A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one-shot, which takes place during KH1. It's a sequel to "The Silver-haired Stranger." Now on with the story. Enjoy reading! ;D

~ "Hey, now that I think of it, shouldn't a sweet little boy like you be sleeping now? It's almost ten p.m. you know? Far too late for you to stay awake, right?" ~

Since that last unforgettable meeting with that lively girl of a week ago, Riku felt himself even more attracted to the cozy place that was called Traverse Town. From that one encounter on, he was found almost every night sitting on the high rooftops, located in the Second District, which was close to the Gizmo Shop. His aquamarine eyes scanned the area thoroughly every now and then, as if in search for something, or, in this case, a certain someone. Until now it had been all for nothing, because he hadn't seen Yuffie ever since.

Maybe he was waiting for her on the wrong side of the town, on the wrong roofs. Perhaps she rarely went to this district, but would be easily found in the crowded parts of this world. After all, he'd heard that this was the most dangerous District. He didn't like crowds, though. He didn't want that more people knew about his existence, so he avoided them as much as he could. This was why he had chosen for these rooftops to be his hang-out for the time being. This world was nothing like the Islands. He started to wonder whether Yuffie had told someone already about him, in the hope to just get his name out of one of the inhabitants. Maybe she did. If so, he already knew she wouldn't succeed. The townsfolk would think she was crazy, or something.

He certainly had many questions for her the next time they would see each other. That was, if they would ever meet again. Deep in his heart he surely hoped so. It almost felt like the small glimmer of hope that still was there somewhere deep inside his heart was the only reason that kept him alive, keeping him from being seduced to the darkness that Maleficent had offered to him many times already.

He sighed wearily, running a gloved hand through his glossy, silky smooth hair. The quest for Sora had turned out to be much worse than he could ever have dreamed of. All he still had to do was find Kairi. He really hoped that she hadn't replaced him by other new, better friends, like Sora had done already.

Riku frowned. After that dark thought something in him began to sting, somewhere near his heart... or was it through his heart? He didn't know, but it took his breath away and made his eyes water. He blinked his eyes furiously a couple of times to get away the tears that were starting to blur his vision. He barely succeeded.

His eternal reverie was abruptly put to and end when, surprisingly enough, someone took place next to him. Completely flabbergasted, he turned his head to the right to look at that person, planning to cast them away since he had been at this place first. He certainly didn't need any company, no matter who it was. He became amazed when he saw who it was that sat next to him. Beside him, on his right side to be more precise, was the girl he had wanted to see so badly. Yuffie, the great ninja of Traverse Town. Immediately, his heart jumped a few meters from the happiness from seeing her again, even though he was sure she couldn't see that from his calm and collected appearance. On the inside, though, he was feeling more like the opposite.

He tried to suppress the little smile of joy that had appeared on his face out of nowhere. "So we meet again?" he said, eyeing her.

Her short black hair glistened slightly in the light that the streetlamps provided, but not nearly as much as her big, chocolate brown eyes did when she turned her head to look at him. Her goofy grin was still on its place. She hadn't changed a bit, but then again, he had seen her a week ago for the last time. He shouldn't expect anything else.

"Apparently. I think that's for not telling me your name and running away like some kind of a coward who's gotta be hiding something," she noted.

Touché. He should've seen that one coming. He hadn't, though.

"I'm not a coward and if you really want to know it so desperately, the name's Riku. Now stop bugging me."

He tried to sound aloof and indifferent by turning away after what he had said, but he actually did care what she would think of him. And to be honest, he didn't want her to stop 'bugging' him at all, because he actually liked being 'bugged' by her... as weird as that sounded.

"Bugging you? What are you talking about? This is only the second time in less than two weeks that I see you again. That's no bugging. It's called coincidence. They can happen," she protested indignantly, putting her arms on her hips and bending slightly toward his way.

His heart skipped a beat or two at their sudden closeness, but he moved back. "Well, then that's exactly two times too much."

Her mouth fell open at his sudden, harsh immediacy, her eyebrows practically disappearing in her hairline as she raised them. "Meanie," she eventually whispered, grumpily.

The tendency to smile overwhelmed him once again, even more when he saw that she was pouting. She sounded and looked so adorably cute.

"Well, welcome to the harsh reality, where everyone in the world is mean. I thought you had grown up enough already to notice it. Guess I'm wrong about that one." She stuck her tongue out at him in a rather childlike manner, which caused him to roll his strikingly colored eyes. "Oh, very mature," he commented dryly.

"So? I don't want to be mature. Everybody's acting mature these days. It's not funny anymore," she reproached.

She sounded so incredibly naive. He couldn't help but laugh at that. He almost jumped when hearing his own laughter again. He hadn't done it for such a long time that it sounded very strange and out of place now. He even had to get used to it.

