A/N Hi folks!! I've been debating on re-writing chapter 14 and finally I decided that I wanted to. So to all my new and old readers. This is the re-write of chapter 14: Body Heat. Please review! Let me know if you like this one better then the last. Thank you.
Sora's eyes went even wider when he realized what he had just done. 'Oh no, I've ruined everything now.'
Still somewhat in shock, Riku did not say anything for a few minutes.
Sora, misunderstanding Riku's silence, started to cry; the meaning of Riku's silence hit him hard.
'He hates me. What am I going to do now? I can't live without Riku in my life.' Sora looked down, biting his lower lip.
Sora took a shuddering breath, "it's okay. I-I understand, you don't have to say anything." Sora whispered. "I-I expected you wouldn't feel the same way." Standing up, Sora took off, before Riku even had a chance to open his mouth.
"What? Wait!" Riku jumped up, running after Sora. When he got outside, Riku shivered as the night are rushed pass him. Looking around him, he frowned; there was no sight of Sora.
'Where did he go?' Riku put a hand over his eyes, scanning the area. His long silver hair whipped around his head as the wind picked up.
Squinting his eyes, Riku could swear he could see someone out on the beach setting off for Play Island in a tiny row boat.
(It's different here, so pay attention.. hehe)
"Hey you!"
Riku looked behind him, seeing a old fisherman, "yeah?" Riku asked.
"Don't go near the water. A bad storm is coming. I can feel it in me bones." The man waved, walking toward his house, "it would be suicide to go on the water."
Riku nodded, "all right . . ." Riku said forgetting about the figure he'd seen on the water, the man's warning running through his mind.
---
"Do you think Sora's okay?" Roxas muttered, looking around at everyone.
"I think so, since Riku's with him." Tidus said, "Riku will comfort him."
"And maybe Sora will tell Riku the truth..." Selphie started to say.
"...and maybe Riku will tell Sora..." Wakka added getting interrupted before he could finish by Yuffie jumping up.
"That he loves him!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"You may be getting a little ahead of yourself; I'm sure Riku likes Sora, but I'm not sure about love." Kairi voiced.
"I don't know, my aching jaw says that it's pretty freakin' close to love." Axel said, rubbing said jaw.
"Poor baby," Roxas scooted closer Axel and gently kissed him on the cheek.
Walking over to Axel, Riku pointed at him, "you!"
Axel looked up at Riku, the bruise on his pale face very noticeable. "eh?" Axel subconsciously started to rub his chin, "what?"
Breathing hard, Riku frowned, "Sora's taken off and I can't find him!" Riku bit his lip, "the storm outside is getting worse and I'm worried."
"Oh no," Selphie gasped, "I wonder where he went."
"I'll call his house!" Tidus jumped up, running to Kairi's princess phone. He quickly dialed a number, sighing when someone answered.
"Hello, did Sora come home!?" Tidus asked, worried for his friend.
A young teenage female voice could be heard 'hmming' "nope, I don't think so; let me go double check."
Tidus looked at everyone, "Ellone's double checking, but she doesn't think Sora's came home."
Riku's shoulders slumped; this was his fault as much as it was everyone else's fault 'I should of said something, but I was just so startled.'
"I'm sorry, Sora's not here. I just got home and I haven't seen him at all. Maybe he's at Riku's," Ellone said.
"Oh, okay. Thank you." Tidus hung up the phone. He looked at Riku and shook his head, "no, he didn't go home,"
"We're sorry, Riku!" Kairi exclaimed, "we didn't mean to upset Sora." She lowered her head, a tear falling done her cheek.
"What do you mean "we," it was Axel who kissed Sora?" Riku asked, looking around at everyone.
Roxas set up, "don't be mad at Axel, he didn't mean anything by the kiss...we were just trying..."
"It's like this..." Selphie started to say.
"We'll explain later; no time! We have to find Sora!" Wakka stood up, pulling Tidus and Yuffie to their feet. "we'll head to the school; Roxas and Axel head towards town; Selphie, Kairi and Riku head toward the park."
"Right!" Selphie nodded, "it's pouring out, so everyone take umbrellas."
Everyone rushed toward Kairi's door, grabbing umbrellas on the way.
"Meet back here in twenty minutes." Wakka instructed.
---
"Sora!" Yuffie yelled. She sighed, looking back to Wakka and Tidus. "No luck, I don't see him anywhere and the school doors are locked so he can't be inside."
"Keep looking," Tidus said, scanning the area. "Sora!"
Holding his umbrella tightly, Wakka held onto Tidus with his other arm, trying to keep the blonde warm.
Yuffie nodded, looking around the school grounds. She was without a umbrella, but hardly noticed the rain hitting her. "Sora Leonhart! Are you here? Please answer if you are!" Yuffie shook her head, spraying water everywhere.
"It's been twenty minutes, let's head back to Selphie's" Wakka told Yuffie, handing the umbrella to Tidus. He reached out, pulling the rain drenched ninja to his side, trying to get her under the umbrella as well.
"I hope the others had more luck," Yuffie said, starting to feel the effects of the cold water and the harsh wind.
"Me too." Tidus mumbled, tears in his blue eyes.
---
"We've checked every shop there is!" Roxas pouted, "and there's no sign of Sora. Nobodies seen him."
Axel sighed, "I guess Sora didn't come to town." He held onto Roxas' hand, as the two headed back toward Kairi's.
---
After finding no sight of Sora near or around the park, Selphie, Riku and Kairi headed back toward Kairi's.
When they got back to the house, they could see the other two groups arriving as well and no Sora.
"Well?" Riku put his hands on his hips, looking at everyone.
