Chapter 19

This is all I want.
It's all I ever wanted.
Please...
Let tomorrow never come.

The morning sun had not yet broken when Naminé awoke; instead, her bleary eyes opened to an inky darkness. Though she could not make out the black, blurry shapes of the room, she soon realised that it wasn't her own. Her disorientated mind wondered briefly where she was, until she felt the warmth of Riku's body behind her. His sleeping breath gently sighed against her neck, resulting in a slight tickling sensation that gave her contented shivers all over. His hand was draped over Naminé's stomach and seemed to be almost pulling her into him. She smiled to herself. Even when Riku was sleeping he could be very protective.

So much had happened in the last day, so much that she could hardly believe it could even be true. And yet, his very presence was an affirmation of all that. She had wanted this for so long. Ever since she had met Riku, she had been struck by his abilities, his strength, and especially his unending devotion and loyalty to the people he cared about. Naminé had so desperately wanted to be one of those people. To actually be in that place was such a privilege, and to be even more than a friend was the closest thing to bliss she could possibly get. She was never going to take him for granted again; she knew how lonely life could be without him by her side.

Naminé turned around to face him, and realised that he was awake and watching her silently. They smiled at each other, both unused to this kind of intimate contact but enjoying the new excitement it brought.

"Good morning," he murmured, leaning forward to place a kiss on her forehead. Naminé blushed as he did it, and snuggled into his embrace.

"Did you sleep okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, and let her head lie on his chest. In her ear she heard the sound of his strong, regular heartbeat, and remembered when she had first heard it while they had been on the road together. She couldn't help but think about how different the circumstances were now. "It's really great waking up to you."

Riku nodded, wrapping his arms around her slender frame and pulling her close. He loved the feel of her skin; so soft against his calloused, battle-worn hands. It was like she cleansed him of any needless or bad thoughts, and instead filled his world with different, numerous sensations, each one reminding him of her beautiful qualities and nature.

"It's morning," she said off-handedly, though he knew as much as she did what time it was.

"Yeah," he answered. "That's why I said good morning. If it had been evening I would have said good evening." Naminé stuck her tongue out at him but couldn't hold her feigned irritancy.

"I don't want to get up," she moaned, half laughing at his reply. Riku chuckled with her, smoothing away several stray strands of hair back from her face. Naminé made a little hum of contentment, almost as if to tell him that that was much better.

"We have to get up, don't we?" she murmured lazily

"No," he replied, shaking his head with a smile.

"But, Mickey and Diz might come in looking for us."

"And they can walk right back out," he replied, almost insanely rationally.

"Don't you think they'd mind?" she asked, surprised that Riku could give her such a blasé answer. It wasn't like him. Usually, it was everyone else's thoughts that were on his mind.

"It's not like what we're doing is wrong or forbidden," he said with a shrug. "If you want to spend some time here with me today, you're more than welcome to."

Naminé lay her hand on Riku's abdomen and let her fingers walk gently up his chest, before reaching his head to tap his nose ever so lightly. Riku scrunched up his face as she did it, and Naminé couldn't help but fall into a fit of giggles upon seeing his expression.

"You look really silly when you do that," she said, waving her hands in front of his eyes in an attempt to make him do it again. Riku brought his own hand down and covered her face. Naminé let out a small scream of surprise.

"Riku!" she exclaimed, slapping it away as if it were a bee causing a nuisance.

"Don't you like my caring nature?" he asked innocently.

"Yeah, yeah, you're better than Mother Earth," came her sarcastic response. "Now get off!"

"Fine," he replied, giving her a wry grin, and stood up from the bed. Naminé, instantly missing her new favourite pillow, caught his wrist and pulled him back onto the soft mattress.

"Don't go," she whined. "Come on, stay for another while." Riku sat over her, and let his hands fall astride her body. He leaned down until his face was inches from hers; his silver hair had become so long that it fell down either side of his face, and strands of it brushed softly against her cheeks.

"I thought you wanted me to get off," he said, his tone teasing.

"Yeah..." she replied. "But I didn't want you to leave..."

They smiled at each other, happily savouring the precious time they had together. Naminé knew that the future was uncertain; even as they lay here, Diz was working away on extracting that....poison. She couldn't think of it as anything else. What if Riku changed completely? What if he forgot everything that made him who he was? Would they ever be able to go back to having times like this? She didn't care if his outward appearance changed, but she needed the thoughts and the memories that made up the Riku she loved. She hoped the darkness wouldn't take that away from her. If it did, she didn't know what she would do. Even imagining the thought filled her with an aching despair, one so great it threatened to consume her completely.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Naminé was brought back from her thoughtful stupor to see Riku's face, looking concerned. A part of her admonished herself for thinking those thoughts. Riku was strong; a lot stronger than she gave him credit for. If there was anyone who could retain their sense of self after banishing light from their bodies, it would be Riku. He could very well be perfectly fine afterwards.

And yet, the seed of doubt had been planted. No matter how many times she assured herself that wouldn't happen, the possibility remained that she could lose him, either to darkness or in the truest sense of the word. But, looking into his anxious eyes, Naminé realised that those thoughts were for another day.

"Yeah," she replied, pasting a bright demeanour onto her face to hide what was unsettling her.

"You sure? I'm not making you uncomfortable or anything, am I?"

"No, no," she said quickly. "I promise, you're great."

Riku's eyes flooded with relief. "I'm glad," he replied. "You bite down on your lower lip when you're thinking about something really important. I just got a bit worried, that's all. I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything for me, okay?"

Naminé laughed. "I never noticed that I did that!"

"Do you want to know something?" he asked, letting his hand travel both slowly and soothingly along her shoulder. Words failing her, Naminé nodded, and reached out her own hand to cusp his cheek. He had not yet shaved, and she could feel the light friction of his emerging stubble. It was amazing to think that he could have skin that rough, especially when she could feel the contrasting softness of his silver hair. Nevertheless, she found herself loving it all.

"You look really beautiful," he said. Naminé blushed furiously at his comment, but as his lips lowered towards hers, the shyness began to fade away, because for the first time, she knew what he said was nothing but the absolute truth.

Author's Notes:

This chapter is a bit shorter than what I do usually, but I'm not going to protract it for the sake of a word count. So, even if it not as much as you were expecting, I hope you enjoyed it. I love love love love love being able to do Namiku moments like this....ah, the romantic in me will soon be unleashed on the world!

I thought of something interesting...do you think Riku would have a silver beard?? Something to mull over...

Thank you all very much for reading!

LastCetra.