness that the light of the moon could not penetrate. "Seriously, Ralph. What do you think I should do?"

"Learn how to make decisions," the older boy scowled, turning his back to the chief. "It's what being a leader is all about."

"You don't say," Jack grumbled.

"Listen to me, Jack!" Ralph faced the other boy once more, his arms crossed over his chest. "Do you light a fire for rescue or waltz through the jungle hunting pigs? Form a search party for a missing boy or have a little crusade through the wilderness to find a waterfall?"

"That's not the point!" Jack insisted, dropping the spear to the ground, afraid that he might use it on accident. "That stuff has passed already, there's nothing we can do about it now. What matters is Roger and what should I do about it?"

"Now you're getting somewhere," the fair-haired boy said, facing away from Jack again, toward the navy ocean, where points of starlight hung overhead like frozen diamonds. "What do you want to do, Jack? Do you want Roger to come down here and risk confrontation? Do you want to bury the bodies, and ask him about it in the morning? Do you want to keep it quiet, for now? It's up to you. You're the bloody chief and you make the bloody decisions! That's what you're supposed to do!"

Jack scratched his chin and stared at the bare back of the boy in front of him. The moonlight was hitting his spine, giving his shoulder blades the affect as if they were protruding farther than they were supposed to, as if Ralph was severely malnourished. This, of course, wasn't the case, Jack knew; Ralph was one of the most healthy boys on the island, if not the healthiest. He was fit and strong and his skin was golden and tanned, and in the daylight he didn't look nearly as ghastly as he did by the glow of the moon. Jack shuddered. "I... I guess we'll bury them now, ask questions later, and keep it quiet from the rest of the tribe."

"Very well then," Ralph responded, keeping his eyes focused on the sea. "You know that the boys are already very suspicious of what's going on. This could be the last straw."

"It won't be," Jack murmured, approaching the former chief. "They'll shut up about it in a day or two's time. Just wait." He extended a hand and let it rest on one of Ralph's shoulders. Jack had been expecting the skin to be hot, or at the very least warm, but was surprised to feel a certain chilliness at his fingertips. "I... Ralph... God, you're freezing! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," the boy replied, shuddering slightly under the chief's touch. "It's just kind of cold out, that's all."

Jack let his other hand rest on Ralph's other shoulder, and for a long, unbearable span of time, there was a heavy, awkward silence. At last, "Turn around and face me, Ralph."

"No."

"I'm your chief."

The older boy did comply, and as Jack lifted his hands a few inches from his shoulders, Ralph rotated so that he was looking directly into the chief's eyes. Immediately, the hands were back down on his shoulders, gripping them tightly, and Ralph grumbled, "What the hell do you want?"

The red-haired boy hadn't prepared himself for this, or for anything, for that matter, and he stuttered, his icy blue eyes misting a little. "I... I... I don't know. Maybe I'm just being stupid. Don't listen to me. Let's just bury the bodies." His voice soon trailed off into an inaudible whisper. Jack looked down, breaking the stare with Ralph, and found the damp, earthy soil to be far more interesting.

"Alright, Jack. Let's do it."

...

An immeasurable amount of time passed before Ralph and Jack had finished burying the bodies. Ralph himself wasn't wholly satisfied with the decision that the chief had made; it was twice, now, that the evidence of Roger's cruelty had been hidden forever. In the end, however, perhaps it had been the right choice, the fair-haired boy considered. He knew that a standoff with Roger in the dark would mean suicide, and it was something that Ralph knew that he and Jack had to avoid. But three strikes and you're out? the former chief thought to himself. In baseball, it's alright, but when we're talking about the lives of boys...

He forced himself to forget about the future consequences, no matter how foolish a thing it was to do, and followed Jack back up the steep, rocky path. There were groups of boys, ever-dwindling in number, seated about small fires, their faces lit with an orangey glow; suspicion, worry, and fear were written all over their expressions. Smoke, invisible in the night, billowed into the dark sky, detectable only when an updraft blew it into one's eyes or mouth.

Jack groaned. "Look at them. They know something's wrong."

"They look more serious than soldiers on the eve of war."

"Should I tell them?"

For once, Ralph found himself making a decision for Jack. "No, not now, not at night. They'll get nightmares! Wait until morning, or tomorrow afternoon, when the sun is high and there's no fear of what can't be seen in the dark." Ralph glanced about the granite boulders. "Where's Roger?"

"Haven't seen him for a couple of days now." Jack followed Ralph into the little cave, and he sat down on the hard, cold rock. "I'm assuming he's left the tribe. He's knows we're on to him."

"Has he taken anybody with him?"

The chief shook his head. "No, not yet, anyway."

"Where's Sam?!" Ralph found himself to be worried, all of a sudden, and not for an invalid reason. "Have you seen him since we returned?"

"Yeah," Jack muttered, motioning out the mouth of the cave with his thumb. "He's at a campfire with Percival and some of the other littluns. Protecting them, I guess."

