Dare You to Live

By ElveNDestiNy

Dedication: To S and C, because we will always be sisters.

- 10: Resolve -

It had been an amateurish attack, Riku finally realized after she had time to rationally assess everything that had happened. The whole incident had been surprising partly because the plan to kidnap her seemed to have been completely botched. After all, why try to attack her in a neighborhood, where anyone could have become a witness for the whole thing? Why try when she clearly hadn't been alone? Why, especially, hadn't her attacker backed off when Dark had begun fighting back?

None of it added up. Even when Riku forced herself to consider the possibility that Risa's death was linked to all this, it still didn't make sense. Risa's death had to have been accidental—there was just no other way to explain it. No one could have predicted that her fall would just so happen to result in a severe brain injury, leading to her coma and ultimately her death.

So what was going on? Riku still had no clue and she was almost more frustrated than she was actually frightened. Riku was also going to be waiting for at least another half hour and she had little other than her thoughts to preoccupy her. It was enough to drive anyone crazy.

She was currently sitting at Dark's desk in his office, waiting for him to finish his meeting with a client. Since Dark had been reluctant to even let her out of her sight—she was alternately touched by his concern and irritated by his determination to be her perfect bodyguard—she had decided to accompany him to his workplace. She felt bad enough monopolizing his time without the added guilt of making him lose business because of it. They were lucky that it was summer and neither of them had classes yet.

Riku had woken up this morning feeling rested for once and without any memory of having had nightmares. She must have fallen asleep before the movie ended and Dark had probably brought her upstairs at some point. Though she had woken up alone, she was sure he had stayed the night with her again, since she could only believe that she was sleeping so well because of his presence.

Despite those intimacies, she was still a little hesitant to use Dark's personal things. His office hardly had any personal touches, but his desk was neatly organized and his computer was clearly top of the line. Still, he had actually given her his password, so Riku turned it on now, trying not to wonder how much someone who dealt with locks and security all the time had to trust her in order to offer her that information. Determined not to snoop through his files, she decided to do an Internet search for articles relating to her twin's death.

Though Risa's accident wasn't the kind of thing that usually made it into newspapers, the fact that it had been a fatal hit and run meant that for a while, at least, there had been a few mentions of it, mostly with pleas for witnesses to come forward. Her parents had also bought many ads offering monetary rewards for information. Some were even still active, though all the previous ones had resulted in unscrupulous people giving false accounts. All of that had only made it worse for Riku, since she had actually been a witness—but she couldn't give a description of what she had seen. She couldn't even tell her parents clearly why their beloved daughter had died. She had failed Risa in so many ways.

Pushing those thoughts away, Riku reminded herself that the important thing now was to figure out the missing link between Risa's accident and the kidnapping attempt yesterday. On the fourth page of her search, something came up that had she had never seen before—an entire website dedicated to Harada Risa.

Her hands cold, Riku quickly clicked on the link, her stomach turning over as she tried to convince herself that one of Risa's friends or ex-boyfriends had decided to make an online memorial for her. The website looked to be fairly basic, though the front page had a picture of Risa. It was medium sized but had high resolution. She recognized it immediately as the one meant to be her twin's high school senior portrait. Risa beamed out at the photographer, lovely and eternally young, the image of her captured just a few months before the accident.

Normally the sight of that picture would have triggered a storm of feelings in Riku, but she was focused on something else now. "Who are you…?" she muttered to herself as she searched the page. There was nothing on who had made the website. If it had been someone who had actually known Risa, they would have left their name, or something, anything.

Riku clicked the links on the navigation frantically, opening up every section in a different browser tab. Aside from that generic photo, which had been used at Risa's funeral and in every article and ad, there were no further graphics. It was all text and most of it was copied from the sources Riku had just seen, a mishmash of the three or four sentence descriptions of her tragic death. Even though there was nothing too out of the ordinary, Riku felt her heart beginning to pound.

There was generic information about Risa's age, a few of her activities, and even quotes from her friends about how sweet she had been—but nothing about how those descriptions had been given in a plea for the hit and run driver to come forward, to give the Harada family closure.

