Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Akirame Norwen ❯ At last, a little Akirame/Riku!!! ( Chapter 21 )

(A/N: read the title. As for music... same stuff... but I really like something slow and sad for this... perhaps Evanescence's "My Immortal" or "Hello". If you like pop/rock better, try Rebecca St. James' "Okay". Never heard of her? She's a *official* Christian artist, but even so, her music is kickin' As a girl, I say that hearing her songs "Wait for Me" and "Transformed" are a must! Along w/ ZOEgirl, they're a good, clean-feeling alternative for Brittney Spears or Christina Agulera *however you spell that* especially for those of you, who, like me, happen to be a little tired of the sticky-sweaty feel promoted by sex-obsessed lyrics. Not naming any bands here, although I want to. *coughnsynccougheminemcoughgodsmackcoughdon'tflamemecough*) flames will be flamed. Literally. *takes deep breath* so.... yeah. I was up until 2 a.m. writing this, so I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking except, "I wonder if there's any milk left in the fridge."

Chapter 21: At last, a little Akirame/Riku!!!! Hehe...

Jerdania ducked her head back in and closed the door. "They're gone now." She announced before heading towards her bed. "You sure you don't wanna chat with the guys?" She asked.

"Pretty sure. I don't want your boyfriend to see me in flannel pajama bottoms and a white tank top." Akirame said, getting up and reopening the door.

Jerdania shrugged and tried to settle back into bed. Now she'd never be able to sleep. Too many things she wanted to talk about.

Akirame however, could care less about what Erik was going to do with Kira this late at night. She laughed to herself as she noticed that Erik must have left the boy's room door open in his haste.

Suddenly, she found herself confronting that incredible desire to be gathered up in Riku's arms again. The last thing she needed to do was embarrass Riku with the request. In fact, she suddenly found herself afraid of waking him up. She had never felt that way before.... maybe it was because he needed as much sleep as possible with all the work he was doing. But.... didn't they all? Or was Riku a higher priority, being the leader? She didn't want him to be the leader anymore. It was like... her being a commoner and him suddenly being promoted to a president or something. Now he was too important or busy to do one-on-one anymore. No, she wouldn't become a hindrance to him, obligate him with her petty, childish emotions. Finding that she had been standing there thinking this over, she quietly shut the open door and continued down the stairs. "Oh well." She said to herself, once again thinking of Erik and Kira's escape. "at least they decided to go outside and not on the couch." She suddenly bit her lip and quickly found her statement degrading. Did she really want to think about Erik like that?

Mentally apologizing to her friend, she shook her head and finished descending the occasionally creaking carpeted steps. Trying to get a bearing on her settings, she spotted the kitchen and headed in, quickly searching the cupboards until she found a glass, and proceeded to use the water dispenser in the refrigerator. She took a large gulp and headed back to the living room to finish her drink, stopping when she spotted him sitting there in a shirt and shorts on the couch, staring into the distance. Or rather, directly at her, but his mind a mile away. "Riku? You up too?" She asked, feeling a little inadequate to look directly in his eyes.

"Yeah. First I saw Erik getting up, and I was worried, so I wanted to follow him, but when Kira got him and the two started talking, I figured it'd be best to back out and let them settle it. Then you girls started in, and I couldn't sleep after that." He quietly, but a little drowsily said, completely relaxed now that he wasn't alone, but in her company. Sometimes it was possible to be around others, like Irvine or Jerdania, but still be alone.

"Hmm. Sorry. I'll go back upstairs, I don't want to be in your way." Akirame apologetically said, feeling even more awkward, like keeping a man who had just worked for hours from taking a nap.

"Not at all. I want you to hang with me. Sit here." He said, patting the spot next to him on the couch.

Akirame gave a lopsided, its-two-thirty-in-the-morning-so-I-don't-care grin and sat down next to him, but giving him plenty of space. "So.....whatcha doing down here?" She asked, not wanting him to drift away in his usual silence.

"Hmm.... dunno. I always go out and sit on the couch to think when I can't sleep. After a while I get tired again, and go back to bed."

"What do you think about?" his friend inquired, taking another sip of her water.

