[I know the last two chapters have been..well, mediocre...but hopefully this will make up for it. I hope you guys like it.]

Sora yearned for Riku. Fear emanated from his body; he felt his body trembling. He did not want another rerun of the past night.

Deciding he should speak before his dad happened to find them in the living room, Sora said, "Dad? It's Sora. I'm here…with Riku." He was surprised to find his voice was cracking.

He caught Riku's gaze wearily. His dad grunted, throwing his coat in a closet and walking very slowly into the living room. Riku stood to his feet and bowed his head.

"Sir, I would like to apologize for what happened the other night."

Sora's lungs started screaming for air, and he realized he had been holding his breath as Riku approached his father.

Sora saw his dad's fists clenched. He gulped.

Riku looked up to meet his dad's eyes. "But I just want to get something clear. Your son," he pointed to Sora, "and I are best friends. More than friends. I do love your son, and I am going to stick with him through thick and thin. I refuse to let you hurt him during one of your rampages. I won't let him get hurt," he said threateningly.

Sora's dad snarled in disgust. "I'm not going to hurt him."

Riku growled, but true to his word, held his tongue. His dad glared between Sora and Riku.

"I'm going upstairs," he spat angrily. Sora flinched.

"Why can't you stay down here?" Riku asked loudly. "What's so wrong with me and Sora that you can't stand to be in the same room as us?"

His dad started storming up the stairs.

"What happened to the whole 'I want to spend more time with you Sora?'"

His dad turned on his heel, his voice echoing throughout the tense house. "I want to spend more time with Sora, not some damn bastard kid!"

Riku started forward and Sora threw his arms around him frantically. "Riku, no!"

Riku turned to look at him, his eyes narrowed. "I hate that man, Sora. I've tried my best. There's nothing else I can do. He doesn't like me. You're going to have to choose!" he snapped.

Sora recoiled, his eyes filling up with tears. "Riku, we have to keep trying."

"Sora, what do you want from me?" He threw his hands up, defeated. His voice was low, pained. Sora had never heard him sound so distant and hurt.

"You told me that you wanted me to trust you and to figure out things with your dad. Well, big surprise! It's not working!"

"Riku, please, I know this is hard," he reasoned, pulling Riku's shirt, trying to get him to calm down.

Riku shoved his arms away. "This is hard? Sora, you have no idea what you're putting me through!" he shouted, his entire body shaking violently. He felt the urge to hit someone, something, preferably the biased man upstairs.

He gritted his teeth. Angry tears started rolling down his cheek. Sora was at a loss at what to do. He had never seen Riku cry. He was always the strong one of the group, the expressionless one. Not anymore.

His vulnerability was shining right through his self-made, emotional barriers, and it terrified Sora. He tried to take Riku's hand but he pulled away again.

"You pull me back and forth. I want to protect you, I-I have to. But then you…you purposely turn your back and go straight back to your dad. I can't do this anymore. I'm at my breaking point!" he cried desperately.

"No matter what I do, you're always going to want to go home! How…" he couldn't seem to decide what he wanted to say. He bit his lip and forced himself to stare directly into Sora's eyes.

"How can you say you love me?" His voice quivered.

Sora started to speak then lost his voice. He felt as if someone had run an ice-cold knife right into his ribs.

"R-Riku, I-"

Riku shook his head, cutting the boy off.

"How can you say you love me, but put me through this?"

Riku dropped his gaze to his feet. "I've put myself through hell for you. I-I let you go back home against my better instincts…I saw the-the things he d-did to you…And I watched you leave me once to…to your dad. Not me."

His voice was barely above a whisper. Sora gasped. He had no idea that Riku had been feeling so torn, so ripped apart by him.

"You made your decision once. Make it again." The usual brashness returned to his tone. His face went expressionless again and he wiped the tears from his face, so it looked like he had not wept.

"I…Riku…"

"It's not easy, is it?" He scoffed. He shook his head in disappointment.

"I'm gone, Sora," he said in a dark voice.

"W-what?"

Riku started out the living room.

"R-Riku, please. Don't leave," Sora cried, grabbing onto his arm.

He ignored him, shaking his arm out of his grip. His eyes became a black cloud, hiding his hurt and his pain. Sora trembled.

Riku was really leaving him. He had been pushed to the brink of his tolerance. Sora watched his back as he walked away, fear and desperation clawing at his insides. His intestines seemed to twist.

He felt alone, miserable. More than he had ever felt before. Every time he had faced his problems, he had strength from Riku pulling him through. The one time that Riku had not been with him, he did the only thing he knew: run.

He couldn't run this time. Riku was the one turning away.

The house felt as if it was closing in around him. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. Riku had never sounded so…defeated. He was ruined. Sora had caused him this pain. After everything. Sora dragged himself up to his bedroom, confused, distraught, stricken.

As he passed his father's room, a familiar, putrid smell reached his nose. He gagged and if he had felt fear before, it was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.

Fear was clenching every fiber in his body. And Riku was gone for good this time.

Riku didn't know where he was going and he didn't care. He didn't care about Sora or his problems because it didn't matter anymore. Sora still couldn't make a decision after everything that had happened. He didn't care about the drive that Sora felt towards his home.

He didn't know where he stood with Sora any longer. He gave him everything he could. Protection, love, intimacy, shelter, compassion, patience. Nothing seemed enough to convince Sora to stay.

As soon as Riku had left Sora's house, the tears started running again. He touched his cheek fearfully. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried.

Years and years of building walls that became demolished as soon as he had said that forsaken string of words to Sora. Did they mean so little to the boy? When was the last time his dad said that to him?

Riku forced himself to stop thinking about Sora. He focused on his breathing, the indentions his hurried footsteps made in the loose sand, the breeze that slapped him across his face.

He felt his feet hit damp wood. He stopped, suddenly aware that he was standing on the dock. He hadn't run as far as he thought he had. He sat down on the wooden dock and listened to the quiet slaps of the waves as they collided with it.

His gaze drifted to the horizon, where black waves met the black starless sky. How convenient that the sky was just as dark as his heart felt.

Feeling sick to his stomach, Riku crawled to his hands and knees and leaned over the edge of the dock. He submerged his head into the stinging saltwater and gasped when he resurfaced.

The water was cool and inviting. Maybe he could just drift away into the distance. He wouldn't have to worry about being mercilessly pulled in different directions; he wouldn't have to fear his heart hurting some more.

Riku forced himself out of his trance. He cleared his mind of emotions, attempting to reason with himself with logic. Anger had no place here. He bit his lip so hard it started to bleed. He had to decipher what was right and wrong.

It was wrong to leave Sora. His love for him was undeniable, unbreakable. He sighed. He had to turn back. Love meant he was supposed to keep his promise. He promised Sora he would never hurt him and would never let anyone else hurt him.

He had broken his promise. A broken promise hand-in-hand with a broken heart.

He gritted his teeth against his anger and bitterness. He refused to break his promise.

Taking a deep breath, he turned around and started back towards Sora's house.

[So, how was it? Alright? Please review and let me know what you think. Your reviews are everything to me. I couldn't write this without your reviews and advice and consideration, so please review!]