And then in the last section of the navigation, titled "For Harada Risa," there was a personal blog. Riku's eyes flew over the dense chunks of text without really seeing anything but her sister's name repeated over and over, everywhere. Risa, Risa, Risa. It was like Riku couldn't read, or her mind couldn't process the words. It was a man writing all this, that was clear enough, but could Risa have attracted a stalker even after her death?

She scrolled up and forced herself to look again, even though the characters seemed to blur before her eyes. There were five blog entries displayed at a time and after skimming their contents, she realized that there was nothing about Risa having had a twin at all.

But the latest entry was all about the blogger having seen Risa's ghost—and his thoughts on the possibility that Harada Risa hadn't died at all.

"Thank you for meeting with me today, Tanaka-san," Dark said to museum director as they wrapped up the consultation. He was a little impatient as they exchanged all the proper things that needed to be said, since he wanted to get back to Riku.

Still, the meeting had gone very well and Dark could tell that his client was more than a little impressed by the full range of services Byakuya Securities could provide. The ironic part was that Tanaka-san was the director for Esuviiru Art Museum in the Tokyo Azumano District. It was the very same museum from which Dark had once stolen the Saint's Tears artwork, back when Daisuke had transformed for the first time. Dark naturally had more than a few suggestions for how security could be improved at the museum, although to be fair, it wasn't like any place was truly off limits to the infamous phantom thief.

But after 300 years, Dark was finally more than a curse contained in the Niwa family's bloodline. Neither he nor Daisuke were dependent on "love genes" and the Niwa DNA anymore, and that had changed everything. While designing impenetrable security wasn't quite as exciting as breaking through security, the former required multiple attempts of the latter, after all. Besides, he technically had never given up his Kaitou Dark persona, though Daisuke had so far been mostly successful in convincing him not to steal anything.

There wasn't quite the same thrill anymore, anyway. Simply stealing things had never been exciting to him; it was all about outwitting everyone else. It was part of the reason why he always sent out the notices beforehand. Plus, he had to be nice to Creepy Bastard now because of Daisuke. Satoshi likewise seemed genuinely fond of him—well, now that the youthful police commander wasn't possessed by the spirit of a certain homicidal blonde angel.

Dark frowned at the thought of Krad, wondering not for the first time whether his counterpart was still suspended in existence, locked away in the Black Wings. He hadn't been lying when he had told Riku that he could understand what it felt like to have your other half suddenly go missing. Dark and Krad, the Niwa and the Hikari legacies…they were legends that endured beyond time and space.

Daisuke's grandfather had been the one to tell Daisuke that being a phantom thief wasn't all about stealing things. Sometimes it was about giving dreams to people who needed them, and Dark was determined to give those dreams back to Riku. She needed to remember just how precious life was, and who better to remind her than someone who'd always been nothing more than a phantom in name and in truth?

He was just about to open the door to his office when the doorknob turned of its own accord. Riku rushed through the open doorway so fast that she stepped on Dark's foot and crashed into him, nearly sending both of them to the floor. Automatically, Dark wrapped his arms around her, steadying both of them.

Her expression was so strange that he knew instantly that something was wrong. He tensed, eyes automatically scanning the empty office as well as the hallway, expecting to see a stranger. "What is it? What happened?"

"Dark, I think… I think he's after me," Riku blurted out, her face pale. "He said that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and he called her an angel—

"Riku, slow down—"

"—and I think he really believes it! He sounds psychotic enough. He thinks by meeting her, he can be absolved of his sins or something—"

"Riku!" Her whole body was trembling. Dark shook her once, hard, and it seemed to snap her back to her senses. She looked up at him and their eyes met. "Who are you talking about?"

"You have to see this," she told him, urgently pulling him into the office. She showed him the website, watching him anxiously as he absorbed the same information that she had. She looked more shaken up than she had right after the attack yesterday; Dark thought that it was probably because the reality of the danger she was in was just starting to all sink in.

"Risa can't be alive." Riku rushed to explain it all, almost choking on the admission. "Dark…I saw her die. I was there. The second time, I mean, not during the accident. Not when she really just…just left. I held her hand but she was already gone even before my parents decided to stop the machines."

