Runaway
chapter 10

Riku sounds terrible. I think he's getting sick again...
And how can I sleep during this? Riku begins to shiver and pulls me closer, and I begin to toy with his hair a bit. He shudders, but doesn't say anything... Everything's going to be okay...

When I wake up it's still dark and rainy. I wonder if it's still nighttime? I reach for my backpack and fish out my watch. Lightning lights up the room, just enough for me to glance at the time. It reads 2:30 AM. What time did we actually get to bed? Or fall asleep? The storm died down a little bit, but not too much.

It's freezing in here. The floor is all wet from the rain and it'll be impossible to fall back asleep. I slide back under the covers -they probably came off while I was sleeping- and turn around. Riku's arm is still around my waist. His eyes are slightly open, so I can't tell if he's sleeping.

"Riku?" I whisper in his ear "Are you awake?" He makes a tired groan and buries his head in my chest. I wrap my arms around him as I try to fall back asleep. It's too noisy...and, I admit, I'm kind of scared. What if the police are still here after all? What if something else bad happens? Like lightning hits this place? ...What will Riku do if he wakes up with us all cuddled up like this? Would he get angry? I mean, he started it, he put his arm around ME first. I let out a large breath, though it's impossible to hear over the rain and wind and thunder. It's a wonder we ever fell asleep in the first place. I move one arm under his neck, and rest my other hand on his hip. I feel something poking out of his pocket... It's the pictures!

How did I forget? I can look at them now! ...But what it Riku catches me? I want to see them so bad but I want Riku to trust me!

...I won't look at them yet, when Riku says no, I guess that will just have to mean no. (For now at least.)

Now I can't get my mind off the cold. That's when it occurs to me I'm still only in my boxers. Hey, at least my face is warm now... I pull the covers over my head, making everything pitch black, besides the occasional lightning bolt. Riku's face is warm and soft against my skin. I hold him tighter and drift back to sleep...

I wake up again at 5:45. Riku's now curled up in a ball, but still pressed against me. Not that we really have much space to move around... But he's really cute. I can at least tell the sum is rising, even though it's still somewhat dark and it's still raining. Just sprinkling now. It's nice and peaceful now. (And speaking of peaceful!) Riku looks really peaceful for once. Most of his hair is covering his face, his lips are slightly parted and I can hear him breathing. I push his hair behind his ear, carefully, so I don't wake him. He groans and turns, but doesn't open his eyes. I lay down and close my eyes for a moment.

Next thing I know Riku's shaking me and telling me to get up.

"Five more minutes..." I mutter rolling on my stomach. He blows out a large breath.

"If you don't get upright now I'll leave anyway. It's seven and I thought I heard the police." ...That does it. I shoot up from the bed so fast I feel dizzy now...

"I should probably change your bandages before we leave..." Riku murmurs.

"Okay." But aren't we supposed to be going?

"Sit down." He orders. I obey. This feel weird though, I'm just hoping he won't start ordering me around more than he does now. He quickly rips off the bandage on my left arm,

"Ow!"

"Quiet!"

And pokes and rubs at the bruises before putting on a new bandage. He does the same with my other arm and stomach before pushing up the legs of my boxers and changes the bandages on my legs. Holy crap. Too much physical contact now...

"Hey?" Riku flicks my head. "Get your clothes on." Another command from "master Riku". I roll my eyes and, once again, do exactly as he says.

He slides the bed out of the way to the door and cautiously checks to make sure no one else is here and leads me out.

"Hurry up." Riku snaps, already ahead of me. "We need to get going." Soon enough we're out of the hotel/restaurant. Seeing the restaurant again was very creepy, the tables were overturned and the door was blown open... It's still sprinkling. The ground is muddy and there's junk all over the ground. It's hard running, so we just walk. I'm right behind him, I just hope he doesn't suddenly stop walking.

