Okay…this chapter was going to feature a lemon, but I decided against it. Mainly because I just couldn't bring myself to write it for some reason, but also because I didn't feel like cutting out the graphic part just so this wouldn't be deleted like "ILaH" was about a year ago. I may end up writing a lemon for it before after I finish the story, but I'm not sure yet. I should have a decision by the time I'm done, though…

This chapter is shorter than usual because, like with the chapter with Sora's suicide attempt, I can only go on for so long before things start becoming redundant and stuff, so yeah…

A warning outside the other warnings…this chapter really hasn't been edited yet. I skimmed through it and stuff, but that's about it. You maybe be wondering why. Well…I just finished this chapter 15 minutes ago because I have developed the worst freaking case of writer's block, that's why. I've also been working on some of my other KH fanfics that I want to get posted, so yeah…. Just figured I would warn you that there will probably be plenty of typos and all that jazz in here…::sighs::…

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

WARNINGS: language, lime that borders on lemon…

Disclaimer: The characters and worlds of Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix and Disney…

"…Cause our lips,
Can touch.
And our cheeks,
Can brush.
Our lips can touch,
Here.

Where you are the one, the one,
That lies close to me.
Whispers, "Hello,
I miss you quite terribly."
I fell in love, in love,
With you suddenly.
Now there's no place else,
I could be, but,
Here in your arms…"

—"Here (In Your Arms)" Hellogoodbye…

Chapter Fourteen:
In Your Arms…

I don't know how long Riku and I sat there in our companionable silence. The harsh rain that beat against the window combined with the growing darkness cast by the dying fire lulled me into a near state of unconsciousness. The only thing that kept me awake was Riku's constant shifting. I tried to get up and move away more than once, thinking that I was the cause of his fidgeting, but he would just tighten his arm around my shoulders and hold me closer to him.

Finally, when the silence became too suffocating, I sighed and turned my face so I could look up at him. The way the glowing embers in the fire place danced across his face made him look eerily like the demon that he really was. The sight sent a shiver rippling down my spine. The motion seemed to get his attention, though, as he turned his eyes from the glow in the heart onto my face.

"Riku…," I muttered.

He smiled sadly and dipped his head ever slightly so he could kiss my forehead. I closed my eyes at the gentle gesture, sighing as I opened them and saw that he had turned his attention back onto the heart.

"Riku…," I said a little more persistently this time.

He turned to me with a frown on his face. Though it wasn't an angry frown, it still made me flinch and turn my attention elsewhere, namely the moon outside the window.

"We can't stay like this forever," I whispered.

He uttered a small laugh and turned my face back to his with gentle fingers on my chin. "I thought you said that you wanted to stay like this."

I sighed and dropped my eyes in defeat. "I know, but I didn't say forever. I said just for a little while. Hasn't it been a little while yet?"

Another quiet laugh made me move my eyes back up to his face. His eyes widened noticeably and a frown formed on his lips when he looked at my face. He reached forward and wiped my cheeks with his thumbs, but soon replaced his fingers with his lips, kissing away tears I hadn't even realized I had been crying.

"What's going to come of us now that I remember?" I muttered once we had settled back down into our previous positions.

He tightened his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. "I'm not sure, but we're going to make the best of it while we can, okay?"

I nodded, but furrowed my brow. What did he mean by "while we can"? It was almost like he was throwing some dark and dreary foreshadowing onto our relationship. Did he know something that I didn't? I desperately wanted to ask, but I didn't want to make things anymore awkward between us than they already were.

"You're shaking," he stated.

I nodded and wrapped my arms around myself, pulling the throw blanket around my body closer to me in the process. "I'm just cold. Don't worry."

He laughed, and I had enough time to let out a rather undignified yelp as he gathered me in his arms before I was sitting in his lap. Riku wrapped both of his arms around my waist and held me to his chest protectively. I sighed into his embrace and buried my face in his shirt, inhaling his scent.

"I'm not meaning to stall, Sora. I just don't know where to start, you know?" he muttered.

I nodded as I started to draw little circles on his forearm, chuckling as he shivered. "I know. I just want to get it over with. I don't like this…this…awkwardness."

"I know."

And then silence fell again. I sighed quietly. This was beginning to get frustrating. As much as I wanted to avoid the looming conversation, I knew that we were going to be forced to have it sooner or later. Why not get it over with now? It would make things a little easier when it came down to the wire. It wasn't going to be long before Roxas and I were ordered to return to Akari and Riku and Axel to Kurai.

"Do you remember everything?" Riku muttered suddenly, making me jump.

I nodded when I composed myself. "Pretty much. Don't get me wrong, there are still a bunch of black, empty spots lingering around in my mind, but they're very few. Why?"

He shrugged. "I was just wondering," he muttered. "You know that they're going to want you back, right? Especially now that you remember."

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I know. And Kurai is going to want you back, as well."

Riku's arms tensed slightly. The action should have been over with too quickly for me to notice that he had even done anything, but I did notice and it made me frown.

