Dare You to Live

By ElveNDestiNy

A/N: Based on the handful of reviews, I don't think that many people are interested in this, so I might shorten it so I can finish it more quickly. I know people ask why the popularity of this story matters at all and usually it doesn't as much, but the thing is, I never planned to write this story. I have other interests that more people share and when I see how excited they get about my writing, it makes me want to write more for them. So, since I put a lot into this story, it's all the more depressing when I get little response.

To all the people who have reviewed, thank you. Even if it's just a 'nice story' or 'please continue,' it makes me feel better about using my time for this instead of other things.

- Release -

Something had eased the tension between them, something that might have been due to Dark's conscious effort after he had realized how sick Riku had been, or might have not. Either way, Riku felt as if some heavy pressure on her shoulders had lifted so she could breathe more easily.

She slept the rest of the afternoon away, more from avoidance of life than any need for rest. The worst of it was over and usually she pushed herself to recovery, unwilling to spend any extra moment dwelling on her sickness, but this time she didn't. Of course, the nightmares were still as vivid as before and she woke twice from them, gasping and struggling to control herself.

Riku couldn't scream because he was there, and she couldn't cry because he was there. Dark sat in a chair beside her bed as if she were a patient in need of care, and because she didn't know what to do about it, she let him stay. She didn't know what he was doing, but each time she had woken up, he had been awake too, and looking at her. She focused on his presence to remind herself why she couldn't afford to be weak, but his seeming concern unnerved her.

It had been a very long time since there had been anyone to look at her. Her parents had never cared outside of duty, and the one person she had thought cared, Daisuke, had stopped. Her friends had cared about her, but after the accident, it had just been a matter of time until the calls and invitations stopped, and Riku couldn't blame them. The person they had thought they had known had disappeared.

It was dark when she finally woke up and realized that she was definitely well enough to be hungry. That in itself was surprising; she couldn't remember the last time she had any appetite at all. It was dark and quiet in the room so she slid out of bed and went to draw open the curtain, illuminating the room with moonlight.

Riku had assumed that Dark would have left, at least to eat, since he had been with her since the afternoon. Instead, she found him curled up in the chair sleeping, wings positioned around him protectively.

She drew in a deep breath, feeling as if something had changed and wondering why her chest felt tight. She had never seen him look defenseless like that, not in the role that he had assumed of the phantom thief, but just like herself. The expression on his face was gentle and she wondered if he dreamed. Riku hesitated, trying not to think too much about what complicated emotions he stirred in her heart just by being there. He had to be hungry.

"Dark…?" When he didn't at stir at first, she reached out to touch his shoulder, but found herself staring into alert violet eyes.

She had meant to ask him whether he wanted food, but found herself speechless at the complete change that had come over him, a shimmering tension that made her anxious.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, looking around the room, and then at her. The direct stare made her realize that she had just been staring, and Riku was flustered all over again.

"No, nothing like that. I guess—I shouldn't have woken you. But I wanted to ask if you were hungry."

Dark looked at her for a moment, and then started laughing. Riku stared at him incredulously, but the sound was beautiful and before she realized it, she was smiling as well.

"Well, it depends on what you have to feed me," he replied finally, the slight sense of laughter still edging his voice.

She raised her eyebrows at his challenge, but simply shrugged. "Are you coming or not?"

He followed her to the kitchen, where he leaned against the wall and watched as she pulled out the simple ingredients for omuraisu, the Japanese-styled western omelet with rice. For a moment she wondered if he was thinking of Risa, but the thought was strangely without bitterness. Riku remembered her twin's failed experiments in this very kitchen, but it only brought a sad smile to her face, missing the sharp edge of pain that was always there before. Perhaps it was because she knew without ever looking at Dark that she was not the only one thinking of these memories.