And of course that's when he just suddenly stops. He grabs his stomach and starts breathing hard. Is he still sick! This is unbelievable! It feels like he's been sick forever...

"Riku?" I ask quietly.

"Let's go." He growls.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"...No, really."

He snorts. "No, really," He says mockingly and walks faster.

"Riku?" I ask, sounding more whiney than I should've. "Please STOP! I'm really worried about you--"

"Shut up." He says simply.

We still hurry to get as far away from that hotel as we can. I have to wait for Riku every now and then, but that's fine with me. We haven't heard the police in a while, though I'm beginning to think Riku made that up.

"Are we far enough, Riku?" He shrugs.

"Probably." He pauses. "It doesn't mean we can just get lazy, the police have cars and can catch up easily, even through the mud or flooded roads..."

"...I like getting lazy."

"Tough."

I'm really bored already. How has Riku been able to do this every day for two years without going completely mad? ...He doesn't seen exactly sane, either.

"Riku? Are you at least feeling better than yesterday?" I'm not even sure anymore if I really mean it or if I'm only asking to bug him. Riku runs his fingers through his tangled hair before responding, "If you ask me how I'm feeling one more time, I will rip out your tongue, step on it and shove it down your shorts." He sounds serious, so I won't make a joke about it.

After about thirty minutes I speak up again, this time completely serious. "Do you trust me?" A few seconds pass and he doesn't say anything. I know he heard me, but he pretends he didn't so he can get out of answering. I know that means he doesn't trust me at all. You'll have to eventually, Riku...

It's kind of nice actually spending two days in the same place. We're in a busy part of this town now, and I can tell Riku's getting nervous. He looks like he's trying t make him self look smaller, but I'm surprised people aren't staring at him wonder what's the heck he's doing. I for one am glad there are a lot of people, if the police do catch up, (if they're not already long gone that is) it'll be harder to find us.

Eventually we reach a more quiet, sleepy part of town. Not as many people here. Riku really likes these type of places, he looks so much less nervous. I don't blame him, I'd hate people too if I had to go through what he did...

"Riku..?" He looks up. "What can I do to make you trust me?" He snorts and rolls his eyes. "I mean, there has to be some way!" I speak a bit faster, so he won't interrupt me by telling me to shut up again. "Like...in fourth grade. You see, an activity we had in PE was that we had to get a partner and one of us would be blindfolded and the other would lead the blindfolded partner so they wouldn't crash into a wall or anything." I think I might have said that too fast, but he looks intrigued now so I keep going. "We could always try something like that. Not exactly like that but, you know, just something to prove I won't hurt you." It takes him a moment to respond.

"I don't need you." Oh no. This is going to lead to him getting real angry and yelling at me. "I don't need help." He turns to look at me but keeps walking. "I don't need help, don't need 'emotional support', or any of this crap you're feeding me and I don't need someone to 'lead me around'--" And he crashes into a wall. Well... apparently he DOES need me to help lead him around. "Riku, are you okay?" I ask, trying not to laugh, but it doesn't work. I burst out laughing, knowing Riku can't be too happy about it but I can't stop. It's too funny! Riku rubs his cheek and is blushing slightly, I offer a hand but he slaps it away.

"Riku?" He gets up and quickly starts walking. "Riku! Hey!" He' really fast, I have to jog to keep up with him. "Wait up!" We're side by side again. "Riku? I'm sorry I laughed!" His hair is in his face and he refuses to look at me, did I really embarrass him that much? "Oh, come on!"

I let myself fall behind again, I've given up on communicating with Riku. Some times it just feels like his head is just a slab of rock. The more we travel and the more quiet and angsty he gets... sometimes I want to hit him over the head with a brick.

Eventually he speaks up: "I think we can rest a little while now. We're probably safe." We've been safe for a while now. Riku's paranoid. Paranoid and crazy. The police aren't here and they won't find us. I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Riku's paranoia, and I wonder if I'll eventually be like that. Or maybe he really did hear them? I just don't know.

