Happy Valentine's day, readers!

Matters of Pride
Chapter 5: Instincts

Sora wasn't sure where he was—if he was anywhere. The world around him was empty and dark, blacks bleeding into purples and blues in a cold, suffocating miasma. He turned in a circle to find that it was the same in each direction, and a shudder of fear traveled down his spine.

"Sora?"

Sora whirled at the sound of Riku's voice. His friend was there, dressed in a white tunic, a look of surprise on his face.

"Riku!" The growl came before Sora could speak the syllables himself, and he spun around again to see the man from the bus stop, yellow eyes narrowed. They flicked from Riku to Sora, and before Sora could react, a blur of white charged towards him. Another shape shot from behind Sora—Riku—and there was a heavy thud as the two bodies crashed together.

The two lions were quieter than he'd expected, no roars or harsh growls as they wrestled, just heaving breaths. The larger lion—Terra, Sora guessed—had superior size and strength, but what Riku lacked in strength, he made up for with speed. Still, it looked as if Riku was on the defensive, and Sora felt his blood boil when he only narrowly avoided a vicious swipe of claws.

He didn't think of his own safety, only of the vivid red of Riku's blood when he'd showed up on Sora's doorstep, when he approached the fighting creatures and threw himself bodily between them.

"Stop!" Sora's voice echoed through the emptiness, and both lions fell back in a blinding light. There was a brief moment of peace before they lunged at each other again, and Sora let out a frustrated "No!" They jerked to a stop, as if something were physically restraining them. Two sets of eyes bored into him, yellow on one side, aqua on the other, studying him.

"What are you?"

The darkness melted away as Sora's eyes fluttered open, returning to consciousness. He winced at the fingers Riku was digging into his shoulders, and the sharp look only inches from his face. "Riku?"

"I said, what are you," he growled, nostrils flaring.

"Uhm," Sora squeaked, "what do you mean?"

"How did you enter our dreams?"

Sora blinked. "I…I didn't…! I mean, I dreamed of you fighting Terra, but that was just a dream, right?"

Riku released him abruptly. "You didn't do it on purpose?"

"No?"

Riku rocked back on his heels and furrowed his brow, eyes distant in thought, before refocusing on Sora. "What the hell is wrong with you, Sora? What kind of idiot throws himself in the middle of a lion fight? He was going for you, you know!"

"Why wouldn't I want to protect you? You're my friend! And if he's you're brother…even if he's not himself, I can't watch family turn against each other." Sora frowned. "Anyway, why was he going after me?"

Riku lifted his head and glared down his nose at Sora. "Because you're mine."

Sora stared, eyes hardening. "Yours? In what way?"

Riku lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "It doesn't matter. I scent-marked you. You're mine to protect." He sighed. "Although it seems you can take care of yourself. At least there. I wonder if it's the same out here. How did you do it, Sora?"

"Do what?"

"You stopped us somehow. I couldn't move. Neither could he. Was it some kind of magic?"

Sora pursed his lips. "I just…really didn't want you to hurt each other. Even if it was a dream."

Riku caught Sora's eyes with his own and held his gaze. Seeming satisfied by whatever he saw there, he nodded and stood. He glanced around the room and back to Sora. "Get up, Sora."

"What? What for?"

"Just do it." He backed up several steps, expression expectant.

Sora climbed to his feet, curiosity getting the better of him. "Okay, now what?"

"Try to stop me."

Sora opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get any farther before Riku was flying at him, his lion shape forming around him as he sprang forward. Sora's voice caught in his throat, and though he wasn't afraid, he still threw his arms out to shield himself. Which was little defense against even an adolescent lion, and Sora found himself seeing stars, his breath leaving him in a rush when he was toppled to the floor.

Lion Riku looked down at him with curious eyes, snuffling him. He huffed, his breath hot against Sora's cheek, before stepping off of him and turning away. His tail swished behind him as he circled the couch, his attention clearly on Sora. He'd already made two circuits of the couch before Sora caught his breath and sat back up.

The third circuit he made at a run, charging at Sora again, though this time he stopped short of hitting him and stretched his mouth open in a resounding roar, his teeth bared.

Sora shrunk back, covering his ears. "Riku!" he hissed. "What are you doing?"