Riku smirked at the question. "If only you knew." He thought to himself before answering. "All sorts of stuff."

"Makes sense. You, the great philosopher/adventurer/newest-cast-member-of-Baywatch." Akirame teased, then instantly regretted saying. The wee hours were squeezing her normal sanity into jelly.

"Woah, what was the last one?" Riku laughed, knowing that she couldn't possibly be in her right mind. She never could stay up late without getting a little tipsy.

"Nothing." She muttered, blushing and trying hard not to look at him.

Riku's smirk broadened into a full-fledged half-smile. "Behold, the early hours will cause even the strongest mind to collapse and spill forth truth." He dramatically said, fully enjoying himself.

"Oh, shut up." She responded, reaching out to shove him.

"All I got to do is keep you up for another hour, and you'll be telling me what sizes you are."

"Will not. Jeez, you managed to perfectly ruin an otherwise quiet moment." She accused, finally looking at him.

"Me? You're the one who says I should be on the cast of Baywatch." Riku informed her. "Should I take my shirt off and run down a beach before you make it official?" he further teased, grabbing his shirt as if to do so.

"No! Keep it on for Hyne's sake! Please!" she laughed while blushing madly, taking his hands and pulling them away from his shirt and placing them on his lap.

"Man, your face is sooo red."

"Shut up already! Cut it out! You're making it worse." She begged him while hiding her face in a nearby pillow, trying to loose the idiotic grin that had seized her face. "Some friend you are." She muttered from the pillow, feeling unable to look at his face....ever.

"I'm just saying that you made the comment that I should be on Baywatch, and now that I have your approval, I'm going to the tryouts!" He announced to her, grabbing the pillow away to leave her defenseless. "But first, I have to see if I can perform CPR." He warned her. "I need you to lay back and pretend to be unconscious."

"Riku! Cut it out please! I can't breathe!" Akirame was on the edge of pure hysteria. Something about being stuck with Riku alone, and the mere sanity of her mind heavily damaged from a lack of decent sleep in over a week was overbearing. "Stop taking advantage of my lack of functioning brain cells." She told him, pushing him away as he leered closer.

"All right, I'll let you calm down." Riku said, leaning back again and giving her air. He'd honestly hate to take advantage of her, just like he would personally mutilate any other boy who thought they could lay a single finger on her. She was precious to him.

Akirame regained her breath and allowed her mind to stop playing truth-or-dare with her mouth. At least, for that brief moment, she felt that she had her old Riku back, the silent, overly mature teen that had nothing better to do than hang out with inanimate objects. She looked at his face, peaceful with his eyes closed, and saw the evident wear-and-tear he had endured so far. She found herself subconsciously tracing a long, protruding scar on his forearm. She quickly jerked her hand back and placed it under her leg to keep it from doing anything more dangerous. Riku's eyes opened when the touch stopped and saw her nervously drinking her water again. "Remember how I got that?" He asked, trying to put her at ease with him.

"Hmm.... it was a Mi'hen Fang, I think." She said, tracing the rim of her glass with a finger. The wolf had been doing a good job of stealing her backpack and running off with it. Riku had chased the beast down and engaged in a rather brute fight, considering he had left his sword behind. The long gash from one of the animal's claws had been somewhat proudly displayed as he returned to them, holding up her retrieved backpack with a nod and small smile just for her. Such a flirt... but he seemed to take it seriously at times.

"You risked your neck unarmed to get my goofy backpack. I didn't even have anything in there. Everything was unpacked in my tent." She said, not really wanting to take away from the deed.

Riku shrugged. "Still a deed done."

"Yep."

Both sat next to each other in silence, just enjoying the other's presence. If only they knew.... "You know what this reminds me of?" Akirame suddenly said, breaking the silence again.

"Hmm?"

"When we were little, and you used to live with me and Mom. Remember how whenever I got nightmares, I'd wake you up, and we'd sit on the couch till we fell asleep again?"

Riku smiled inwardly at the thought. Somehow it meant a lot to him that she remembered things like that. "Yeah. Sometimes I think you didn't even have nightmares, but you just liked being held by someone."