Dark's arm came around Riku's thin shoulders, squeezing them in comfort as she let herself consciously remember those moments for the first time since it had happened. Tears glazed her eyes but Riku blinked them away, spine straightening as her mouth set in a grim line. Her grief had found a focus and was transmuting to anger. She watched as Dark went back to the picture of Risa on the front page.

"The length of your hair now matches hers, and you dress alike," Dark commented, keeping his tone even and calm as he tried not to upset Riku further. He didn't even notice he was still speaking as if Risa were still alive—it was too hard to deny the existence of such a vibrant girl when her picture was in front of him. Still, he and Riku had come to the same conclusions. "But he didn't see Risa's ghost."

"No, he didn't," Riku exclaimed. "He saw me. But he either didn't know that Risa had a twin or he's chosen to ignore any mention of it. I think he thinks I'm her, Dark. I don't know if Risa had a stalker before the accident—"

But Dark was shaking his head in negation. "It doesn't matter so much now where this guy came from," he pointed out. "Once we catch him, we have all the time to figure out what is going on in that sick head of his. What matters most right now is your safety."

With his reasoning, Riku seemed to deflate, the wild light leaving her eyes. "Then what can we do now?" she asked in a small voice.

Dark turned to face her, hoping that his expression wouldn't scare her. He could suppress his anger but he couldn't banish it, and every muscle in his body was tense at the thought that Riku was the object of this madman's fantasy. When she looked up at him instead like he was her savior, he couldn't resist leaning forward to drop a kiss on her forehead. "First of all, don't worry. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. It doesn't matter how much he wants you—I'll keep you safe, Riku."

She studied him with wide eyes that still shone with a sheen of tears. His declaration should have sounded silly, but it didn't. He wanted to smile to ease some of the tension, but something in her expression arrested him so that all he could do was return her gaze, willing her to keep fighting to live as she should.

"I believe you," she said, almost as if surprised by her own admission. "When you promise something like that…I shouldn't accept it just like that, but I really believe you, Dark. I trust you."

Her voice was sweet and husky to his ears. Dark caught his breath as her words sank into him and wrapped around his heart. He felt as though he had finally found his true sacred maiden, as though his endless and ever unfruitful search for love had finally, finally, led him to her. In all his years of existence, he had never felt like this, had never allowed himself to really feel like this… He had a chance now to love a girl as she deserved to be loved.

There was a warmth growing in his chest, threatening to simply burst out of him. The only question left was whether she could feel the same way for him.

Dark had asked Daisuke to dig up information on the name under which the website domain for Risa's online shrine had been registered. Satoshi was personally checking up on a report that had just come in about a stolen car that matched the description of the car that Riku's would be kidnapper had been driving. Kosuke had gone with Satoshi, though Dark had at first wanted to be the one to do so.

Even Emiko and Daiki, Daisuke's mother and grandfather, were helping with the situation by talking to Riku's parents to reassure them that Riku was as safe as she could possibly be, short of her being locked up in some impenetrable room. In any case, Riku wasn't going to leave Japan just because of the stalker—not when she was finally able to move forward with her life here.

With everyone else working on different aspects of the problem, that predictably left Riku with Dark—she was almost sure that had been the whole point of this Niwa conspiracy—and Dark had basically been hovering around her protectively the entire time. There really wasn't much that either of them could do, so in an attempt to get her mind off everything, Riku started organizing all her various supplies. She had haphazardly unpacked some of her things earlier, though what she had brought for what she'd thought would be her summer vacation was naturally only a fraction of everything she actually powned.

Organizing was a relative concept to an architecture student anyway. Even while she was busy putting things into the correct desk drawers, there were half-finished models everywhere, along with all kinds of pens, drafting pencils, paper, books, building materials, and more. It was a mess, but the clutter made the room feel like an actual home.

It took a good three hours for her to finish up, Dark occasionally helping when he could, seemingly fascinated by the various objects. He kept asking her what each thing was for and Riku found that it was pleasant telling him, given his obvious interest. It was still messy in the end, but it was down to a manageable level and she knew where everything was more or less located.