When she was done, she sat down at the table with Dark, looking down at the comforting combination of softly cooked omelet, wrapped around the sweet ketchup-flavored rice. She had added tiny bits of chicken to give the simple meal a little more substance. They said their thanks together and then without even being aware of it, Riku found herself looking anxiously at Dark, wondering if he would like it. It had also been a long time since she had cooked for anyone.

"What is this?" Dark asked curiously, much to her surprise, but before she had even opened her mouth to tell him, he promptly took a bite. His eyes widened and Riku bit her lip, wondering if he was about to offer scathing criticism, or even worse, polite but forced praise. In few moments, however, after he chewed and swallowed, he turned to her with a wide smile. "It's good!"

A half-dozen retorts sprang to her mind at that, especially over the fact that he hadn't seemed to have ever had such a common dish, but Riku settled for simply nodding. A warm feeling of relief swept through her despite her reluctance to admit to herself that his opinion had mattered to her. "I'm glad you like it," she said and when she ate, the flavor seemed even better just from his enthusiasm.

"Let's go somewhere," Dark suggested after he had finished – he ate startlingly quickly, but then again, he was male. Riku cut her omelet into the last few bites, wondering at his sudden proposal. "You haven't gone anywhere since you've come back, right?"

"No," she answered slowly, feeling his concentration on her. "I don't know…I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Although his question was challenging, he seemed to think of something and became unusually subdued. Looking at him, Riku guessed what he was wondering, and his next question confirmed it. "Are you still feeling sick?"

"No, of course not," she hastened to assure him. He cocked his head, asking again without words. "It's just… Well, it's so late at night, where would we go, anyway?"

Even to her own ears, the excuse sounded as if it were exactly that. "You can't stay locked up in this house all the time," he said, the smallest hint of frustration edging his voice. "Riku, I just want you to live a little. To know that there's more to life than existence and all the pain, all the sorrow."

"Is there?" she asked, just as he said, "I want to be the one to show you."

The silence after their overlapping voices was all the more profound. He looked as if she rejected him, and she wished she could have taken back the two simple words that had just slipped out of her. "Dark—"

"Never mind," he interrupted. "You should probably rest, anyway." Dark ran a hand through his unruly hair and she almost wanted to touch him, to siphon off some of the anger that she sensed. The impulse was unexpected.

"Why are you angry?" Somehow Riku couldn't let it go like she usually did. "Are you angry at me?"

"No, Riku. I'm angry for you; I'm angry that this world is so hurtful to you, and you just bear it without ever seeing the other side, the beauty that it can also offer." Dark stood up and went to wash the dishes as she absorbed his words, a little stunned.

Finally, Riku stood up as well and faced him, watching his quick, economical movements from the side. It seemed oddly mundane, the whole scene of it – Dark in a kitchen, with plates in his hand, and yet it made her feel strange, just as his words did. What did he mean by them? More importantly, why did he always act as if he cared so much?

"Let's go," she said when he was done. "I don't care where."

Riku could tell that she had surprised him, but he studied her with unfathomable eyes, and simply nodded in the end. "We'll go out to the sea, get some air."

The protests her mind immediately thought of died on her lips, although Riku could not imagine going out to the sea at night, in the darkness. Instead, she went to change into more suitable clothing and pulled on one of her thicker jackets. Dark told her he wanted to pick up some things and then disappeared.

When she came down dressed, he still wasn't back so she waited. If the house seemed to big and empty without her twin, it seemed even more so now. She had gotten used to the presence of him, however much she felt it was an irritant. Dark finally returned, carrying an oblong shaped bag slung across his shoulder by a thick strap, as if it were some kind of equipment.

"I'm ready," she said to him, and he smiled.

At night the sea was wild and almost a little frightening in its untamed power, made more potent by the fact that it was veiled in darkness. Still, Riku liked it—she even liked the darkness, because all her senses narrowed to her hearing, and the sound of the waves was soothing. The stars above seemed clearer because of the darkness of the water, where no human lights could penetrate. Here, on the edge of a vast expanse of land and water, Riku could almost feel as if no one else existed but herself and Dark. Fancifully, she let herself compare it to the person beside her, and wondered why she felt as if Dark's heart was as obscure and constant, and yet endlessly changing, as the sea.

