Rei: I had to do the back story, and I wanted to do an akuroku. So, this fit perfectly. This is my pet project, my older love-child. The other is Affliction & Conviction. Do you have to read it? No. But it would be nice if you do. Affliction & Conviction will be put on hold. On the bright side, this story won't have a bazillion of chapters, I'm sure. They'll be long chapters though... XD I think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor any of the songs from the sound track… :P

Dedicated to- Meleiyu. I love her story, 'Love Your Servant.' It's beautiful. GO READ IT.

Summary: -the story behind the story- this is Sora before he met Riku for the second time, Sora when he first decided to take that assignment… Sora, when he was Roxas. -Akuroku- -Cleon- -Prequel to affliction & conviction-

Note: There's not a whole lot of Riku in this chapter. But enjoy it while you can- after this chapter he's gone until a certain point.

Deep Dive- chapter one- Sora

"Speech"

'Thought'

Flash back

In the Sacred Heart Sanctuary Orphanage, Destiny Islands-

Normal POV

It was a chilly autumn day in Destiny Islands, or as chilly as you could get on a tropical chain of islands. The wind briskly whistled through the trees, teasing hats off of men and women alike as it traveled. The sun was not setting yet, as it would normally in other places, but darkened somewhat, letting the inhabitants of the town know that it was near the time for which they were supposed to sleep, and that the sky would soon be dark. So they hurried off, eager to get into their warm beds. In the Sacred Heart Sanctuary Orphanage, the orphanage workers urged the children playing outside to come inside for the evening meal.

All except for one little boy.

Little Sora sat upon the wood plank of the swing, staring out at the orange glow of the sun's rays on the sky. His eyes were the like his name- the sky reflected in the cerulean shade. His hair was spiky, and it looked like milk chocolate, with a hint of cinnamon. His outfit was plain- a pair of red pants, flat-soled shoes, and a black-and-white sweatshirt. The only accessories he possessed was a silver chained necklace- which held a crown pendant in the middle, and a similar chain of smaller silver crown pendants, which hung near the pocket of his left leg. All in all, Sora was about six years old.

Sora's mind had been on dinner, but he had wanted to watch the clouds just a while longer. One volunteer at the orphanage, a kindly brunette named Aerith, allowed it, but watched him from the entrance to the mess hall. However, his day dreams were interrupted when he and Aerith both heard the creak of the main gate- signaling visitors.

Sora looked up excitedly over to the wrought-iron fence- and stared back into the eyes of the tallest visitor, which were a bright orange. That had scared him a little, but he was a big boy, he wouldn't show that he was scared. He wanted Kairi to like him after all!

The other visitors were a very short man, which seemed to be not a man at all (with his huge ears), a tall, long-haired brunet in leather, and a spiky blond male in a unique black outfit. They were all looking over at Sora.

Regardless, Aerith called him over to her side, watching them with slightly wary eyes, yet smiled at them anyway. She set her hand on top of Sora's head. She had always been fond of Sora. "Hello there! What can I do for you?"

The tallest one with the scary orange eyes answered in a deep, almost stern voice, "We would like to see the woman in charge, Ms. Tifa Lockheart. We have business to discuss with her."

"Right this way then." Aerith didn't know what business they had with Tifa, but whatever it was, it didn't sound very good (from their tone of voice). She showed them to Tifa's office, which was filled with squishy armchairs. There was a fireplace, and a simple oak desk. They settled in, and waited.

Aerith was about to go leave and get some snacks for the visitors when she realized she had bumped into her little shadow. Sighing, she kneeled down. "Sora, aren't you going to go eat?"

Sora fidgeted. "I want to see why they came here, Aery!"

She waved her finger in the no-no gesture. "I'm sorry Sora, but they aren't to be disturbed. They came to have a serious meeting with Auntie Tifa, so we can't bother them."

"But…"

Sora didn't even have time to pout before Aerith revealed her trump card- "they're having ravioli tonight."

Sora's eyes got huge. "They're having ravioli?! And garlic bread?! And mashed potatoes?!"

Aerith nodded, smiling. 'The only time something gets in the way of his appetite is his curiosity…' It was cute.

Sora grabbed her hand, "let's go!" Already he was drooling at the prospect of consuming that lovely, hot food, prepared by the best chef ever- Aunt Flora. As he took Aerith to the mess hall, Tifa Lockheart herself was sitting down to the meeting with the four strangers.

She was a lovely woman. Her eyes were a russet color, and her brown hair was almost black. Tifa's lips were set in a no-nonsense look, just like the rest of her outfit, a conservative fighter's outfit. Black leather blanketed her hands as she clasped them together. "So, what can I do for you gentlemen?"

"That boy who was with the brunette just a few minutes ago. The spiky brown haired boy- who is he?" The spiky blond spoke up first, surprising Tifa. She looked him over- he was light-skinned, muscular… handsome. But business came first.

"His name is Sora."

"Can you tell us more?" This request came from the brunet, whose blue eyes seemed to pierce into hers as he laid a light hand on the blond's thigh. The blond blushed, and tried to take it off, but the hand remained. The blond settled for staring away with a disgruntled expression. Tifa's eyebrows rose, but answered the question.