Akirame blushed. It was true. She rarely had trouble sleeping, she just liked it better when she was with someone. She tried to recall if she had ever done that to her mom, but found that she couldn't remember anything like that. "I miss being a kid." She confessed.

"Who doesn't? I miss being able to live for fun, and not have to constantly worry about how everything's going to turn out."

"Yeah. Hmm.... I wish we could act just like we did when we were kids, you know? Just being all... cute and stuff."

"Yeah, true. You look tired." Riku took the pillow he was laying against and placed it in his lap. "You can lay down if you want."

Akirame bit her lip and looked at him for a moment, trying to fight off the temptation to do so. "What if I fall asleep?" She asked, placing her glass aside on a coffee table.

"I'll wake you up if I have to." He said, signaling with his head for her to rest.

"Mmm... if someone sees us?"

"No big deal. I'll just tell them you couldn't fall asleep. What are you so paranoid about?"

"I'm.... I don't know, actually. I just guess... I wouldn't want anyone to get any weird ideas."

Riku rolled his eyes and finally reached out to grab her arm and dragged her towards him, making her give up and finally lay her head on the pillow. She lay there on her side facing away from him, enjoying the silence, minus the ticking of a nearby clock. She slowed her breathing and tried to stay awake while Riku gently ran his fingers over her arm, making her eyes roll into the back of her head.

Riku sat with his head propped up with his hand, resting his elbow on the couch's arm. He found himself slowly slipping into oblivion, just sitting there while tracing patterns on her smooth, untouched skin. He smiled at the wonder that she hadn't gotten so much as a sunburn, as zealously as he guarded her. He had managed to keep her in perfect condition. He silently wondered if he had even so much as blinked when his other friends had taken a blow. Hmm... he'd have to stop being so biased in the future. He ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it out of her face. But for now, he would just allow himself to drift, here with a precious gem in his lap.

Kira quietly turned the knob and opened the door. "Good, no one's awake." She muttered, letting Erik in before shutting the door as silently as possible.

Erik took a few steps in and noticed the two forms on the couch. "Shh... someone's on the couch." He whispered, tip-toeing over to see who it was. "Oh my gosh... can't believe it." He said, motioning for Kira to come look.

"What is it?" She asked, looking over his shoulder.

"It's Akirame and Riku." He smirked, fighting the urge to wake everyone up to see.

"Awww... they look so cute together. Look at how peaceful Riku's face looks." She said, crossing her arms and smiling.

"Hmm... guess those two really were made for each other." He said, putting his hands behind his head.

"Who said that?" She asked, looking at his face.

"Everyone. Except for me, I guess... oh well. Can't fight it. So... should we wake them up?" He said, trying to cast the matter aside.

"Yeah... I just hope they're not embarrassed." She said, walking closer to them.

"True. But.... as far as I know, they're just friends. No biggie, right?" He asked her.

"I guess... I know next to nothing about all of you guys, except now, I'm really glad that you finally told me everything."

Erik bit his lip. He hadn't told her everything. He had yet to really expound any details about his past life. He had barely covered the basics of the tortured mess of his memories. He had no reason to tell anyone. He would eventually grow out of it. He reached out and gently shook Riku's shoulder. "Hey man. Riku, wake up! It's five a.m."

Riku woke up with a startle. "Huh? Oh man... I'm up." He stretched and gently shook Akirame, who reluctantly rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.

"Get up Akira! It's either very early or very late, but we got to get in bed." Riku said, trying to stand up.

"Mmmph." Akirame finally sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. "Good dream too." She mumbled before standing and stretching. "Hey guys... what are you doing dressed?"

Erik and Kira shrugged. "We went for a short walk." Kira said, wanting to get some sleep.

"Cool...whatever, nice, yeah, blah blah blah, let me go to bed." Riku quickly dismissed, walking towards the stairs.

"Sure thing." Erik said, following after.

"Well, I'm with them." And with that, the three exhausted guests ascended the stairs and went into their respective rooms.

Kira stood there for a moment, wrapping her arms around herself. Something about those three struck her in a peculiar way... almost like.... they were meant to be... She shook her head to clear her mind and headed down the hall to her room.