With her makeshift studio as professional as it was going to get, Riku became immersed in a project she had been working on for a competition. There wasn't much time left before the design had to be submitted. She'd planned on working on it over summer but in the last month, Riku had been so focused on everything else that she had lost interest in the project. Now, she rediscovered how exciting it was to use new software to design a 3D model.

It was some time before she even realized that Dark had stopped doing whatever he had been doing for himself and was instead almost as focused on her as she was on her work. He hadn't said anything, probably reluctant to break her concentration, but she could tell he was curious about what she was doing. Even though Riku was usually fiercely protective of her work—especially when it was only half-finished—she didn't mind his attention as much as she thought she would have.

"Want to look?" she offered tentatively, and was rewarded with a quick grin.

"I thought you'd never ask." He came up behind her and leaned over her shoulder. She showed him her work so far and then decided to take a break from working on the project, instead logging into her online portfolio and saving stuff for later examination. While they browsed the files, Riku started telling him about what it was like to study architecture, the endless projects, the pressure, the dreaded review, and the constant work. Yet despite it all, she loved it, too—love the challenge of it and loved the mixture of practicality and creativity that went into designing a building.

"This one was my most recent project and I worked with three other people on it for months," Riku explained as she showed him more blueprints, models, and things Dark didn't even recognize.

"Aren't you going to miss your friends?" he asked quietly as she continued to introduce him to the busy world of a student architect. "You work on projects in teams a lot of the time, don't you?"

Riku glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, a little puzzled over the point of the question. "Of course I'll miss them," she replied in a matter of fact way. "But I've decided to stay here and I think I need a fresh start more than anything else. Not to be too cliché, but sometimes the only way you can build a new building is to tear down the old one."

Dark nodded, his expression thoughtful. "So if you were in the School of Architecture, then what did Risa study?"

"Fashion," Riku told him automatically, used to explaining both what her and Risa's interests at the same time. "Well, fashion design. She picked it up when we lived in Paris and she really loved it, too. She had this natural ability to make the most gorgeous dresses…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes widened. "Does this have anything to do with—?"

"No," Dark answered hastily. "Not at all. I just wanted to know. That sounds like something that would have suited her well, though. She always had a charming style."

From the way Dark spoke about Risa, it sounded as if he had genuinely loved her. There was even a tinge of wistfulness to his words, as if he wished he could have seen the girl he had once been fond of grow up. Hearing that note in his voice, a swirl of complicated emotions seemed to get caught in Riku's chest and she almost asked him why.

Why had he given up Risa, breaking her heart? And why did he think Riku was good enough now for his affections, when it had been Risa who had captured his attention back when both twins had been here?

She was afraid to hear the answer, so Riku bit her lip and shrugged off her unease, reminding herself that she had other problems. It was kind of pathetic that she was using the thought of the stalker to distract herself from Dark, and Dark to distract herself from worrying over the stalker. But even if she couldn't bring herself to find out the truth about what had happened between Dark and her twin, there was still something she could ask, something she knew she needed to ask.

"Dark…you wondered how much Risa told me about you, and I said she didn't tell me much because I was never willing to listen." The memory of it still stung sharply—there had been so many times when Riku had simply refused to hear what Risa wanted to tell her. In retrospect, these wasted opportunities might have saved Risa's life. Maybe if Riku had just listened, Risa wouldn't have held on so tightly to Dark's memories, wouldn't have carelessly stepped off the sidewalk, lost in the belief that Dark had finally come for her…

It was a familiar train of thought that would only lead her down in a spiral of guilt and grief, so Riku stopped herself. She found Dark watching her carefully, as if he were holding his breath for her next question. Pushing down on the nervous flutters in her stomach, Riku blindly forged ahead.

"She did tell me one thing. Risa told me you loved someone else..." This was the reason why she had shut her ears, and her heart, against her twin. She swallowed hard and her next words were very soft. "Someone named Rika."

