"Leon, don't forget: Today you have to show around the newcomer."
Aerith, the Lady in Pink, covered her mouth with one hand. To Leon, it looked like she was hiding a small smile but he didn't mention. Instead, he just sighed, rubbed his scar and looked down at the breakfast table.
"Can't anyone else do it? I was going to get an early start on the north wall…"
He caught the look the normally peaceful woman gave him- a look that promised a painful death, generally reserved only for those foolish enough to trample her flowers- and sighed again. "Fine, fine."
The look dropped and she smiled cheerfully at him before reaching out to tweak some of his hair that was in his face. "Thanks, Leon. Besides, you know no one else can do it today. I would do it myself but I have a ton of baking to do…and you need a haircut. I liked it the way you had it when you were young."
Leon looked away. "…whatever."
"Cheer up! You don't have to get it cut right now. Now go meet the newcomer. I think you'll like him. And don't forget the gift basket!"
"…how could I forget it?"
One last time he sighed, grabbed the basket from the bench and left to face his fate.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
The image of Leon walking down the streets of Radiant Garden, basket in hand, amused most of the inhabitants, and Leon knew it.
"…Why me?" He glared at a laughing kid running past, making his way to the marketplace, where he had been told the newcomer was. It was its normal, bustling self, but one person stood out. That person was dressed in black, with blonde hair, sticking in all directions, leaning against the wall, looking quite uninterested. Then there was the oversized sword strapped to his back.
…Maybe he's compensating?
Leon would have at least half smiled at that thought if he wasn't in such a bad mood.
"You the newcomer?"
"Yeah. Cloud."
"Leon. Here." He thrust the basket at the blond.
"...Chocolate?" Cloud raised his eyebrow. In the under a minute he'd known the brunet, he'd swear before a Grand Jury that this Leon person wasn't the kind of guy that just gave out chocolate.
"It's not from me. It's from the other members of the Restoration Committee. Now, either follow me or stumble your own way around. I don't care which." Leon left, a scowl on his face and thunder clouds rumbling.
Cloud shook his head and after a moment followed the other man, already munching on a bar of chocolate.
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Well there you go. Different from the original first chapter, but better. Drop us a line. Apparently, if you review Gackt will descend from the heavens and praise you himself.