Alone in the Dark -A Kingdom Hearts Fanfiction.

Disclaimer: I dun own Kingdom Hearts, Riku, Sora, or anyone else- I just own this fanfiction. Square Enix does own the rights, though... and Disney owns the cartoon stuff, but they're not in this, really.

Author's Notes: X3 I was given yet another lovely RP XDDD Brings a smile to meh face. :D Leave as many as you like. I am thankful for the other reviews too; I'm glad people are actually paying attention to the dreams too. Yes, they are muy importante! :huggles all readers and reviewers: You are needed and appreciated! :3

Anyways... I think this one will have a bit of yaoi (not quite lemon) in it and... perhaps a little more dreaming.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 4- Baby Steps

-Sora-

Shaking the water off of my head, I stepped forward to turn the shower off, deciding that I would ask Riku about his dreams. If I was in them and hurting him, perhaps telling me about them would make them go away...

I stuck my hand out of the curtain to grab my big, favorite orange towel off of the rack and pulled it back in, wrapping it around myself. Finally, I pulled back the curtain, stepping out of the tub, but when I looked up, there was something... different about the bathroom. I blinked as I realized what it was: Riku was in there, too, reaching up into the towel shelf- not three feet away from me.

We stood there looking into each other's eyes for a few seconds in shock before Riku's eyes drifted over the neon towel and he turned his head away murmurring, "S-Sorry... I'll go--"

"Riku?" I practiacally whispered before I could stop myself.

"Yeah?" he looked over his shoulder to see me with my head down, looking at the now wet tile floor.

"...Do you hate me?"

His eyes widened and he turned his whole body to face mine. I had already tried to ask if he liked me, but that didn't work. So maybe if I asked the opposite, it would feel different, yet the same, right? Judging by his body language so far, though, it looked like the same result. I began to quiver with sadness and I clenched the towel harder around myself.

"I-It's alright if-if you do..."

"No... I don't hate you, Sora. I never did."

"Y-You don't?" I murmurred, daring to look up at him and hoping the unfallen tears in my eyes weren't noticable.

"No," he said softly and smiling warmly- well, warm for Riku, anyways.

His smile turned a bit pained, like he wanted to say something, and he even opened his mouth to say it, but he just sighed and shook his head; slightly turning to leave. However, I stepped forward a bit and said, "Wait, what is it? Riku...?" He made a small noise and returned to facing me completely, but he looked off to the side as if thinking whether if he should talk or not. Finally after catching a pout on my face he started, "Well... I was thinking back... to when I used to hate everything..."

"When you were in the dark?" I clarified.

"Yeah... when I was in the dark. It was like nothing was dear to me... except for one thing."

I titled my head to the side. "What was that one thing?"

He looked surprised for a moment and then laughed a bit, "It was... Nothing, Sora. Nothing. But that one thing eventually made me see that perhaps I just hated the darkness I was in. I had turned to it for strength, which actually made me weaker, but I don't think I ever really liked the crap anyway."

"That's because you never did belong in the dark Riku," I told him with a smile. "You belonged in the light with me and all of your other friends. You know, I even think Axel coulda been like us- I think he had a heart..." I faded off, thinking about the crazy redhead, now, forgetting about the thing that kept Riku's light alive while he wandered through the blackness.

"...I think I might've belonged there..." he mumbled, looking upset again.

"No, you didn't Riku!" I whined. "People like Xemnas and- and Maleficent belonged there! Not you! You weren't like them!"

"But Sora--"

"Organization XIII where bad! They were after people's hearts! Whose heart did you take?" I demanded, upset.

"...One too few." he answered quietly, looking at me in the eye, his aqua ones holding a different meaning of his words. At that time, I was still all worked up about his being light, not dark, and I shook my head, flinging water everywhere. He wasn't understanding me. I know that his heart

was weak and he fell easily to the darkness in him, but of course I wasn't going to say that.

However, his heart was stronger now, he had fought the darkness off!

"Riku..." I sighed finally, calming down. "It doesn't matter now. You're here, with me."

"...Yeah. I'm glad you got me outta there- the dark."

"Silly. You got yourself out!" I giggled.

"... ... Hey, you know... that tea worked. Although, I don't think that I was really sick, " he commented.

"I know. But it was fun anyways!"

