Dare You to Live

By ElveNDestiNy

June 11, 2012 / April 25, 2015

Author's Note 4/25/15: Those of you who were old readers know that I was never that satisfied with the ending that I'd written for this story and that in fact, I'd tried with several different versions but just couldn't quite get it. Well, it took me a few years, but I've finally come back to this story with this newly revised version, which includes about two to three additional pages for the final scene.

Thank you all for reading and supporting me as I've written this, and thank you especially for your patience. This was an unusual story to write because so much of it was about inner contemplation rather than action, but while it's no epic, I hope you found it sweet and perhaps inspiring, if nothing else. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but a large part of the initial inspiration for this story came from Switchfoot's song, "Dare You to Move."

- 15: Redemption -

One moment she was in a darkened room, bent over Dark and pressing her lips against his unresponsive ones, hoping against hope that something magical might happen—then suddenly in the next moment, Riku was on a street in broad daylight, lips locked with a fully awake and perfectly healthy looking—

"YARRGGGHH!"

Two hands pushed hard just below her collarbones, causing Riku to let out a girlish shriek as she lost her balance and fell, her backside abruptly connecting with the unforgiving and hot concrete pavement of the sidewalk.

For a moment, the sharp ache in her ribs and the stinging in her scraped palms didn't even register with her. Riku stared up at a glowering Dark, too taken aback to say anything.

"WHAT—WHO—how did you suddenly appear out of nowhere?" he sputtered at her. Riku's relief at seeing him healthy and awake was quickly overridden by the sinking feeling in her stomach when she realized that there was absolutely no sign of recognition in his eyes.

"Dark—I-I can explain, just—" Riku stammered, while inwardly going through several curse words that would have shocked everyone around her had she ever uttered them aloud. The situation clearly warranted them, though, given that Dark was turning an alarming shade of red. He took a deep breath, which she hoped was to calm himself down—or not.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Violet eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. "And how do you know my name?!"

The Dark that she knew in her world would have played it cool if he had found himself kissing a pretty girl on the lips, even if she had materialized out of nowhere and was a complete stranger. This Dark, however, was not nearly as obliging—a thought which just made Riku panic, because what if the person standing in front of her wasn't actually her Dark, but rather some kind of copy of him? Even though Daisuke had told her about Dark's "alternate" world, she hadn't fully understood what he'd meant.

She pushed herself to her feet, looking around to get her bearings. She was on the sidewalk of a street that she didn't immediately recognize, but which looked familiar enough that she was pretty sure they were still in Azumano City. Suddenly aware that they weren't alone and that people passing by had stopped to stare and gawk at them, she felt her entire face flush with red-hot embarrassment.

"You're the one who kissed me first," she blurted out defensively when Dark continued to pin her with a stare that clearly intended to make her feel like she'd just molested him. "I mean, in real life. You stole my first kiss."

That was how she'd ended up in this world, right? She had seen part of Dark's nightmares and realized that some part of him was still hung up with her initial rejection of him, that moment so many years ago when he'd stolen her first kiss and she had hated him for it. His uncertainty about her real feelings for him had originated from that very first rejection, so when she'd tried to push him away out of guilt over her memories of Risa, he'd believed everything she had said. He'd believed that she really didn't love him.

Of course, none of those epiphanies helped Riku right now with the situation. "Look, you don't remember me, but you do know me," she told Dark, even though his expression showed that he still thought she was crazy. "I promise that I can explain, okay? Can we just please go somewhere more private first?"

One eyebrow arched in surprise, but Dark's surprise and irritation had faded into something more like puzzlement. He studied her curiously but she could tell when he finally decided to humor her.

"It's a long story," she said. "But you really need to hear it, because it's about us."

It was an unbelievable mess. Riku rested her head against the palms of her hands, trying to avoid looking at Dark, who was sitting across from her. They were in the corner booth of a small restaurant that Riku had wordlessly dragged Dark into only a few minutes ago. Thankfully, it was the kind of low-key place that served simple, but satisfying fare. It seemed to be around midafternoon, so there weren't too many patrons.

The waitress was at their table promptly and Riku ordered whatever was at the top of the menu, briefly wondering if she should do so. It didn't look like her purse or wallet had been transported with her, although her right arm was still in a cast, so her injuries definitely had. But really, what was the worst that could happen? She'd get caught by the police while doing a dine-and-dash in some world that existed only in Dark's mind?