"What's wrong?" I asked, lifting my head so I could look up at him.

He shook his head and smiled softly. I glared.

"Don't lie to me! I know that something's wrong. Now spill!"

Riku sighed and closed his eyes, burying his face in my hair so he could kiss my temple quickly. "We've already been summoned to return by Father."

I started and pulled away from him a bit. "You what? You mean you're going to have to leave? Already?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We don't want to, but there's no way out of it. If Axel and I tried to run, we would be caught for sure. Then, they would most likely torture us both as punishment for trying to escape."

"How long do you have?" I closed my eyes, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Now we only have a week."

I gasped and closed my eyes in an attempt to stem the immediate flow of tears. Unfortunately, it didn't help. My tears welled up behind my eyelids and spilled over, even though I was mentally shouting at them to stop. I felt Riku reaching out to hold me, but I batted his hands away. I wasn't able to keep him away a second time, though, and I shouted against his hold as he pulled me into his lap.

"You can't leave me!" I shouted painfully. "I need you. You can't leave me just because Xemnas wants you back!"

Riku cooed in my ear and ran a gentle hand back through my hair. My sobs were terrible. The sheer force of them made my throat and head ache painfully and my whole body was convulsing in Riku's arms. I clung desperately to the sleeves of Riku's jacket, as if my hold would make it so he could stay with me forever.

When my sobs finally stopped, Riku pressed a kiss to my temple and I situated myself so I was straddling his lap, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck. He shivered slightly when I kissed the skin just below his ear. I chuckled.

"Don't do that, Sora…," he warned.

I chuckled again, but did as he had requested. I knew what would happen if I continued my work on that spot, and I don't think that either of us was ready for it right now. Maybe later, but not now.

"Will you do one thing for me when you and Roxas are summoned?" Riku muttered.

I nodded, frowning slightly in question. "I'll do anything."

He smiled and brushed my hair back out of my face, cupping my cheek in his hand when he was finished. "You're far too compliable. Don't you even what to know what it first?"

I shrugged and nuzzled into his hand. "It doesn't matter. I know that you wouldn't ask me to do something that you knew would hurt me."

Riku laughed quietly and dropped his hand from my face. "Even after everything, you're so damned trusting," he muttered.

I frowned. "And why shouldn't I be? You're not going to send me off on some kind of death mission, are you?" He sighed, and I furrowed my brow, gripping his shoulders. "Are you?!"

He gently pried my fingers away from his arms and twined them with his own, shaking his head. "I want you to run," he muttered. "If Ansem and his lackeys try to get you to return to them, I want you to run away with Roxas and don't look back."

I laughed. "You honestly think that they won't find us? They probably have some sort of tracking device on us or something so they'll know our every move. There's no way in hell that we'll be able to get away from that."

"Okay, fine…" he muttered with a heavy sigh. "If you think that running will be all for naught, then stay here where they most definitely know where you are."

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?" I tried to pull my hands out of his, but he only tightened his grip.

"I don't want to fight with you, Sora," he moaned. "I just don't want you to be caught. Axel and I don't have a choice. We have to go back or else suffer the consequences when Father finally catches up to us. You and Roxas actually have a chance of getting away if you run. You don't want to go back there, do you?"

I shook my head and closed my eyes. Returning to Akari was the last thing that I wanted to do, but how were Roxas and I supposed to run and be expected to get away? Leon had a link with us because he was family, and I was willing to bet that he would tell Ansem where we were if it was ordered by the Source. Why? Maybe he would do it just to piss me off, but I had a feeling that he would do it just so he could save his own skin. It wouldn't be surprising if Leon was threatened with torture or something if he didn't spill.

A gentle kiss to my temple pulled he out of my thoughts. I sighed and leaned against Riku's chest. His heartbeat echoed through my head and matched the pace of my own. Riku untwined our fingers and slipped his arms under the blanket, wrapping them around my waist.

"What are you thinking about?" he whispered.

"I just don't know what to do. I mean, I just woke up yesterday, and now everything is so messed up and…" I sighed. "I just don't know what to do."

He laughed quietly. "Do whatever feels right to you. I should have never asked you to run. It's your decision to make. I can't tell you what to do."

I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck. Riku moved his arms from my waist and ran his fingers lightly up and down my bare spine. A shiver rippled through my body at the sensation. I tried to whisper his name—to tell him to stop because I knew where this was going to go but I wasn't sure if we were ready for it—but all that came out was a strangled half-moan, half-grumble, so I gave up.

Instead, I tilted my head back so I could look him in the eye and gasped quietly. It wasn't the way that his eyes had darkened in lust that had surprised me. No, it was the way his pupils had changed from circles to slits. His eyes had gone from human to the eyes of the creature he really was in less time than I had had to react. He smiled and the small hint of fang that flashed made me whine quietly.

I reached up and held the side of Riku's face gently in my hand. He growled quietly and jerked away from my hand for a second before he relaxed and closed his eyes.

"Riku…," I whispered. "We shouldn't do this."