"Good." Ralph hugged his knees to his chest, shivering slightly. The temperature was dropping as what he thought to be a rainy season was finally coming round. He sighed, shot a sidelong glance to Jack, and muttered, "What happened tonight, Jack? What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"Yeah."

Jack frowned. "I'll tell you what's wrong with me, Ralph. I miss human contact. I miss feelings. I miss emotions and love and everything that we had back home." He picked up a small twig and dragged it against the hard, rocky floor, sharpening its end in his quiet frustration. "I miss the feeling of being wanted."

Ralph narrowed his eyes, wanting to say something, but not sure of what. "I..." He focused on a faraway campfire, then let his eyes wander to the stars that were spangled across the inky sky. The wonder of seeing more stars than he had ever seen back in London had long since worn off, and now the brilliant constellations were commonplace. "I know what you mean."

"I don't know..."

"What you mean?"

"No," Jack grumbled, a faraway look in his eyes. "I don't know if you know what I mean." He relayed the sentence in his head and let out a boyish giggle when he realized that it didn't make much sense. "You understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Ralph said, his lips turning into a thin smile. "But I really do think I know what you're saying."

Feeling adventurous, Jack extended an arm, and with it he encircled Ralph's shivering body. "You need to warm up," the chief muttered, and he gave the other boy a kind smile. "Why don't you join Sam around that fire over there?"

Ralph had to admit, the familiar reddish glow of the blaze did look inviting, but there was something so much warmer about Jack's touch, something that fire could never mimic. He leaned into the other boy a little, thankful to have shelter from the cold, and thankful that finally he and the chief had made amends.

...

"So what were you babbling about last night, about a waterfall in the woods?"

Jack laughed gaily and quickened his pace through the jungle. "It's wizard, Ralph. I can't believe no one had discovered it yet." He pushed a creeper out of his face and struggled to keep his balance; the two boys were walking along the mushy banks of the stream, heading to its presumed source. "It's like... like something from a movie or a book. Like what you'd find at an oasis."

Ralph rolled his eyes and kept silent as he followed the other boy. He was sure that Jack was embellishing his story, crafting it into more of a tall tale than a factual experience. Finally, "So how far are we from this waterfall of yours?"

"Not far at all!" Jack insisted, grinning widely. "It's just upstream a little farther." Abruptly, he stopped talking and came to a halt. A moment later, "See? You hear that?"

Sure enough, much to Ralph's surprise, there was the faraway falling of water. "Is it big?"

Jack shrugged. "Kinda. I mean, it's tall, but it's more like a spout of water than a sheet. You'll see." He and Ralph continued to walk. When the land along the banks of the creek became too unstable and choked with undergrowth, they jumped into the water and walked against the current. It was cold and refreshing, and after a few moments passed, Jack pointed ahead. "See?"

Ralph saw it, through the dense leaves and creepers. White water pouring from the pink, mossy rocks, cascading into an otherwise tranquil pool surrounded by reeds and palms. "Wacco!" He moved ahead of Jack, wading as fast as he could through the water that rose to his waist. "How did we ever miss this?"

Jack came up behind him. "I have no idea."

His dark eyes following the gauzy, flitting form of a tropical butterfly, Ralph allowed himself to relax. He waded into the pool, its revitalizing water feeling so good against his bruised, sunburned, and mosquito-bitten skin. "I could spend a whole day here, just looking at this." Ralph extended a hand into the spout of falling water, and when it deflected off his fingers and splashed into his face, he laughed, as if he were still a small, innocent child.

"It's a good thing that this didn't get burned by the fire," Jack said casually; the purpose of the fire -- to chase out Ralph so that the tribe could kill him -- had been long forgotten. He stooped into the calm water and lifted a polished, round stone -- it was pink, just like the rock that the island was made up of. "What do you think? Incredible, huh?"

"It really is." Ralph took his hand out from under the spout; it was red and bruised from the constant battering of the falling water, but at the same time, the boy felt like he was renewed, refreshed. Like a massage. "Thanks for taking me here and not keeping it a secret." Ralph paused, looking into the blueness above, and added with a tinge of guilt, "Sorry I was so rude last night, when you were trying to tell me about it."

"It's okay," Jack muttered. "You had more important things to say. More important than this waterfall." His voice trailed off before the sentence ended, but it didn't matter. Jack's thoughts were dwelling somewhere else, once again, like they always did when he found himself and Ralph to be alone. The other boy's eyes were focused on a large, brightly-colored bird that was perched on a low tree branch, oblivious to Jack as he drew nearer. His reflexes just as quick as they were when he was hunting, Jack drew Ralph into an embrace, and, in a gesture that broke all the taboos and social laws back home in England, he planted a hesitant kiss on the older boy's lips.

...

A/N: Yay! A kiss! But how will Ralph react? Mwaha. I am leaving you on a cliffhanger, but don't fret! Chapter nine should arrive this weekend! Have a great week, everyone! Do your civic duty and leave a little bit of feedback! Thanks for reading and hang in there...

-mo