If Dark was entertaining such similar thoughts, he didn't show it. Instead, he finally set down the bag he carried. As she looked toward the sky she could almost feel him taking deep breaths of the salt-flavored wind, icy against their faces. The cold that made her shiver also seemed to energize her, though. Riku would have expected to feel numb from it, but instead it only made her self-aware in some way, because of its contrast with the warmth of her body.

"What is it?" she asked, unable to restrain her curiosity in the end when Dark knelt next to the bag. He unzipped it and began to take out an assortment of metal and canvas.

"A kite," Dark answered simply. "Have you ever flown one?"

She had, but not since early childhood. "Can you fly one in the dark?"

"We have such irrational fears of the dark," he said with that too-knowing smile. "But anything can be possible in the dark. Every wish fulfilled, every desire imagined, every dream dreamt."

She didn't know what to say to that, so with cold fingers she helped hold things while he put together the kite, a large silvery mystical creature of some sort, almost like an angel. It was only when it was almost completed that Riku had the nerve to ask.

"If you can fly, how can flying a kite possibly be special for you?"

He laughed at that. "If you can run, why is it such a pleasure to take a stroll sometimes?"

The cold wind was blowing strongly, whipping strands of their hair across their faces. Riku wasn't sure if they would even be able to get the kite up, and indeed, they tried again and again until she was breathless and warm from running along the shore. They left footprints in the sand, which gleamed almost silvery white in the refractions of water and moonlight.

Again and again, and the kite still would not catch the wind properly, and Riku could feel herself growing tired, her limbs slower and breaths heavier… Then she could feel liquid drops slide down her cheeks, turning cold just moments after they were warm, and was surprised to think that they came from her eyes, not the spray of salt water. The sharpness of the disappointment was unwelcome; she hadn't known that she would care so much, and yet, she did.

"There's another way," Dark finally said to her, raising his voice to be heard over the wind and the waves. Before she could ask, he spread open his wings and Riku realized with a shiver what he intended to do.

He could fly the kite up there himself, up into that tumultuous, windy sky. Dark took the kite in both hands, told her to hold the spool of thread, and then began to run. He was ahead of her in just moments and suddenly she couldn't let him go.

"Dark!" Riku sprinted after him, mustering up some hidden source of energy, hands outstretched to stop him. Everything was an odd kind of panic, her heart pounding in her chest as loud as the waves, the wind from his wings buffeting her, and then his wings actually clipping her as she caught as his arm.

Dark turned immediately, drawing his wings in close to his body, and caught her as she stumbled to her knees in front of him, hand still clenched on his arm. "Don't go, Dark! It's not safe," she managed, and felt like a fool for saying it, for hearing her voice shrill and desperate, the note of need so clear.

"Riku—" he said, and she thought he looked at her rather helplessly, probably wondering how he could have ended up with someone half insane. "Riku, it's all right. I'm not leaving you."

She wanted to tell him that he wasn't making any sense, that she had said it wasn't safe and nothing about leaving, but knew that it would've only been a lie. "It's not safe," she repeated.

"I'll show you," he said, and then somehow, not through strength but by some magic, slipped free of her vise-like hold. Her left hand gripped the spool by its wooden center piece, and she felt it spin as the thread unraveled.

Dark took off in a blur, running across the packed sand, skirting close to the edge of the water. For a moment he seemed to hover awkwardly between land and air, and then in the next Riku was concentrating only on letting the string out as Dark drew himself and the kite far, far up into the sky.

Before she even had time to gasp at the force in her hands as the string suddenly drew taut, Dark was already besides her again, steadying her hands with his. She shivered from cold and he let go to step behind her, arms coming around her to hold her and to cradle her hands as she held the string. In moments she could feel the heat of him against her back, his hands warming her cold ones. When they had it under control, when her body had got over its shock and sudden discovery, she finally remembered to look up.