But somehow I kind of like that about him.

We pick a nice, dry spot to rest. I immediately lay down, but Riku waits and sits a distance away from me.

"Are you mad at me?" I ask. He glances a me then shakes his head.

I wonder if anyone back home misses me. Donald and Goofy have to! They're my best friends! And I saw them not too long ago... But what about mom? Does she miss my at all? Have my classmates of teachers thought of me since I ran away? "Riku?" He looks up. "Do you ever miss anything about your home?" He sighs and curls up. He sets his head on his knees and thinks for a moment.

"Why would I miss anything about that place?" he says, surprisingly calm.

"I don't know." I reply shrugging, "But maybe they're something..." I don't even continue.

"Mom." He suddenly says.

"What?"

"Mom. And my seventh grade teacher, I guess. They were the only two people who didn't treat me like a reject." I open my mouth to say something, but he cuts me off.

"Let's go." And once again, we're off.

It's not very busy here, but it's also not empty. Some people stare at us as they pass by, and I don't blame them.

We pass by a diner, which luckily looks less dumpy than most of the other stores or restaurants here. There haven't even been fast food places, which means no breakfast, probably no lunch, but hopefully dinner.

"Riku?" I ask carefully. "I'm thirsty...can we get water of something from the diner?" He stops walking and eyes the building.

"We'll see how much a bottle will cost."

"Okay."

So we look through the windows to check to see how many people are here, not many, and walk in. There's a metal bucket filled with ice and water bottles. We walk up to the counter and he nudges me forward.

"Ask how much it costs." he mutters.

"How much does it cost?" I ask, he slaps his forehead.

"How much does what cost?" Asks the man at the counter.

"The water bottles?"

"oh," He reaches under the counter and pulls out a sign and places it in front of the bucket. $1.50.

"$1.50" He reads it off for us.

"Just for water? That's crazy...we can't afford--" I feel Riku glaring at me behind my back. I glance at him and...lo and behold he is.

"...Nevermind." Riku says, and says to me, quieter. "Let's go." The man behind the counter looks at Riku for a moment before speaking.

"No, just take it..." And he slides two water bottles toward us. "Free." I look at Riku and grin while taking one, but Riku hesitates. "Go ahead," He urges. Riku takes it a stuffs it in his bag.

"Let's go." He says quietly, nearly whispering.

"Why?" I say, just as quietly.

"Because..." He points out the window. ...Riku was right. He did hear the police. They're getting out of their car and starting to walk toward the door.

Oh. My. God. "What do we do!" I ask, a little too loud, earning an odd look from the man behind the counter, and one or two people eating.

"Come on." Says the man, leading us behind the counter and near the back of the store.

"Why are you helping us?" Asks Riku, in a voice just above a whisper. But before the man answers, we hear one of the police.

"Excuse me?" He calls from in front of the counter.

"Don't say a word." The man says before walking to greet the police. Riku holds on to me and I can't even hear him breathing. I rest my head against his chest. It seems like hours, no, days pass before the man comes back telling us it's okay to come out.

"You're telling the truth, right?" Riku asks, pushing me away and standing up.

"Why wouldn't I?" He asks, sounding truly confused.

"Nevermind." Riku replies, shaking his head.

"Thank you." I say as we leave. Riku gets ahead, and the man takes that chance to pull me aside.

"Hey," He says "Take care of Riku. Okay?" I don't question him, I don't ask who the he is or how he knows Riku.

"Thanks again..." I reply as I catch up with Riku. "And I will."

I will.

Ah! Finally done! I had writer's block while I was writing this and then I couldn't get my self to type it up. Then stupid "WhenUsave" Gave my a computer virus and I couldn't work on this in fear of loosing it. Grah. shakes fist I'll get off my lazy butt and get chapters up sooner, I promise. I hope no one looses interest in this... and I think I have Riku's POV ch. 1 already typed up. I need to check though.

R&R please.