Because she was looking directly at Dark, she saw a glimpse of haunted pain in his eyes at the name before his expression blanked, leaving only his handsome but completely composed face. Her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to explode. I have no right to ask this. I have no right to bring up these memories for you— She hated herself in that moment when she saw how his shoulders had hunched forward just the tiniest bit.

"Never mind," Riku blurted out before he could say anything. "I'm sorry I brought this up. It's none of my business." She could remember Risa's voice as if she were hearing it now: the exact way she had sounded the first and last time Riku had truly listened to anything about Dark.

- She was in love with Dark, and she was the only woman that Dark ever truly and deeply loved in return. Riku, you should have seen the look in his eyes… They couldn't be together, and it broke his heart, I just know it… -

- Do you really believe that, Risa? -

Even then, she hadn't wanted to acknowledge the possibility that Dark had loved anyone like that, regardless of who it had been. Even then, Riku had struggled to deny her own confused feelings of annoyance and jealousy. She wanted to continue seeing Dark as a no good pervert and criminal. It was Daisuke that she liked, whether or not his letters would ever come. Riku had had a real relationship with Daisuke and apparently even that hadn't mattered much, so why did Risa have to be just so fixated on the phantom thief who had never even cared for her?

"She was your grandmother, for whom you were both named."

Dark's voice jolted Riku back to the present and she looked at him, shocked that he was actually responding to the questions she couldn't help but bring up. He had turned away from her and he was speaking in a calm, even tone that told her nothing about what he was feeling.

"Dark, you don't need to tell me anything…" she rushed to say. It was her own insecurities that made her bring this up.

But he continued, almost relentlessly. "I did love her, and because of that, I hurt her. All that my love could do was cause her more grief in the end. I swore I would never hurt anyone like that again."

Riku parted her lips but said nothing. A hundred questions flooded her mind, none of which she could voice or even define. She didn't know why she was pursuing this or what she hoped to gain from it. It hurt a little to see Dark's love for her own grandmother, who she had never even met, but at the same time the feeling that overrode all others was a kind of wish—that Dark would never have to look as he did now again. Like his heart was reflected in his eyes and like it was breaking all over again.

She understood what Risa had meant now, all too perfectly. How could she be jealous of Rika or begrudge Dark his memories of someone he had loved so much? She had expected to doubt Dark's present feelings toward her or to wonder whether Dark has simply been searching for a lookalike all these years. But oddly enough, none of those concerns truly touched her. Somehow, knowing that he had loved someone else so purely just made her own heart soften toward him more.

Though he was still standing near her, he was turned away slightly so that his face was almost in profile. For once, she felt as if she understood him, rather than the other way around. It was a strange realization—that she owed him so much, she just wanted to give him everything, to somehow comfort him as he had comforted her when she had needed it.

"I'm not the only one rebuilding my life, am I," she said softly, a statement rather than a question. She was echoing his words back to him, continuing the conversation that had been interrupted by the kidnapping attempt.

She stood before him, close enough that she could hear him breath. Without even realizing it, Riku's arms closed around Dark in a tight embrace. She inhaled his unique scent as she felt him relax against her, the muscles beneath his thin shirt that were once rock-hard with tension now still solid against her but no longer painfully so. Just being pressed against him made her heart do an irregular pattern of triplet beats.

Desire and perhaps something more flared between them, charging the air until it was heavy and heated. His lips brushed the side of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. She wanted. She had forgotten what it meant to want, or had never really known in the first place, but now her breath caught in her throat. The strands of his hair was silky against her skin and he seemed so wild, so impossible to hold. The feeling of walking along a knife's edge was addictive.

"Riku," he said, voice uneven.

It was a moment of such lucidity and vitality again, like when Dark had taken her out to the sea. She was a doll coming to life after being kissed by magic. She closed her eyes, and it was then that she decided to be his.

"He must still be in the city," Satoshi told them over dinner that night. "We checked out the stolen car that was found and it's almost certainly the one that Dark and Riku saw that day."

He and Riku had been invited over to eat with the Niwas and it had turned out to be the perfect opportunity for them all to compare notes. With so many people together, even the necessary debriefings about what they had all turned up during the day didn't seem so sinister. Dinner was coming to a close, so it was almost a relief to get to the business that was on everybody's mind.