He only looked at me with an amused look on his face. We stood for a few more seconds with Riku still looking like he had something to confess, but I didn't pry any more. Lots had been revealed about how he felt about the past now, so I guess I was satisfied for now. I can't believe he still feels like he is part of the dark! Riku couldn't be! Look at him, he's so much nicer these days, too. Besides, if he was still harboring some darkness in him, he would have told me.

And if he was still part of the darkness, then I'd just have to go with him into it, if there's no other way. Just like last time, I was prepared to be the darkness with him.

-Riku-

I can't tell him... I can't tell him about the dreams. He doesn't even realize that he was my light the whole time. If it wasn't for him, I would have really lost it. Even now, in these freak-dreams, he's the one who calls me back. And he doesn't know the darkness is still part of me, he thinks that I'm pure and that he's safe. He's not... perhaps I should warn him... to spare him the horrors.

"...Sor--" I was silenced by his lips.

He was closer than I thought, and all he had to do was lean up and press his soft, warm lips against mine. I just sat for a moment, not responding and I heard him moan a little bit before he came even closer, pressing his moist, covered body against me and wrapping his arms around my neck. Hesitantly, I brought my arms up around him, pulling him closer... Was this a trick? ...I tilted my head to better fit our lips... Was he testing me? ... I slid one of my hands lower over his bottom to hold him there- the towel was down to his knees and as I wished that he had a shorter towel and I heard his soft squeak from my action, I didn't care if he was testing me. He should've known that if he tested me this way, that I would fail.

I felt his lips turn up into a sly smile at my groping him and he backed away a bit with his arms still around my neck. He moved his head to rest on my shoulder so I couldn't see him. However, I did see the towel loosen around his body and when it fell away, he didn't move to get it back. I removed my hand to let it fall all the way to his feet in favor for his bare, damp skin. Placing my palm flat on the small of his back, it felt hot... I nudged my shoulder to make him look at me. He groaned and slowly moved back. He looked angry that I wanted to see him... and his furious blushing. I smiled- well okay, he looked more pouty than angry.

"R-Riku..." he whined.

"Okay, okay." I conceded while he buried his face back into my shoulder. So he didn't want to look at me right now. That was fine- I understood his embarrassment- he was naked. I wedged my thigh in between his legs and before I even touched what I was going for, he gasped and both his legs and arms tightened around whatever they were on. I froze.

"Sora?"

"D-Don't..." he whispered shakily. I frowned. Wow, he was really scared. I removed my leg and stood not doing anything- his head still on my shoulder. What should I do, then...? I suppose just some small things.

"Sorry..." I whispered and tried out a small nip to the shell of his ear. He only shuddered and I figured that was okay, then. I bent my head and licked some condensation from his shoulder, in the dip of his collarbone where it was visible from how his arms were up on my neck. He whimpered then and louder and more... squealy when I started leaving a mark. My hands only moved up and down his back, sometimes going over his butt. I couldn't really do anything else- he was too afraid...

While this was happening, I confirmed that he definitely lusts me at least. But it was funny how he readily teased me with sucking my fingers or kissing me, but isn't ready for more sexual things. I mean, finally getting him naked- of his own free will- is great and these little, intimate things are good, but the poor thing is so... skittish. It was cute.

Suddenly, I felt something pressing against my leg. I paused what I was doing to pull back to see what it was. However, Sora whined roughly and loudly in protest into me and held me to him so that I couldn't see my leg, but only down his back. I only smiled and tried not to laugh when I figued out what it was. He had a hard-on and I guess he didn't want me to see.

"...Sora, I'll take care of that if you want me to..." I offered gently.

"No...! I...I'll do it myself... please." he whimpered, his fingers finding my scalp and gripping my hair close to it. I winced and nodded. He arched his waist out to get himself off of my leg and he gradually moved back until his arms dropped from my neck, but mine still stayed holding him. He glared at me to make sure I wouldn't look down- I didn't and tried to keep only a loving smile on my face. Kind of hard when his lips were in an angry pout and he was shaking slightly from bashfulness.

Quickly, he gave me another kiss on the lips and pushed me away pretty hard. I just let him and turned to stumble out of the door. I finally let myself snicker a bit when he slammed the door behind me. He was so easy to embarrass. I barely did anything, I guess he just bit off more than he could chew that time. But being naked at all was a big step.

He must like me alot if he wanted that, I thought to myself, happily.

--

The rest of the day pretty much consisted of going to the play-island. We didn't really talk about the bathroom incident, but if we had a moment of silence, Sora would get all flustered and run off ahead of me saying something about how we haven't done so-and-so in a while.