Yeah, this was totally unbelievable… It was one thing for Dark to escape to his fantasy world while his body was essentially dying, but even in this world, he'd forgotten her? Figuring out how to reach him was supposed to be the hard part. She wasn't supposed to have fallen into a situation like Daisuke had described just yesterday.

Half of her was annoyed. The other half was still too scared at the thought of losing Dark. One way or another, if he didn't remember her and she couldn't get him to "wake up," he was lost to her, and to everyone else who loved him.

She couldn't help but look up, taking in his obvious health. There were no shadows in his eyes, no hint of uncertainty. He was the Dark she remembered from all those years ago, a young man reckless enough to steal a kiss on a young girl's balcony, secure in his identity as a phantom thief.

"And would you like to order anything, sir?" The continued presence of the young waitress was enough to make Riku straighten her spine and drop her hands to her lap, although she kept her eyes on the table. Her etiquette teacher would have been proud of her composure.

Dark didn't miss a thing. She could almost feel his eyes on her, although out of the corner of her eye, Riku could see the waitress pouting a little at the rudeness from her handsome customer. After a long pause, Dark leaned back, deliberately relaxing into his seat. He turned to the waitress, dazzling her with the full force of his charismatic attention. "I'll have the chicken omuraisu, thank you."

For a second, hearing his choice, Riku wondered if Dark actually did know everything that was going on, but was just intent on making her life difficult. She remembered that before she had cooked it for him, he'd said that he hadn't ever tried omuraisu before, even though it was such a common and easy dish. Was it a hint that this was all a game—or even some way of forcing her to pay her penance for abandoning him? Or could it be that some part of him did remember the time they had spent together, no matter how much he'd blocked out the memories?

The waitress lingered for another minute, trying to talk some more with Dark, while Riku's hopes slowly crumbled. She struggled to hide her annoyance as Dark quite willingly turned on the charm for the other girl, seemingly not caring that Riku was right in front of him. Sourly, Riku reflected that at least she could be sure that this really was the famous, flirtatious Kaitou Dark and not an impostor.

"Is something the matter?" Dark had the nerve to ask when he finally focused his attention back on her.

Riku opened her mouth to say just part of the very long list of everything that had gone wrong and was still getting worse, but found herself unable to say anything at all. What was she doing, being pettily jealous over a waitress, when Dark's life was still in danger? It didn't matter what he remembered or not. There was only one thing she was sure of, at this point, and it was the most important thing.

"I know you don't remember," Riku said, trying to convey with her voice just how important this was. "But I don't think I—well, we—have much time. You have to go back soon to the real world, Dark. You can't say here, you're going to die if you don't wake up!"

She didn't mean to sound so desperate, but she couldn't help herself. As soon as she uttered the words, though, Riku knew from his expression that he was wondering once again if she was crazy. She was so used to getting Dark's full attention and trust that she found herself unable to respond to him when he was treating her like a stranger. From the first moment they had met, all those years ago, there had always been a natural connection between them, for better or worse—and now that was just gone. In its place seemed to be an unbridgeable chasm of awkwardness and uncertainty.

"Okay, why don't we start with who you are and why you showed up out of nowhere," Dark suggested, although his tone brooked no argument. "Then you can finish up with why you thought it was all right for you to kiss me."

"My name is Harada Riku," she told him, and then stopped. It was impossible to figure out where to start. What could she say, that she came from another world? That this world wasn't even real, was just a figment of his imagination, where he'd erased his memory of her?

Riku had never thought she would need to convince him to return after she'd found him—it should have only been a matter of confessing the truth to him. But now, she was starting to realize that there was the slight problem of not even knowing how to go "back" herself. Was it just as easy as making him remember her? Or where there secret doors or entrances in this world that they were supposed to find, which would lead them both back to the real world—or artifacts to steal, or feathers, or who knew what? It was overwhelming.

"Do you remember Daisuke?" Riku asked in a sudden burst of inspiration.

Dark frowned. "Of course. How do you know him?"

For some reason, it hurt more to realize that Dark hadn't forgotten everyone else—just her. "I don't know how to even begin to explain this, Dark." She instinctively reached out to close the distance between them, maybe just to put her hand on his arm, but he shifted back. For a moment, the sting of that subtle rejection was so strong that she forgot what she had planned to say. Her chest seemed to hollow out.