"Unfortunately, we still don't have a single description of the person," Kosuke added. "The car owner didn't even know it was gone yet and he was smart to abandon the car as soon as you guys had seen a glimpse of it."

Dark sighed at the news but it was what he had expected. "Do we at least have a name so we can stop calling him 'that person'?"

"Well, possibly," Daisuke spoke up. He looked at Riku, who was seated across from him, with Dark to her right. "Does the name Fukuda Kohei mean anything to you?"

Riku didn't know what she had expected, but hearing the name didn't even send a shiver down her spine. Somehow that made it all the worse, in the same way she had tormented herself at one point with the thought that she could, on any day, walk past the cab driver who had hit Risa and never even know it.

Reading her blank expression correctly, Daisuke shrugged too casually. "That was the name that came up for the website, but I haven't found any other records for it. It could be a completely fake name, or he may really just be your average pathetic person."

"Fukuda's not an average stalker if he's going around trying to kidnap girls," Satoshi pointed out rationally, earning himself an annoyed glare from Dark.

"My!" Emiko exclaimed as she re-entered the room then, carrying a plate full of cakes for dessert. Towa-chan started helping her pass them out, eager to help. "Why is everyone so gloomy? Dark won't let anything happen to Riku!"

"That's right," Dark and Daisuke both affirmed at once. The unexpected synchronization prompted a few laughs that broke the tension that had been rising at the table.

"I'll stay with Riku again tonight," Dark told everyone, then belatedly turned to her. "That is, if you're okay with that?"

She bit back a laugh, eyes bright with a teasing challenge. "Honestly, could I say anything to change your mind anyway?"

"No," he replied bluntly and unapologetically. This time she did laugh, as did a few others.

"Why don't you stay here with us, Riku-chan?" suggested Kosuke. "He won't dare come here, and even if he did, he'd never make it past the booby traps."

Emiko not so subtly stomped on her husband's foot, all the while smiling adoringly at Riku. "Never mind that. I'm sure Riku-chan will be much happier with Dark!"

Towa-chan giggled, Daiki gave Dark a knowing wink, and Daisuke turned as red as his hair, but Riku hardly even noticed any of that. All her attention was on Dark, who simply smiled a mysterious smile.

It was nearly ten by the time Riku and Dark left the Niwas with many goodbyes and almost ten thirty by the time they returned to the Harada house. Rather than feeling tired, Riku felt energized by the cheer that had been generated from being in the midst of so many warm, lively people. She missed her own parents of course, but dinners with her family since Risa's death had mostly been silent, individually miserable affairs.

"They all think we're together," she mused as she got out her pajamas from her dresser. Dark was lying on his stomach on her bed, thumbing through a book she had loaned him. It was one of her favorites and featured pages of gothic cathedrals.

He looked up at her statement. "Are you bothered by that?"

She shrugged. "I actually thought it might bother you, to be honest."

"Why would you think that?" he asked in surprise. "I don't mind at all, Riku." He rolled over so that he could see her without twisting his neck. His words might have been nonchalant, but she thought she heard a hint of actual pleasure beneath the understatement that surprised and warmed her.

"I've imposed on you a lot. I've always been horrible to you but you've always helped me." Riku fumbled with her clothes uncomfortably, well aware that Dark was watching her every movement and expression. "Anyway, I'm going to shower—and if you're ready to shower and sleep too, there's the other bathroom…"

Suddenly blushing hard, Riku quickly shut the door behind her, knowing that Dark must be either confused or amused by her abruptness. She was willing to bet it was the latter. She was guessing that he would want to stay with her, assuming that he would sleep beside her, and hoping—she could barely admit this to herself—hoping that he would want her the way she wanted him.

When she finally emerged again, muscles all relaxed from a hot bath but butterflies in her stomach, he was already in her bed, hair damp from his own, quicker shower. But this time, he wasn't pretending to be asleep. He was dressed in a sleeveless black cotton shirt and he'd been reading her book again, but set it aside as soon as she came out, not even pretending further interest.

