Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, there would be gratuitous amounts of yaoi and the sequel would be a whole lot less depressing.

A/N: I'm upping the amount of island population. Just think of it as more of a 'New York'y place. Heh.

No More Running

KitsuneArasi

A silver-haired young man leaned against the gatepost of old Destiny Islands Academy, closing his eyes and sighing as he waited for the final bell to sound, releasing the reason for his presence. He wasn't concerned with being yelled at-this had become the accepted norm. Once a new teacher had accused him of skipping classes before another had come up, tapped them on the shoulder, and informed them that this was "The Riku they had been told about", and so he was left alone with his quiet thoughts and memories.

The most vivid memory the eighteen-year-old had of the events post-Ansem was of his rescue.

"Riku!" The younger boy threw his arms around the elder, "You're all right!"

"Sora...I was wondering when you'd get here."

Sora looked up to find that his usual smirk had softened just barely and his eyes were wet, "You really look...different."

And you look absolutely fucking beautiful... Riku thought. "You too. So where to, Hero-boy?"

Sora blushed as Riku returned his embrace, turning it into something much more intimate. And just how does he have the right to look so good? How can I feel like this-like he was never gone-when he does this...? He looked up at his childhood friend with what he HOPED was a friendly -Justfriendlyjustfriendlyjustfriendly- grin,

"Home."

And every day after returning to the Islands, Riku waited at the gates of the school for Sora. Of course, he still had an amiable relationship with Kairi, but both had moved on. She had given up her childish hero worship and he had lost his smug interest in the girl from another place. It was just him and Sora again, and that was just how he liked it. Of course, they were just friends...he couldn't imagine popping a surprise of that caliber on the younger boy...but he wished...

The final bell rang, signaling the end of another school day on the Destiny Islands. Riku's eyes opened as he scanned the crowd and smiling as his eyes found Sora, smiling back before bidding goodbye to their friends as he rushed over to Riku. "So, what today, Riku?"

"I thought we could go see a movie or something."

"I'm not really in the mood to sit still...it's Friday!"

Riku chuckled as the smaller male bounced on the balls of his feet, leaning toward him with his hands clasped behind his back.

"All right then, what about a walk in the park?"

"Sure! That sounds great!"

xXx

Riku watched Sora with a small smile on his face as they made their way to the park. The boy was still so energetic and fun-loving.

I haven't ruined that, Riku thought to himself, Please don't ever let me ruin that. Don't let me ruin Sora.

He was broken from his thoughts as Sora laughed and grabbed his hand, pointing excitedly, "Look Riku, we're almost there!"

And so they set off at a faster pace toward the park...that is, until they ran across a gang of boys.

"Hey ladies, off to the park?"

"Hey, hey! Taki, man, that's that Riku guy that beat the shit outta Juri."

"Huh? He don't look so tough to me."

Taki spotted their joined hands.

"Ha! And he's a flamer, too! How could you let a frilly little girly-boy like this get you, Juri?"

He called over to a boy that remained seated on a nearby crate, staring at Riku and nervously muttering, "...tougher than ya think..."

Sora's hand tightened on his, "Th-that's not-"

Riku looked over to see the younger boy's eyes watering.

"Sora, shh. It's okay."

"But Riku, they're insulting you!"

It was the 'you' in place of an 'us' that let Riku throw caution to the winds.

He took back his hand, leaving the brunette with a confused and hurt look for only a moment before wrapping his arm around Sora's waist and leaning over to kiss him.

"R-Riku?"

"Disgusting! You two aren't normal! Freaks!"

The tears were running down his face now, his eyes dazed as he stared into Riku's just before running off toward the park.

"Fuck."

Riku took off after the object of his affections, leaving the gang in the dust.

He found Sora about seven minutes later, exactly where he thought he'd be: on the swingset, eyes shut against the tears as his feet scuffed in the dirt.

Riku crouched in front of him to get a better view of his face.

"Sora?"

"It's not fair."

"What's not fair?"

"You did that - kissed me - just to piss them off."

"I'm-"

"I've loved you for so long and you finally kissed me just to piss someone off!"

And now Riku was crying too.

He brushed off a tear with his thumb before cupping Sora's cheek.

"I didn't do it to piss them off. I did it because you were crying."

"Wh-why?"

"I love you too much to let you cry."

And Riku kissed him again, softly and sweetly.

"No more running, Sora."

"No more running, Riku."

A/N: Hope that wasn't too cheesy for all of you. I like this, it gave me the warm fuzzies to write it. Anyway, hope you liked it. J On to the next update!