He opened his eyes, and I was glad to see that they were back to normal. He dipped his face down until his lips were just a breath away from mine. "I know. Do you want to stop?"

I didn't need the time to think about it. I shook my head and gasped at the electric shockwave that coursed through my body when his lips connected with mine. It was like nothing I had ever felt. Even the passionate kisses we had shared before couldn't compare to this. Not even our first time together over a thousand years before could compare.

While our tongues battled for dominance, Riku slid the blanket from my shoulders and I dipped my hands beneath the hem of his shirt so I could pull it away. We broke away long enough for me to pull his shirt over his head. Before the cloth hit the floor, Riku lips were attacking my neck, nipping and sucking along the flesh, gently easing the pain of every bite with his tongue.

"Ri…" I gasped, clamping my hands on his shoulders. "Riku."

He chuckled and stopped his job so he could look up at me. Tears welled up in my eyes when I saw how soft and gentle his gaze was.

"I love you," I whispered.

His eyes widened briefly before a bright and beautiful smile blossomed across his face. Instead of kissing me like I thought he would have, he pulled me to him and held me in a crushing hug. I laughed out loud and let my tears fall when it was too hard to hold them back any longer.

"I've waited so long to hear you say that to me," he said with a sigh and kissed my temple over and over again. "So long. You don't understand. Gods, Sora. I love you too. I love you so much."

I laughed again when he pulled away from me. "I told you when you came to me while I was in my coma."

He smiled and flicked my nose. "That's not the same as being able to hear you say it in the flesh. I was staring to go crazy while you were in the coma, so it could have been anything."

I smiled and ran a hand back through his hair. "You're the most beautiful person I have ever seen. I don't what I ever did to deserve you, but I'm glad that I did it."

Riku laughed and rolled his eyes, batting my hand away. He kissed me gently on the lips, smiling when he pulled away. "You stole my line."

I smiled innocently and shrugged. "Oops. I guess I never thought that you would say something so cliché."

He laughed heartily, throwing his head back. "You are pretty cliché, aren't you?"

"Am not!" I shouted and pushed him over so he fell onto the ground before I sat victoriously on his chest. Yeah, so much for "the mood."

"Fine, fine! You're not cliché. You're…" He paused for a moment before he smiled. "You're just Sora."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "And you dared to call me cliché?" I tutted. "You've got a lot of nerve."

He shrugged and pushed me off his chest with one easy shove. I let out a small yelp as I toppled to the ground. A warm blush ran up the length of my body when he straddled me. The moon shining through the window made his hair look like it was glowing as it hung down around our faces in a curtain. His eyes were small pinpricks of light that bored into mine.

I sighed quietly and cupped his face in a hand, bringing it down to mine so I could kiss him softly. He took over almost instantly and deepened the kiss. One of his hands cupped my face while the other found my free hand and held it above my head.

A quiet whine snuck from my throat when Riku pulled away. He just smiled and slowly rid me of my boxers. I squirmed uncomfortably when he just sat there and stared at me, but then he moved and started to pull off the rest of his clothing and everything was okay again.

Soon after he came back and recaptured my lips, we lost ourselves in the world of passion that comes when two people make love. He was so gentle with me that it made me cry. I was afraid that he was going to forget that I was still a virgin in life, but he seemed to keep that fact at the front of his mind the entire time.

I came to my release, screaming his name, and fell slack. Riku threw his head back soon after and reached his own release with a loud groan before he collapsed on top of me.

We laid in silence for a while afterwards, basking in the afterglow of our second time together. It was hard to believe that in more than a thousand years we had only been able to be together in such a passionate way, but it was the truth and it was beautiful.

When Riku rolled to the side, he pulled me with him and held me tight in his arms, ignoring the sweaty and sticky mess that covered out bodies. He kissed the top of my head gently and ran a hand through my hair my hair through my hair in long, even strokes. I mewled quietly and snuggled into the warmth of his chest.

"I love you, Riku," I muttered quietly, my voice slurred with exhaustion. "And I can't thank you enough. You have no idea how much you've done for me. It's just so…"

His laugh interrupted me and he kissed my head again. "Go to sleep, Sora," he whispered. "We can talk more in the morning."

He didn't have to tell me twice.

TBC…
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A/N: This is much shorter than I anticipated…::sighs::… Oh, well. I dunno if I like the ending or not. Either way, it works and it's something, right? ::sighs:: I hope you all enjoyed it at least a smidge…

Only two more chapters left!! ::cries:: It makes me sad, but I'm really looking forward to that break. It may end up lasting longer than a month, seeing that when it'll come time for me to post again is when finals are, so yeah… Plus I'm gonna be spending a week away from writing with my ku, though I'm gonna have to guard my computer good so she can sneak any peeks. Hehe… ::glomps ku::…

Anyway…I apologize for any typos and stuff in this chapter. This was just finished and I wanted to get it posted on time, even though it's technically a little bit late, but whatever…

Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter!! ::hugs:: You all are great and I love you bunches!! Thanks so much for you support!!…