It was that feeling that undid her, the knowledge that she was feeling probably only a tiny fraction of the heartache that she had caused him. It was all her fault that everything had ended up like this anyway. Because she had been too afraid to live, she had endangered his life. If he had forgotten her completely now, it wasn't as the result of an accident. She had hurt him so badly, he had literally chosen not to come back—and even more than that, to forget the person who had hurt him.

"Well, are you going to at least try?"

Dark's question startled her out of her dismal thoughts. He was looking at her with a slight smile. "I'd like to know how a girl like you appeared out of nowhere and ended up kissing me."

"I guess I should start with an apology," Riku said quietly, ignoring his flippancy. "But not for kissing you."

"What for, then?" Dark didn't seem hostile or disbelieving, just confused. "I'm the one who pushed you and made you fall. I'm sorry about that, by the way. You obviously startled me."

"No, it's not—just, just…listen, okay? I know you won't get it, but I need to tell you." The words seemed to burst from her, all the things she had thought of in the last couple of days, knowing that he was in a coma because of her. In a coma! Part of her couldn't even process that fact, couldn't let herself think of it or she would spiral down into the guilt and despair that had gripped her after her twin's death. It wasn't the same medically, she knew. Risa had been brain dead when their parents had decided to let her go, but even so, it was all to easy for Riku to imagine that Dark would never wake, either.

She could already feel tears flooding her eyes and her throat closed up, making all her words sound small and choked. Riku kept going anyway, despite knowing he wouldn't understand a word of it, this confession coming toward him like a misguided bullet.

"I never meant to hurt you like this"—and it didn't even matter that he didn't understand what this was, his memory, and this fake world, and everything—the words just kept pouring out of that scared, tightly clenched place inside of her.

"I was afraid and I thought it would be wrong for us to be together…because this is everything Risa ever really wanted. Everything, Dark! Her life, her hopes, her dreams. Well, our dreams, maybe. I don't even know anymore. Between Risa and knowing about Rika, I was afraid I was going to lose track of who I was." She could see from his incredulous expression that this whole talk was all going wrong, but like a train wreck, she couldn't stop herself from continuing into disaster. "I didn't think you actually knew or wanted me, not just…I don't know, an idea of me, or something. The girl you could finally have."

Dark's expression had been growing more and more shuttered through her rambling confession, but he tried to interrupt. "Look, I don't—"

"But the truth is, Dark—the truth is that I did know. I knew you loved me, and I knew how I felt about you, but I was just…afraid."

To Riku's horror, her voice broke with the last word. Her face felt hot and wet with tears and she was shaking so hard that she felt almost numb with the overload of sensations. More tears slid silently out of her eyes, though she wasn't quite bawling, not yet. She was seconds away from it, though, if something didn't change. She could feel the sob rising up through her chest, bursting out from that place that ached so badly, she couldn't breathe.

It sounded so stupid now that she'd admitted it to herself and to him. If she had learned anything from Risa's death, hadn't she learned that life was precious, that they didn't have time to be afraid? Hadn't she learned that there were so many more worthy things to be afraid of, like regretting all the moments you should have cherished with the people you love—or like losing the person you loved before you ever had a chance to tell them how you really felt.

Riku furiously wiped the liquid off her cheeks with her hand, unable to look Dark in the eye. Self-disgust stopped the tears and steadied her, though her stomach continued to roil with emotion. She didn't deserve the small consolation of being able to cry over her mistakes, not when he was the one suffering for them. She had never felt so ridiculous and sillyin front of him before, had never fallen apart right in front of him, and becauseof him.

After a long pause while he waited for her to regain her composure, Dark finally spoke. "I'm sorry, but I don't know any of the people you're talking about...and I don't know you." He sounded more uncomfortable than apologetic, but what else did she expect, after she blurted out a mess like that? She didn't dare look up to try to read his expression. "But something about you…is almost familiar. Do you really think we know each other?"

"It's the truth," Riku told him shakily, staring down at the napkin she'd unconsciously shredded in her lap. He had sounded almost defensive, as if he knew something wasn't right. "You just forgot me, because I hurt you."