And one of those so-and-so's was a camp-out under the stars on the little island with the paopu tree on it.

We constucted a sort of lean-to out of a blanket and some huge paopu tree leaves tacked to two close coconut trees and laid some more leaves on the ground to lay on. Sora had gotten a paopu fruit and tentatively offered it to me. I looked at it for a moment and then bit one of the corners off while he held it out for me to take. He blushed even more than when he got it, but broke into a fit of giggles when I made a face from the tanginess of it. He stifled them with his own bite of the fruit. As he chewed, trying not to make a sour-face, I said, "Well, now our destinies are officially intertwined..." He paused in his eating and looked at me. I turned from the stars to look at him as well and I saw his blush return. I smiled smartly at him and he swallowed his mouthful. Just like in the bathroom, he jumped forward and kissed me on the corner of my mouth and flew back down to lay on his side. facing away from me. I openly laughed this time and said, "Goodnight, Sora..."

"G-Goodnight, Riku..." he peeped.

--

It cut my arm off and blew me up.

It was like all of the other times... but it cut a limb off. It didn't just slither over my body now, it cut across my skin like a snake made of razors. Everywhere it touched, it felt like ice and fire at the same time and while it learned to cover my eyes, I could feel my chilled blood running everywhere. Last time, it only seemed to draw blood in a few areas, but... it felt stringy this time. And as it etched up my vulnerable form, I tried to bear it and wait for Sora to come. I bit my lip so hard that I beat the dark to making it bleed. I thought it was about time for me to wake, but suddenly, I felt it under my skin, inside of my shoulder, wrapped under my armpit. I turned my head to see it, and I could- the dark wanted me to witness the reality of what it had on me.

My eyes widened only to be sprayed full of blood when the shadows burst from inside of my arm out to seperate my arm from my black-covered body. It literally exploded from me, being tossed away from my neck, the blackened limb sliding across the non-existant floor with its own fluids. The moment the darkness waited for- I opened my mouth to scream and cry out. It engulfed me, covering my face and going into every opening on my head. I felt it squeezing around my heart, but even more so my lungs. It squeezed there harder... I could feel the darkness peeking out of my severed veins at my exploded shoulder, examining its work. I retched at the thought, but that quickly stopped when the intruder tightened on my lungs.

"S...or...a..." I choked out. Where was he?

It got tighter... I tried to cough, but nothing happened, I only added pressure to my chest.

"S..." I couldn't speak anymore.

My fingers tightened around my hands at the unbearable weight and it felt like my chest was being inflated... over-inflated. I couldn't breathe...!

"Riku."

My chest popped.

--

I shot up, gasping for air, eyes wide. I put my hands to my chest to find it intact and not covered in blood or in the freezing, inflamed darkness. I felt a dull ache in my shoulder and grabbed at that next. My arm was still there...

I sighed heavily, and turned to look to my other side. Sora lay there- his body facing where I was, looking like he was dreaming himself. His face was illuminated by the bluing sky and I could see a small blush over his cheeks. He rolled over onto his back and his hands moved to lay on his chest and stomach.

"N...Not there... Riku... D-Don't... I'm not... I'm not ready..." he mumbled.

I blinked and could only imagine what he was dreaming of. At least his dreams didn't have the darkness. Mine seemed to be working their way up to killing me.

--

Author's Notes: Whew! All done! I typed this one in one, late-night sitting. X3 Anyways. Oh noes!! Riku's dreams are destroying him now!! DX They pop him! And the chappie title can be taken in more than one way- either baby steps in Sora and Riku's relationship or the dreams.

Speaking of those two. Awwww!! Sora-kun! That was cute. :3

Heehee, I used "popped" 'cause it's more morbid. And does the paopu tree island thing have a name? I've heard it be called "Riku's Island" because that's where he always sits and I think I've heard it called "Paopu Island" 'cause that's where the only paopu tree is on the island... Does it have a name?

Oh and if you've been reading my other story in-progress: Under Our Noses, it might be a while until I update, cause I have NO idea what should happen next, but I have recieved a whine that Ichiru should've kept going after Zero... -- That prob'ly won't happen but I might do one with them. PM me if you have a suggestion for a story for any manga/anime, etc.. ((Perhaps a nice RoxasxSora? Gimme some plotline.))

Revieeeew pleeease! XO