The sight of him watching her almost made her stop in her tracks. It wasn't chaste, what was between them, not anymore. Had it ever really been? She knew it with every shallow breath she took, knew it with the way his gaze skimmed over her, molten and lethal, as if the plain and thin T-shirt she wore, which modestly came down to midthigh, and the soft cotton boyshorts she had beneath were some sort of exotic lingerie.

Still, neither of them said anything as she crossed the room and pulled back the corner of the covers so that she could sit and slide her legs under. The sheets were cool—Dark had clearly stayed on his side of the bed—and she shivered at the sensation of smooth cloth against her lotion-silkened bare skin.

Misinterpreting her shiver, Dark asked, "Are you cold?"

She shook her head silently in negation and he raised an eyebrow, daring her to admit what else could induce such a reaction. Glancing at Dark out of the corner of her eye, Riku reached for the switch that controlled the lamp on the nightstand and flicked it off. She turned back only to find Dark a lot closer that she had expected. There was enough moonlight from the French windows that she could still see him, even with shadowed features. Before she could do or say anything, he slid his arm around her, drawing her against the side of his body. Heat bloomed between them as her softer curves melded alongside him from shoulder to knee.

It was Riku who turned her head and pressed her lips to his, eager to feed the exquisite sensations coursing through her body. Energy coiled between them, generated from desire and need. His surprise at her initiative lasted only a moment and then he parted his lips and let her tongue slip into his mouth as she let his do the same. He buried his hand in her hair, tangling his fingers in the strands as he tilted her head and let their mouths slide together in a joining that was as sweet as it was hot. Her hand caressed the side of his neck as they lost themselves in each other.

When they finally moved apart, breathless, it was only because Riku wanted to be closer. She ran the tip of her tongue gently across her lower lip; it seemed slightly swollen with the intensity of their kiss. Dark made some muffled sound at the sight and she pulled him half on top of her, reveling in all the ways she could give herself to him. She found a secret pleasure in the sheer solidity of his weight and in the race of his pulse in the hollow of his throat. Her whole self felt like one giant, single cell of want—she had never felt more alive or more primal.

There was no longer even the slightest hint of sadness in his eyes and the realization came to her in a sudden moment of clarity: this, then, was the power of her own willingness… Being one of Dark's lovers could transform her, could make her into a normal girl somehow, without the imbalance of feelings between them that she sometimes felt so keenly.

He wanted her—everything she saw and felt confirmed that one fact, that one thing that seemed to change her world as she knew it. It was intoxicating, surrendering her body to his desire. He looked down at her and exhaled slowly while she wondered what he saw, what he read in her eyes. She wanted to be possessed; it seemed to give her life more meaning than anything else. She wanted to know she could never be simply a replacement for anyone else.

She shrugged out of her thin T-shirt, always having expected to be self-conscious when this kind of moment came, but somehow she was not. He could not know how loving and impossibly tender his expression was then. He slowly kissed his way back down her neck…then her collarbone… In between her breasts…

"I want to be yours," she told him breathlessly. She rested her hand on his shoulder and then slid it around his neck, his skin hot beneath her fingertips. "Dark…"

He stilled, hovering above her, braced on his arms. He was still fully clothed, though the sleeveless shirt he wore exposed most of his collarbones and shoulders. She ghosted her hand up his back, beneath his shirt, fascinated by how his skin everywhere seemed impossibly flawless and warm.

"Riku," he said, but he sounded all wrong, as if he were warning her against his own wishes. His eyes were nearly black in the darkness, but the look in them…

It took a few moments for understanding to sink in. Riku stilled. Her hands curled into fists by her sides and the wave of embarrassment she thought she hadn't felt flooded up her neck and cheeks. It was as if all of this was happening to someone else, but at the same time, she was looking straight into Dark's eyes. The initial moment of surprise turned into rejection, heavy and incomprehensible.

He seemed to read it all in her face. "Riku," Dark groaned, closing his eyes in defeat. Even as her arms came up to cross against her chest defensively, he crushed her against him, rolling onto his side so that she wouldn't bear his full weight. "It's not like that. You're torturing me, you know that, right?"