Did he think she was lying? In his shoes, Riku would have, especially after her spectacular failure of an apology. She took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down, glad that he was going along with the pretense that she hadn't just started crying in front of him—supposedly a virtual stranger. Exhaustion settled over her like a hundred pound blanket, making her feel even worse. Her confession hadn't changed anything.

On top of all that, she could see that Dark was getting impatient. His curiosity in their unusual situation had turned more toward antipathy, and she couldn't blame him for losing interest in what she had to say. She was barely coherent. Her eyes hurt and the person she most wanted comfort from had chosen not to know her at all.

Maybe she had done the wrong thing—maybe she was supposed to try to get Dark to fall in love with her again, or she should have gone to find the Daisuke in this world to try to get his help. She didn't know what she could do or how she was supposed to prove herself. She rubbed her eyes hard, frustration changing the hurt to anger. When she opened her eyes again, it was to glare at Dark for being so—so there, right in front of her face, and yet not. She resisted the urge to grab his shoulders and just shake him until he gave her the answers she needed.

"Well, I already told you I don't know you, so what do you want from me?" Dark leaned forward, seemingly more at ease now that the threat of her imminent breakdown seemed to have passed. A spark of mischief lit his eyes. "Are you one of those people who live in some kind of fantasy?" His tone slyly suggested he knew exactly what kind of fantasies she had about him.

"No," Riku all but shouted back, abruptly reminded of why she had spent so many years thinking of him as a pervert. Maybe he had been trying to make her feel better in his own way, but it only sent a new frisson of anger through her. "You were the one who started it all when you kissed me that night."

"Really," Dark answered, not quite a statement and not quite a challenge. His bright gaze caught hers, compelling her with the directness of his renewed interest. "This is the second time you've claimed that, yet I'm sure it never happened. I'd remember…well, probably. In fact, what was your name again?"

"Riku," she said very softly. Inside, she almost boiled with rage. Just how many anonymous girls had Dark kissed, if he actually thought she might be one of them even though he didn't remember anything?

"Well, Riku, you're right after all." His smile was more sharp than sincere. "You're a lovely girl, but I don't understand what's going on with you. To be honest, I'm starting to think I don't think I want to."

She couldn't stand looking at him when he turned cold like this. Why was this Dark so hard, so desperate to prove he didn't care, beyond how well he could put girls under his spell? In just the little time Riku had spent with him, he had been all over the place, a flirt and a jerk all rolled up in one. They really were almost like strangers. It was as if the softness she knew in her own Dark, the glimpses of vulnerability she was now realizing that he had let her see, were all gone.

"You've known me since I was 14, ever since you've known Daisuke," Riku told him bluntly, knowing she was losing him. She needed to do something, needed to at least try to convince him to remember.

"I don't—"

"I know! I know you don't remember! Just listen, can't you?" she almost cried. "I know some part of you still has to care."

Dark studied her, no longer flirtatious or careless. He looked almost uneasy. "All right."

Before he could change his mind, Riku charged ahead. "You used to like my twin, Risa, but then someone killed her and started to come after me. We were…we cared a lot for each other. You tried to protect me, and that was how you ended up so badly hurt that now you don't remember us being together—"

Dark stood up abruptly. "I've heard enough." He took out some money and left it on the table. "You can have the food when it comes. I don't know why I even ordered it."

"Wait—" In her desperation, Riku reached out and grabbed his arm. "Dark, you loved me! No, you love me."

With just that one word, Dark's expression became thunderous. He jerked his arm out of her grasp in one vicious movement. "See, that's how I know that you're lying. I would never claim to love anyone."

Before she could reply, he strode away, not even looking back to see her reaction. He was in such a hurry that he almost crashed into the waitress as she came back to their table, ready with a flirtatious smile for Dark, and carrying their two plates of chicken omuraisu.

Dark's Azumano City, Riku quickly found out, was not really a carbon copy of her own. After leaving the restaurant in near tears and with profuse apologies to the waitress, she had tried to find her way back home—or at least, to where her home would have roughly been located. Riku was fairly sure she had found the area, but nothing looked the same. Her house wasn't even there. The school she, Risa, Daisuke, and Satoshi had attended, wasn't there either. She couldn't even tell if she was more furious or sad that Dark had wiped her existence so thoroughly from his memory.