"Why are you laughing? I'm being serious."

Now she sounded slightly confused, but also cute in some sort of way. Wait, why was he even thinking that?

He shook his head to get rid of those peculiar thoughts. "It's because I like your logic. It's quite different from other people," he replied, truthfully, because she had that kind of impact on him that made his mouth run.

She cocked her head to the side, still looking at him with a suspicious expression. "Different in a good or a bad way?"

He thought about it for a short while. "Different in a unique way... Which is...good, I guess."

She smiled sweetly. "Oh. Okay. Thanks, I guess," she chirped, happily.

"You're welcome... I guess."

She laughed a little. He noticed that he liked the cheerful and almost carefree sound. It sounded like a sweet melody of his childhood. One that his mother would sing to him whenever he woke up from a terrifying nightmare.

They had both realized that they had started to ramble at this point, so they were silent from that moment on, while they looked at the many twinkling stars above them. Some of them went out as time expired. They were probbaly gone forever, like a broken light bulb that couldn't be fixed anymore. He had to admit that he enjoyed her company, even though she said nothing right now. It surely was something different from being accompanied by a villain like Maleficent all the friggin' time. He wondered how long it would take the carefree girl to break the silence again. Knowing her, she would start babbling again in no time.

He just had thought about it, when she started speaking again, while ruffling through his silky smooth hair so it got all entangled. "Hey, now that I think of it, shouldn't a sweet little boy like you be sleeping now? It's almost ten p.m. you know? Far too late for you to stay awake, right?"

"Hey, cut it out!" Riku cried irritably, knocking her hand away with his gloved one. He then snorted, while trying to smooth down his long, silver hair with his hands. "I don't think I want to know what that was all about, but who's calling who little here? I bet I'm even older than you, 'cause I'm fifteen already and I'm taller than you."

Not that the latter made any difference, but whatever.

Apparently, he'd said something very funny, because the next thing she did was laugh. "Haha, I'm sixteen, so nyuh! And you know what? Length doesn't matter at all."

She punched him lightly, and probably playfully, in the arm.

The girl was stronger than he'd thought, because he cetainly felt that... and it kinda hurt, too. Rubbing said arm, he spoke, demanding, "I don't believe you. Prove it."

"Hah, why should I? It's not my problem that you don't believe the truth... What are you doing here all alone, anyway?"

'Waiting for a chance to catch a glimpse of you' would have been the only right answer, but he didn't even think about saying something close to it. She would probably laugh at him, right in his face and he couldn't even blame her for it. It sounded way too cheesy to be believable. After all, he had only met her once. And hell, even he couldn't believe it.

"Thinking," he then replied, in a matter-of-factly way.

On second thought, that wasn't even a lie, because he did do a lot of thinking up here. It had to do something with the peaceful serenity that he didn't get elsewhere, especially not when he was around that old hag Maleficent.

"I see. Just don't think too much, or it might confuse you in the end and you'll be brooding for your life then. I'm speaking out of experience now."

He started to smirk, becoming slightly amused. "Oh, believe me; it takes a lot to get me confused, but thanks for the warning."

A quiet beat passed between them, before Yuffie started once again, "So ehm, do you want me to leave? So you can think in peace, I mean?"

He couldn't help but notice that she sounded a bit nervous here and he wondered why.

The silver-haired boy didn't want her to leave, though, for she was the only reason he kept coming back here in the first place. "No, you can stay. As long as you keep your bad puns to yourself, that is."

This earned him a roll of her dark eyes. "I never make bad puns, Riku."

That was the first time she had called him by his name. He liked the easy way it rolled off her tongue, like she'd said it so many times before... even if it gave him goosebumps.

He quirked a thin, silver eyebrow at her. "So now we're lying, too? Or do you really think I'll actually buy that?"

"As if! I never lie...well, maybe except for now."

He started to laugh again, muttering something that sounded a lot like, "Silly."

"There you see? That was funny, right? It would explain the laughing."

"Maybe... What about you? It's the first time I've seen you up here," he started, trying not to sound as interested as he really felt at the moment.

At once, her face fell after he had said that. Riku almost felt sorry for asking. He wished he could take it back. What could it possibly have been that it had made her so upset in the first place? This emotion didn't suit her at all.

She looked at her knees, as if those were the most interesting objects she had ever seen. "I just...had another fight... with Squall."

Her voice had become a barely audible whisper in the end. Riku's brows furrowed. He was quite sure that he had heard that name somewhere before... but where? Then he remembered. He had heard it from Yuffie herself, not too long ago.

"That guy who was, according to you, very handsome?"

Immediately, her head snapped up to look at him again with big, questioning eyes. A mixure of surprise and shock was written all over her face, as she dared to ask him, "How do you know?"

"I can read your mind... Plus, you told me last time."

"I thought you said you didn't care?"