She hugged him back partly so that he would no longer see her face and partly because, despite everything, she still needed him. "Then why…?"

He let her rest her head against his shoulder and it was close enough to his heart that she could hear it beating furiously. "Riku, what do you feel for me?"

"I—" Riku started, but despite all the responses that immediately came to mind, she stopped, unsure of what to say. Gratitude, certainly, because he had saved her from so much, but she knew that wasn't what he was looking for. Friendship, trust, comfort, desire—all of those things too, and she had always had a bit of a crush on him, like seemingly every other girl, even if she would have been the last to admit it. But those weren't what Dark was looking for either.

She liked him, of course. Enough that she felt a little crazy with it, enough that she wanted to be his. But did she want him to be hers? Did she dare to love him?

She looked up at him blindly, lost in the emotions spinning out of control within her, and he rested his forehead against hers. "I don't know," she confessed finally, and with her own words, she started to understand.

There was no such hesitation for him, no doubt in the arms that held her. He knew exactly what he wanted, what he had been waiting for all along, through the years. She wanted to be his, but was she ready to make him hers? She might have been ready to throw herself off a cliff but he was only trying to protect both of them. Without even a word from him, she knew that this was a special moment for Dark, too—and that thought was enough to lead her to yet another realization.

"You…" Dark had never been able to truly love anyone, but surely that didn't mean he hadn't…made love to anyone? Her eyes widened in surprise, but the slight chagrin in Dark's voice confirmed it.

"Yes, Riku. It's only you."

Every preconceived notion of Dark the playboy just shattered in her head with those words. Riku wasn't sure whether the laugh or cry, but she struggled to restrain herself, as she was sure Dark wouldn't appreciate either response. "But you loved Rika, and when you flirted with Risa, you were always so confident," she found herself saying inanely, almost wishing she could see his expression.

Dark sighed into her hair, but she felt, rather than heard, his low laugh vibrate through his chest. "I've never given all of myself to anyone, Riku. How could I, when I would only hurt them in the end? Being a phantom thief… I wasn't only a phantom to them, I was a phantom in my own existence. I would never want to cause anyone that pain."

She thought of what that meant and how many lonely years that could have been. She remembered his brash arrogance and the way he would flirt, casual and intimate at the same time—a wish to love that could neither be suppressed, nor fulfilled. "Was that why you stopped seeing Risa?"

Beneath her cheek, his heart didn't race for her twin. Riku felt Dark's arms hold her just a little tighter momentarily and when he looked at her, she knew he was seeing her, not anyone else, past or present. "I left Risa because I was afraid that the longer I made her happy, the more devastated she would be later. One day, she would have eventually met someone that would make her forget all about me."

It was what happened with her grandmother, Riku guessed. Sixteen, seventeen—these were the teenage years of first love, as intense as a bolt of lightning and with the same kind of impact. But still, no one expected those tender feelings to last forever, any more than Daisuke's had lasted for hers, or hers had for him.

She kissed Dark, putting an end to the questions, and this time, she discovered that there was another flavor to their sweet intimacies that she had never noticed before. He would give her everything he had to offer, but would she do the same? The passion between them was just as potent as before—she was mostly naked, and he wasn't about to ever object—but now it was tempered by the frustration of knowing that he would give her time to really understand what it was she wanted.

She wanted him, but the price—Dark's price—was her heart. The organ that ached so much now that she could barely breathe, and yet she was afraid of this feeling, too. Even as it strengthened her, it made her vulnerable in other ways. There could be no assurance that this would not fall apart somehow, no guarantee against the same kind of soul-wrenching pain she had gone through when her twin had left her to face the world alone.

Riku touched the curve of Dark's jaw, wishing it were easier for her to let him in.

"Do you want me to go?" Dark asked. She could see that he would, if she just said so.

It wasn't what he wanted, but it was like him to ask anyway, she realized.

She shook her head, knowing that although she had yet to find the courage she needed to label this feeling, it was already within her. "Stay with me."

A/N: Please review!