With nowhere else to go, she next tried walking to Daisuke's house, only to find that even if this Dark remembered Daisuke, evidently the Niwas' neighborhood wasn't the same either. She had no other way of contacting Daisuke, Satoshi, or anyone who might know who she was—supposing that they remembered her, anyway. Riku debated her two bleak choices: wander around some more in this ghostly, unfamiliar version of Azumano, or go back to the street where she had suddenly found herself kissing Dark.

Riku was also beginning to regret leaving the food behind in the restaurant, not that she had been in any state to eat. She might be in a dream world, but it certainly felt real enough to her; her legs ached from walking around for hours and she really wanted a shower. Her injuries hurt to the point that she was pretty sure that she would have been ordered to bed rest. The emotional rollercoasters she had been through had worn down her determination and the possibility that she might fail had crossed her mind more than once.

It took her half an hour after she finally arrived back to exactly where she started to realize that the tightness in her stomach was as much from hunger as from dread of the imminent dusk. But even this late in the afternoon, with the skies darkening rapidly, she was attracting too much attention simply standing there in the street.

Riku retreated to a shop located a little ways down from the restaurant, pretending to browse the odd, cute, handcrafted knickknacks on display. What was she going to do for the night? At least Daisuke, when he was stuck in Dark's memory world, knew that he was supposed to be finding people important to Dark and getting feathers from them. She didn't even have a clue about what she needed to do.

Her eyes felt so gritty and hurt so much that Riku found a discreet corner in front of a closed shop and leaned against it, closing her eyes in relief. She was too tired to care what anyone else thought of her, the weariness so pervasive in her body that she even sank to the floor, at first crouching but eventually giving in and sitting down. Almost all the people had gone home on this street. It was looking very likely that she would have to sleep here in her corner, but she couldn't even muster up the energy to be concerned about whether Dark's imaginary city had crime.

She had to try to find him again…but in just a moment, after she had rested a little. She could sleep for a while and keep searching then, couldn't she? Suddenly, Riku sat bolt upright, realizing that if she fell asleep, maybe she would end up back in the "real" world—without Dark. What had she expected, that one kiss would erase all the consequences of her months of indecision and doubt?

A dark shape seemed to cross the dusky sky and out of habit, she looked upward. Her breath caught in her chest when she realized that it was Dark. She scrambled to her feet, gritting her teeth as sore and stiff muscles ached. If she could figure out where he was going, she could try to meet him there, try to talk to him and persuade him again.

Riku ran down the empty street, anxious eyes fixed skyward as she watched Dark's shape get smaller and smaller in the distance. He looked lonely but free, and he was headed toward something high, protruding from the urban sprawl, maybe a tower of some sort. Riku tripped and almost fell, but caught herself just in time, the exertion sending jagged flashes of pain through her ribs. The cast on her right arm made her movements clumsy and she was running so slowly, while he was flying farther and farther away. She could just make it out against the dark horizon—and suddenly, she realized that she recognized the steeple.

Out of breath, ribs on fire, Riku finally came to a stop. She swayed on her feet and sank down into a crouch, waiting until the familiar black spots faded from her vision.

But at least she knew where he was headed: the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

"Is anyone in there?"

Riku pounded the door in vain, taking out all her fury and desperation on the thick, solid piece of wood. It didn't budge.

It had taken her another whole hour to actually get to the cathedral and Riku was feeling worse than ever. Every breath made her ribs hurt so much that she had more than once tried holding her breath, wishing that she didn't need the oxygen so desperately. Yet now that she was finally here, and sure that Dark was somewhere up there, the entrance of the cathedral was locked. She wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or cry.

Too tired to keep standing, she sat at the foot of the door, letting herself lean against it, dust and all. Her right ribs ached so much that she took light, shallow breaths, which only made her feel dizzier overall. She supposed that a defunct cathedral was as good of a place to overnight as a deserted street. Riku closed her eyes, hating that the night air was beginning to make her cold on top of everything else.

"I suppose you're here looking for me," a very familiar voice said above her some time later, and Riku snapped out of her doze with a jerk.

In contrast to her bedraggled state, Dark looked pretty much exactly as he had when he had ditched her at the restaurant. His expression didn't look much friendlier, although Riku wanted to squirm under his once again appraising gaze. Above them, the cathedral bells began to ring and she counted them; it tolled eight times in all.