At that time he really didn't, for he had had other things on his mind. Important things. He certainly did care now, though. Not that she would ever be able to discover that. He'd rather jump off this roof and die than tell her right away.

Running a hand through his silver locks, he let her know, "I don't. It's just that I don't forget things that are said that easily. I'm still young and I have a long term memory."

She started to smirk at that. It almost felt as if she could read his mind, or see the truth hidden in his eyes. This made him blush slighty and he hoped to god that Yuffie couldn't see it.

"Uh-huh. Suuure."

He only gave her a flat look. "What, you don't believe me?" he asked.

"Oh, I didn't say that."

"But you sure thought it."

"...Maybe," she said with a mischievous wink.

This conversation was probably going nowhere if he kept on reacting on what she said.

He decided to get to the point now, for it was now or never. "What was the fight about anyway?"

She sighed lightly, starting to play with the end of her yellow scarf, almost as though she didn't dare to look at him. It was then that he noticed how her cheeks had a faint pink blush on them. Was it really that bad?

"Oh, the usual stuff. He said I shouldn't call him Squall, but I still did and that pissed him off."

Now he was confused. "Why can't you call him that? I thought that's his name?"

"It is, but he changed it in Leon when we came here, because he couldn't forgive himself for not being able to help the other victims of those Heartless. It's a long story, actually."

"Oh..."

"I'm not going to tell his story now, though. It would probably ruin your night."

Riku nodded, knowing that she had a point there. "Okay."

"Anyway, so after he told me to call him Leon, I said I refused to, because Squall suited him better. Then he got mad and said really mean things to me, so I ran away. Again," she sighed. "I really hate it when he treats me like a little child. I mean, I'll be eighteen in two years, but they still treat me like that helpless, seven year-old girl I used to be a long time ago. Because that's what I am in their eyes and probably always will be. It's just not fair."

Before the male teen could stop himself, he said, "Then I don't think he deserves you at all. Forget about him."

She looked at him in a strange way, blinking her eyes several times. "Forget him? I can't just do that! That's kinda hard."

"And why is that?"

The raven-haired ninja gulped, before replying, "Because we live in the same house and... he's my fighting partner."

For Riku, that wasn't a counting reason. "So? Get another one. It's as simple as that."

"Yeah, maybe for you, but I don't think he would allow me and neither will Aerith. They both think I'm too young and he's the strongest guy of this world. You just can't say 'no' to someone like him. He can make you feel terrible with just one look. Besides, I don't think I can find a fighting partner who's as good as him."

"I see," Riku said, quietly.

To be honest, he didn't like the way this Squall-guy seemed to be controlling her life. Just who the hell did the man think he was? Was she too blind to see what he was doing to her? He was killing her from the inside; stealing her happiness from her by everything he said and did to her. And still, after all these things, she didn't want to leave his side, just because the guy was oh so handsome and her fighting partner, too. He seemed to be like a bully and by the looks of it, she still had a crush on him. How was this possible? He probably was one or two years older than her, too. He had to be when he was behaving like a complete asshole, telling her what to do.

"Just how old is this Squall?"

She looked down and muttered something incoherently.

Riku quirked a thin eyebrow. "What? I didn't quite catch that."

Yuffie, in return sighed quietly, letting go of her scarf's end. "I said... he's twenty-five."

What? He almost proceeded to choke on air. Nine years difference and she still was head over heels for him? What in the...

"Is there something wrong?"

Yeah. What, about everything?

"No, nothing," he lied convincingly.

"Okay. Well, I've gotta go now, before Mr. McGrumpy finds me and starts bitchin' around again. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was that time of the month for him. But that's not possible, since he's a guy. So I guess I'll... see you around?" she asked, hesitantly.

"That depends on you, actually. I'll be here every night, so if you want to see me, then you can come over here."

She smiled a little, while getting up. It was a wonder she didn't fall over her scarf in the process.

"Okay. And just so you know, it's always night here. Does that mean you'll always be here, Rikster?"

He rolled his eyes once again. "What do you think, smartass? I told you to keep the bad puns for yourself. And the name's Riku."

She rolled her eyes once again, in a way only she could do. Then she waved at him and turned to leave.

"Bye," he called after her.

"See ya when I see ya!"

He watched her jump from rooftop to rooftop, graceful and precise like a cat, seeming to know what she was doing. Talking to her certainly had eased his mind for some unknown reason. More than he had expected. She'd taken a huge load off his shoulders. And seeing her had made him feel so much lighter, as if all his worries had vanished with her. Perhaps she had experienced the very same thing when she had talked about that Squall guy. He had learned one thing, though. Her puns and jokes weren't actually that bad at all. That would stay his little secret, though, just in case she would start to tease him about that.

A/N: Thanks for reading this! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ Reviews are highly appreciated! :)