Stop me! Riku's voice was disembodied, sounding in his head, and Sora wasn't sure if it really was Riku, or if it was just his own mind echoing Riku's demand, but the lion was already circling back to attack.

Sora braced himself for the third charge. He was knocked on his back again, and this time Riku stayed there, snarling at him. Sora pushed at his chest, not bothering to put much strength behind it.

"Will you knock it off?" he bit out.

The lion ignored him, lowering his face until he held his mouth open against Sora's throat. It was slow and deliberate, and while he didn't bite down, the threat was still there. With just a snap of teeth, he could tear out Sora's throat, and Sora felt the first thread of fear run down his spine, and with it, a little anger.

"Stop it!" and this time when Sora pushed at the lion, he did put strength behind it. But even all of Sora's physical strength couldn't knock Riku back like that. Sora shot up, chest heaving, and stared at where Riku had toppled to the ground. "What the hell!"

Riku sat in his haunches, studying Sora as he glared back.

"This is my thanks for helping you?"

Riku melted back into a human shape, sitting cross-legged on the floor, a smirk on his lips. "Come on, Sora, I told you I'm not gonna eat you." His smirk faded. "Even if I was, you can stop me. It's not…it's not physical, though. I wonder what it is…"

Sora opened his mouth to respond, but a pounding at the door interrupted him. Sora glanced at the clock and let out an exasperated sigh. "Couldn't you have waited until the morning for all that? Now I'm not going to hear the end of it." Sora scowled as the pounding on the door redoubled. "I'm coming!"

The person on the other side of the door was all mussed red hair and angry green eyes, his arms crossing over his chest as soon as the door opened. He loomed over Sora, the angle emphasizing the dark circles under his eyes. "Look kid, I don't fucking care about your National Geographic addiction, but for fuck's sake, turn it down!" he growled. "Some of us have to get up in the morning."

Sora gave a nervous laugh, trying not to look back at the black screen of the TV. "Ah, sorry, I didn't realize it was so loud!"

The redhead's stare bored into Sora. Then, catching movement further into the apartment, flicked to where Riku had climbed to his feet and was moving toward them. There his gaze lingered, giving Riku a once-over, before returning to Sora. The wide grin that suddenly spread over his face caught Sora off guard, along with his dark chuckle. "Look what the cat dragged in, eh?" He slapped a hand on Sora's shoulder and winked. "Say no more, kid!" His eyes narrowed down again. "Just watch your volume, yeah?" Sora couldn't help the heat rising to his face, which only induced further laughter from the redhead. He turned and flicked a hand in a wave as he made his way back to his apartment, and Sora clicked the door closed, pressing his forehead against the wood.

"I think he's confused about the arrangement," Riku murmured, a thread of amusement in his voice.

Sora knocked his head against the door once, twice. "You think?" he grumbled.

"Sora, I'm hungry."

"Is that all you think about? Feed yourself," he muttered to the door.

Sora was startled when Riku's chin settled on his shoulder. "Of course it's not. It just helps me think better." He rubbed his cheek against Sora's, and Sora felt his breath catch in his throat, noticing their proximity, the heat of Riku's body at his back. Riku, in turn, noticed the change in Sora, and chuckled in his ear. "Are you sure you want me to feed myself?" His teeth closed on the soft flesh of Sora's ear.

Sora was too hot. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in what Riku was suggesting, quite the opposite. But it was too much, in too little time. In less than a day, a tentative friendship had turned into Riku literally putting his life in his hands, and then turning his world upside down by showing him something he would've never thought possible. And his dreams, and Riku's constant demanding, teasing, it was all making his chest too tight.

"Stop it." His voice sounded tired, when he said it, but the command was still firm. He felt the power in it, like Riku had suggested, and that, too, was too much. When Riku backed away, he took a deep breath, filling his lungs, and let it out slowly. When he turned around, Riku's eyes searched his, looking lost, forlorn. Maybe even hurt.

"Sorry," he said finally. He turned and went to the kitchen, and didn't look at Sora as he did, in fact, feed himself, settling on the counter to eat, legs swinging slightly.