"It's getting late, Harada Riku. Why don't you stop trying to follow me around and go home?" Although his words were as antagonistic as ever, his tone was inscrutable.

Hating how he towered over her, Riku painfully got to her feet, trying her best not to clutch at her right side as the movements sent stabbing pains through her. "I'm not giving up. And I'm not a liar."

"What's wrong with you?"

At first, Riku thought he was still going on about how she was crazy. Then she realized that Dark was looking at the cast on her right arm, which she was holding against her stomach. "You saved my life. I fell from the steeple tower up there and you came after me. I woke up just a broken arm and some fractured ribs."

He shook his head. "You do have a wild imagination, that's for sure."

"What'll it take for you to believe me, Dark?" Riku sucked in a huge breath, her frustration overriding the pain. "You don't remember because you don't want to remember! And I know it's all my fault this happened, but I don't know how I can convince you!"

For a moment, she thought she had gotten to him. The look in his eyes was hot and intense, keeping her still as he came closer to her. "I told you before. Even if you're right and I don't remember everything"—Riku's breath caught at that small admission—"I would never have told a girl I loved her."

"And you didn't," Riku breathed, the belated realization making everything clear. "You never actually said it, Dark. But it didn't need to be said."

And yet it did need to be said. The truth that she needed to tell Dark was both simpler and more complicated than what she had been thinking. It was the truth that she hadn't had the courage to admit before. She knew that Dark loved her, even if he had never said so. His actions had shown it to her over and over again. But Dark had believed that she didn't love him—because his past had taught him to be wary of his feelings.

He was looking at her with an unfathomable expression, as if he had sensed something different about her, and was afraid to actually see what it was. Maybe it was out of an instinct for self-preservation—it was easier for him to keep on seeing her as a stranger, than facing full on just how much she had let him down when she had rejected him.

"Then why are we here?" he asked. "Who are you to me, Riku?"

"I'm someone who you saved in more than one way. You taught me to face my fears and to let go of them, Dark. You saw how I was and knew how I should be—you knew that I'd given up on life after what happened to Risa, and you showed me that it's all right to live again." Riku looked up at him, knowing that she was still only telling him who he was to her.

She ran the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip nervously, wishing there was some way that she could show him everything she was feeling. For different reasons, they both hadn't been able to let go of their pasts. He was the one who had convinced her that they were meant to try together. Who was she to him? What place did she have in his life?

But Dark was looking both at her and through her, as if looking into the distance. Riku saw his pupils dilate and his lips part as she finally got past the walls he had put up around himself in defense. He shuddered a little, his shoulders tensing and hunching in defense, and she remembered again how, after he had stood by her through all her ups and downs, through all her grief and fears, she had turned him away.

"I know it hurts," she whispered, and he dropped his gaze. "But you showed me how I was afraid to live and now it's my turn to show you. I dare you to remember, Dark. Remember us. Remember what could be our life together. I'm here and you don't need to be afraid."

Riku wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or if the world truly had darkened around them, until they were both hidden in shadows. The sky was almost pitch black, a few stars peaking through the clouds, but no moon. She had protected herself for far too long. If she had learned anything from him, it was that letting go of the past didn't mean forgetting it, and remembering the past shouldn't stop someone from living in the present.

Her heart ached as she stood in front of him, the tiny distance between them almost unbearable to her. At last Dark looked back at her—recognition flooding his eyes.

She took a deep breath, shivering hard, but not from the cold. "I… I love you, Dark."

Warmth enveloped her as he took her into his arms, careful not to squeeze too hard. Riku closed her eyes, a few tears of relief trickling down her cheeks as she pressed herself against him. She breathed in his scent deeply and it didn't hurt. Nothing did. It felt like a great weight had been lifted from her, and the hollowness in her chest had broken open and bright, warm, white light was streaming in.

"Riku," he murmured, making her whole with his acknowledgement. "I love you too."

Something wet splashed onto her neck and Riku vaguely realized that a few tears had escaped Dark. She hugged him tighter, unable to stop herself from crying a little in relief and joy as well. After a moment, he drew back and she opened her eyes, only to be caught by the tenderness with which he looked at her.

"May I kiss you?" he asked hoarsely, and she couldn't reply, could only nod yes.