"No luck." Yuffie said, sneezing.
Roxas frowned, "same here." he said, leaning into Axel's side..
"Where could he be?" Riku clenched his fits, tears coming to his aquamarine eyes. "We looked everywhere."
"I hate to suggest this, but could Sora have tried to go to the island?" Tidus shivered, jumping as thunder boomed.
"Oh no, you don't think...not with this weather." Kairi paled. She didn't want to say that the boat would never make it if Sora hadn't beat the storm.
'It would be suicide to go on the water...' Those words suddenly came back to Riku, making his blood run cold. Why hadn't he thought of that after the fisherman had warned him? 'I saw a figure on the water... but I forgot all about it when he told me not to go on the water.'
"Oh Hyne," Riku started to run toward the boat shed, only to be grabbed by Wakka, "you can't, mon, the storms too much."
"But I have to go get Sora!" Riku struggled to get free.
"You'll be no help to Sora if you're fish food. And that's just what you'll be if you try to go out on the water now!" Kairi yelled, crying.
"I-I don't care... let me go, Sora could be hurt!"
"You can't, please understand, we want to go too, but if we drown, we won't help Sora at all!" Selphie insisted.
"But..." Riku went slack in Wakka's arms, "it's my fault he ran off." Riku whispered, burying his head against Wakka's chest.
Wakka patted Riku on the back, "Shh, Sora will be fine. That kid has lady luck on his side. Remember what happened with the fiend?"
"Y-yeah." Riku nodded.
"He'll make it through this, too."
"So we're going to wait out the storm, then we'll tale boats to Play Island." Tidus said.
"Right, everyone get to my room." Kairi said, "I'll go get us towels."
---
Now dried off and in fresh, borrowed clothes; the boys wearing Cloud's clothes and the girls wearing Kairi's clothes, everyone set in Kairi's room.
Riku set on Kairi's bay window seat, looking out the window.
"Do you guys care to explain now?" Riku whispered.
Kairi nodded, "okay."
Clearing her throat, Kairi explained everything.
"Please don't be mad; we thought we were doing the right thing. Sora was so sad and... we thought that if we tried to make you jealous... well we hoped that you could maybe like Sora back." Kairi said.
"We didn't even know if you liked guys like that, but we all saw hints that you could maybe have feelings for Sora." Selphie added.
Riku looked down, a light blush on his cheeks, "so... Axel... you don't really like Sora?"
"Sora's cute and all, but he's no Roxas." Axel said, looking over to the blonde.
Roxas turned blood red.
"You two really are going out...?" Riku asked.
"Yep!" Roxas nodded.
"Look, look!" Yuffie jumped up, running over to Riku, looking over his shoulders. "the storm!"
"It's clearing!" Selphie clapped.
"Let's go, let's go!"
"No," Riku said, shaking his head, "I need to go on my own. Sora and me need to have a talk." Riku smiled, "Don't worry, I'll bring him back in one peice."
The others nodded understanding.
It might be crazy to go to the island with the threat of the storm coming back but..
Riku clenched his fists. 'Crazy or not, I have to go. I have to reassure him; tell him...'
'...that I do have feelings for him.'
Sora pushed himself up, spitting sand out of his mouth. That was one thing he hated the most about living on the islands; the sand. It got in your clothes, eyes, mouth; it got everywhere.
"Ptt, bleah," Sora brushed his tongue off with his hand. "I hate sand," Sora said, spitting again.
"Sora..."
Jumping, Sora whipped around, his eyes going wide when he saw a ocean drenched Riku. Sora forgot all about his earlier confession, his worry for Riku overcoming him.
"Riku!" Sora ran over to Riku, taking him by the arm; he helped him walk up the beach. "What happened?"
"I c-capsized." Riku said, his teach shattering. The storm had really started to pick up again, and soon, it would be raining again.
Sora's worry grew as he noticed Riku's lips turning blue; he was freezing. "Why Riku, why were you on the water?"
Riku moved closer to Sora, craving the warmth that was emanating from his much dryer body. "I-I came to get you.. find you."
Sora didn't even think to blush, as he held his love close; he ran his hands up and down Riku's arms, trying to get some warmth back into them. "Why?" Sora asked.
"Y-you took off before I could say anything."
"Before you could say..." Sora's eyes went wide, "oh." He looked down, "what did you want to say?"
"I wanted to say..." Riku's teeth chattered much harsher as it started to finally rain. The storm was back.
Sora wanted to hear what Riku wanted to say more then anything, but he knew that it would have to wait. "Come on, Riku, let's go to the shack." Sora tightened his arms around Riku, helping the silver haired walk the short distance to the small shed.
"Were out of the rain, but I-I can't seem to get warm," Riku dropped to the floor, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Your wet clothes, you have to take them... umm, off." Sora looked away from Riku, his cheeks red.
"And yours; you're just as wet as me now." Riku glanced over at Sora, seeing how flustered the younger teen was. "You must be almost as cold as me."
"I-I'm fine."
"You're lying; I know you Sora and I can tell when you're lying."
"Fine, you're right, I'm freezing...but I don't want... you..."
"To see you naked, right?" Riku grinned, "I've seen you naked before, we've bathed together before."
Sora blushed, "Riku, we were toddlers!"
"So we were," Riku said, shivering even more. Sora saw this and started to worry he would start to go into hypothermia.
"Seriously Riku, if you don't take them off, you're going to..."
"I know, I know... But, Sora, I can barely move my fingers, let alone undress myself."
"Oh no, you're that cold...?" Sora walked over to Riku and knelt down next to him. "Do you want me... No, whether you want me to or not, it looks like I'm going to have to undress you."
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