From beneath, the kite was only a silvery dot in the sky, sometimes catching the moonlight and during other times disappearing altogether into the blackness of the sky. As with the ocean, there was something different about flying a kite during darkness that wasn't like any other experience Riku had ever had.

She could not see the string that controlled the kite, so that it would have looked as if it were magically tied to her. At the same time, she could feel the power in its resistance, its struggle to break free. From below, against the dark sky, it looked as if it were a faint silver-white bird flying in the curtain between two worlds.

It was exhilarating. It was, in some strange way, also terrifying. It was the combination of feelings, the way Dark felt as if he were wrapped around her, his presence vital and protective…even the brush of his arms along the sides of her breasts, that made her entire body go simultaneously tense and powerless. He let his wings form a semicircle around them, shielding them slightly from the cold, buffeting winds driven by the ocean. All of it, the thoughts on her mind, the sensations of it, both physical and emotional – all of it combined together in a way that was simply overwhelming.

Riku half turned toward him, still in the circle of his arms but able to look at him, because she needed to see his expression, even if she didn't understand yet why he would do this for her.

"I've always loved kites," she said to him, remembering. "When I was a child, we used to fly them all the time. Once, I was flying my favorite kite alone when the string broke and it flew away, and after that, I stopped. I don't know why, but something about it changed. I didn't feel the joy in it any more."

"And now?" he asked. "Or should I answer for you?"

"Can you?" She wasn't sure if it was her way of testing or another moment of doubt, but he smiled with the confidence that she had so hated and perhaps admired, and Riku finally saw the understanding in it as well.

"Ah… Although the kite is very far away, there is both a sense of certainty and fear," he began. "Because the kite is bound to you by the string held in your hand, but at the same time, should you accidentally let go or if the fragile string should break, then the kite would simply fly away."

Like you? Riku wondered. "What string ties us together, Dark?"

"One that cannot be seen, that can only be felt," he answered. "The red string of fate."

At another time she would have laughed, but something tightened around her heart in her chest, and Riku said nothing at all. He was looking at her thoughtfully. She tried to smile, to pretend as if she was unaffected, but soon found herself lost in those dark eyes with their incredibly beautiful color. She looked away, the abrupt movement freeing the hair that had been tucked behind her ear. It hid his face from her, but she could still sense his gaze.

She looked out blindly at the white-tipped waves, the only part that could be seen in the darkness, and was so intent in fact that the touch of Dark's fingers against her cheekbone caught her completely unaware. She flinched. He pulled his hand back immediately and drew a slight breath. As her hair fell against her face again, she realized that all he'd intended to do was tuck it behind her ear, which she did now herself. She looked at him, trying to offer a rueful smile.

His own expression was carefully blank. He had let go of her and the loss seemed too noticeable, accentuated by the cold. Riku turned around completely to face him and reached up with her hands to cup his face. It wasn't until the thread caught in her fingers that she realized she had let go of the spool of thread.

She felt the thread slide through her fingers as the kite was suddenly released, succumbing to the force of the winds that lifted it higher. Riku grasped frantically for the thin thread, knowing it was too late, knowing it was lost.

But the string somehow drew taut again.

She gasped as her hand closed around the thread, and looked down to see that Dark had caught the spool in his hands and was holding it securely. Riku touched it wonderingly for a moment and then reached up to trace the edge of Dark's chin. She told him her thanks in her touch, for this but also for everything.

"Can I kiss you?" she asked very softly, cheek pressed against his shoulder.

He lowered his head and skimmed his lips across her forehead, a chaste prelude to the hot meeting of their mouths, and then all there was left was the bittersweet taste of love, and the salty remembrance of the cold sea.

A/N: Please review, because…well, I'll be sad if you don't and happy if you do :D