Glossy black-feathered wings wrapped around them both as his lips met hers and Riku let herself melt into it, knowing that Dark's happiness could be found in the real world too.

Three Months Later

Riku stared dubiously at the present that Dark had just handed her. The small but fancy box was a classic Tiffany's teal and a white satin ribbon was neatly tied around it. Dark had insisted on getting her something for their three month anniversary, even though she had tried to play it cool. Her reluctance wasn't from a lack of affection or from troubles in their relationship; it was just that after what they had gone through together, Riku thought it felt almost silly to be doing things as mundane as celebrating their three months together.

Ever since she had opened her eyes to find Dark alive and awake beside her in bed, time had flown by. It had taken some time for both of them to mentally and physically recover from their ordeal, but Riku discovered that it was easier than expected—everything was easier with Dark. Maybe she should have felt bad that Fukuda Kohei had fallen to his death, but she didn't, not after finding out that he was the hit and run driver and after his actions.

After all, she would have died too if it hadn't been for Dark, and Fukuda had almost killed both of them. Whether it was cosmic fate or karmic justice, Riku was okay with what had happened. What had mattered was that she had brought Dark back to reality, back to her.

The three months since had all been about living, as Riku let go of the last of her bitterness and pain over Risa. She would always grieve, but she was no longer stuck merely existing. She was surrounded by friends, she had even come to an understanding with her parents before they had left Japan, and she had never before been so certain of her love for her architectural studies, no matter how much hard work and deadlines lay before her. She had so many dreams and the man beside her was the one who had helped her rediscover them.

"You're stalling, dear," Dark observed, amused at her expense. "Stop holding it like you're afraid you might leave fingerprints and just open it already."

"You're awfully confident, dear," she shot back, embarrassed that he could read her so well. "Aren't you worried that I might not like it?"

As usual, Dark was unfazed. "I promise it isn't lingerie," he said solemnly. "Although you know I won't mind at all if that's what you got me…"

Riku gave an unladylike snort but finally undid the ribbon, glad that that her fingers were only trembling ever so slightly. Her breath caught in surprise at what she found out after she lifted the lid. Nestled in a bed of white was a platinum necklace with a gorgeous key pendant shaped like a flower with eight petals. The entire key was set with tiny diamonds that glittered like fractured waterdrops.

For all Dark's nonchalance, she knew he was watching her closely for her reaction but Riku couldn't help it, so she set down the box carefully on the table before turning to him and wrapping her arms around him. Even as she hugged him tight, the laughter bubbled out of her, leaving him happy but confused.

"We both had the same idea," she gasped into his ear between her giggles. "The key pendant—"

"I wasn't sure if you would think it was cheesy," he interjected quickly, worried. "I can switch it to another design if you like." Riku drew back to see him looking sheepish, possibly for the first time in his life. It was adorable but still somehow attractive.

"No, it's perfect," she replied. "It's beautiful, Dark, and thank you so much. I was just laughing because…well, you'll find out in a moment. Will you put it on me?"

Dark obliged, the symbolism not lost on either of them. No matter how common the design was, the key pendant held extra meaning just for the two of them: he was a phantom-thief-turned-security-expert, after all, and while he had stolen into her heart in a spectacular fashion, she had been the one to unlock the way into his. The necklace and key were cool for only a moment before they warmed to the temperature of her skin.

"So this isn't in a special box and isn't half as pretty," she began as she looked up at him. Even though she had repeatedly told herself and him that this was going to be no big deal, Riku felt little butterflies of nervous anticipation in her stomach. For a moment, she wished that she had gotten him a typical men's gift, something like a wallet or watch. But no, they'd both had locks and keys in mind.

Riku took his hand in hers, placed an old-fashioned metal key in it, and curled his fingers over it. "I know it might not mean much since you've been over so much already and for goodness' sake, you installed the high tech security system for me…" Riku trailed off uncertainly. "I just wanted you to know that I love you and I trust you…and you'll always be welcome at any place I call home."

Dark kissed her passionately, and any doubts Riku had about her gift vanished as she arched into his body, gasping as he teased her and left her wanting and dazed. His smile showed her how happy he was with her gift and what it meant.

"Together we'll remind each other never to be afraid to live," he whispered to her. "Home is where you are and life means life with you, Riku. Thank you."

A/N: Please review!