Sora picked his way to the armchair and sat there, taking deep, even breaths, head resting in his hands. His back to Riku. It seemed like a long while before his voice cut through the silence again. "Is it like this? How Terra is being controlled." The thought that had just occurred to him scared him as much as the cold golden stare that was imprinted in his mind.

Riku's reply came after a long pause, as if he had to think about it. "No. It's different."

"Tell me about it?" He wasn't sure he was up for more of it, more of this part of the world that he'd only just learned of, but if he were to keep pace, to help Riku, he had to hear it.

There was another pause, Riku circling around to sit on the couch, his eyes dark in thought. Sora watched the conflict there, saw the decision made and the way he gathered himself for the task.

"It comes from the inside, the control. It feeds on something within, consumes, makes you forget yourself." His eyes flicked to Sora. "Yours is different, like being reminded of oneself. Maybe it could be the same, if you developed it, I don't know."

"I wouldn't want to be like that."

"I know."

"Do you?"

Riku's lips curled into a small smile. "Call it instinct, then."

"Instinct." It sounded absurd, but the circumstances made it less so. "Yeah, I suppose so."

Riku stood abruptly. "I should go."

"Riku, it's the middle of the night."

"Yes. I've stayed too long." He was already pulling on his stained jeans, finally dry, his borrowed shorts pooled to one side, bandage disappearing under the fabric. It was harder to ignore his body when Sora wasn't focused on treating its hurts, and he averted his eyes. For his own sake, since Riku seemed unperturbed by it. Or perhaps he had done it on purpose. Sora couldn't be sure.

Sora came to his feet. "I thought I was coming with."

Riku paused in pulling on his parka, his feet already back in boots. "Did you? Well, I won't stop you."

"Don't tease me." It was a pout, but he'd already had his fill of the teasing for the night. Or day. It had all blended together.

"I'm sorry," and it really did sound apologetic. The familiar gesture as he shrugged his parka higher, and Sora saw it, the way the fur lining on it resembled a lion's mane.

Sora found his own boots, and began gathering his scarf and coat. "Don't tell me that's why you wear it."

"What?"

"The parka. It looks like…the lion you."

Riku shrugged again. "It feels bare without it."

Sora eyed him, but didn't pursue the subject. "So, where are we going?"

o - o - o

They took an Uber to Riku's place.

Sora wasn't sure what to expect, but Riku's apartment was nothing unusual. It was tidy—more so than Sora's, and the complex looked more expensive than his own, but nothing really spoke of Riku's lion self. Then again, what would?

Sora lingered in the living room while Riku changed into fresh clothes. He could hear the distinct sounds of drawers opening and closing, Riku rummaging for something. A picture on an end table caught his eye, and Sora picked it up, eyes wide with wonder. It was unmistakably Riku and Terra, at a younger age. Riku smiled in it, all teeth, an arm thrown around an adolescent Terra.

There was a stoicism to Terra in the photo, but even so, he looked kind.

More surprisingly, the eyes that looked from his face were blue, his hair a dark brown.

"It's like a sickness," Riku murmured from behind him. "Once it's inside you, it works its way outside, altering you. Those eyes—the yellow ones—aren't him. He's not like that."

Sora wasn't sure Riku was convinced, himself. But, "We'll help him. We've got to."

Riku nodded once.

The sky was softening with the first light of dawn when they both slid into Riku's car. By the time they reached their destination, the sun itself was creeping above the horizon. Sora watched familiar buildings slide by the windows as Riku pulled into a parking lot of his university, surprise open on his face.

"Why are we here?"

"Where else would you find a scholar? He's a professor here."

"Oh. What's his name?"

"Yen Sid."

Sora's eyes widened. "Seriously? What can he do to help?"

Riku shifted the car into park. "That's what I'm here to find out."

"He's my academic adviser. I never would've thought…" he trailed off.

Riku gave him an appraising look. "That makes things easier, then."

"But it's early Sunday morning. What makes you think he'll be here now?"

Riku exhaled in a sigh. "If he's not here, I'll find out where he is. It shouldn't be hard to track him down." Whether he meant it in the traditional sense or in the stalking-lion sense, Sora couldn't be sure. But he didn't doubt Riku's ability to find the grey-bearded man.