"I could. But as it is my right to ask: what do you want Sora for?"

"That boy is special." The tallest one, who was wearing a strange dark red cape and had the orange eyes answered this time. "His heart is full of light, untouched by the taint of darkness."

Tifa gave them a strange look, but let it pass within a few seconds. "Yes, he is. He's been here since he was a baby, yet he has never asked about why he is here or where his parents are. He's a great comfort among the other children too."

"I'm sure he is. The Key to our success."

"The Key?" Tifa was starting to become wary, she wasn't sure she liked that man. But the smallest person… mouse? He looked like a mouse to her, but he reassured her with his kind, squeaky voice.

"Don't worry. He always talks in riddles. What we really want here is that these two men- Cloud and Squall Leonhart- wish to adopt Sora. They heard that this is the only place where married couples like them could adopt a child."

Tifa relaxed somewhat; the squeaky guy sounded genuine, and the two men didn't look very bad either- it was just the tall man who made her suspicious. "Very well then, you may fill out the paperwork, however: the law requires…"

Cloud, the blond, filled in the rest of her sentence: "that visitation shall be made every so often during the year to acquaint with the child, then once good progress is made, the expectant parents are allowed to take the child home a few days once in a while. When a year has passed, the child will be allowed to live permanently with the couple if they wish to, and if the home has been deemed acceptable."

Tifa smiled. "You sure do know your stuff. Here." She gave him the clipboard of all the numerous forms and a pen. "Please start filling this out now. Once you are finished, would you like to meet Sora?"

"Yes. That would work well." Leon muttered while rubbing the bridge of his scarred nose and forehead, and peered at the papers.

Once they were done, they all rose upward and Tifa proceeded to take them to the dormitories, as she explained that dinner had just been concluded. They walked past small groups of children who trickled into rooms, who whispered in anticipation of the strangers' arrival.

They went up a spiral staircase, and soon arrived in front of a door that was numbered 813- but that wasn't the interesting part, the interesting part was the scribbled inscriptions of 'Land & Sky were here' upon the door. This made the tallest man chuckle, which made Tifa pause before she knocked on the wood. "Sora, some people are here to see you!"

They heard a pattern of hurried footsteps before the door was opened. "Auntie Tifa!" The little brunet gave Tifa a hug before peeking out shyly from behind her. "Who're they?"

Cloud stepped forward. "I'm Cloud Leonhart. It's nice to meet you, Sora." He knelt down so that he was at Sora's eye level, offering his hand. While doing so, he couldn't help but notice a silver-haired boy older than Sora peering out from inside the room at him, but put it out of his mind.

Sora looked at it for a second, before taking it and shaking it. With that, he gave Cloud a sweet smile. "I'm Sora! It's nice to meet you too!" Cloud felt his heart soften in the wake of the smile; it was heart-warming. Then Sora turned to the brunet, Squall, and tilted his head. "Who is this guy?"

"The name is Squall. I'm Squall Leonhart." Squall gave Sora one of his rare welcoming smiles in order to make him more comfortable with him. It worked, and Sora gave him one back.

Sora looked at the mousey-like guy and blinked. "S'cuse me sir, are you a mouse?"

Tifa looked at him and scolded him lightly. "Sora! That's not very nice…"

Sora looked down at his feet and scuffed the top of his shoe against the wooden floor. "Sorry, sir. Your ears just look like a mouse's ears."

The squeaky guy laughed, and then patted the top of Sora's head. "It's okay Sora. I am a mouse- Mickey Mouse." Then he took off his hood, and you could see he was a real mouse.

Tifa gaped. How dumb of her, to not have recognized him?! He was the King of his own world, far away from Destiny Islands, although just a little closer to her own native world, Radiant Garden. She curtsied quickly.

Sora looked confused, yet excited. "So you are a mouse? Cool!"

Mickey just laughed at that, until the tallest guy cleared his throat. Sora looked at him warily. 'It's that creepy guy from before!'

"So we meet at last. My name… is Ansem the Wise."

Another person Tifa hadn't recognized until now! She felt a little exasperated. Everyone knew who Ansem the Wise was. He was the leading expert on the strange, malicious creatures called the Heartless, and he had vowed to stop them from ravaging the worlds. He also had a group of six apprentices who worked under him to determine why and where the Heartless came from. She curtsied to him too, even though his eyes were still a little unnerving to her.

Sora waited a full minute before he shook the man's hand. He mistrusted him a bit, but his overall cheeriness won out and he gave the man his name with vigor. However, he'd like to think that he liked Cloud the best out of all of the men, so he went to stand by him. It wasn't long before Sora heard a cough from in his room. His eyes lit up; both with guilt and with happiness, if that was possible (only for Sora xD). He found his best friend standing at the corner of the door, looking a little offended.

He ran and tackled Riku. "I'm sorry Riku! What do you think of Cloud? And King Mickey?! He's a mouse! Did you see?!" The hyper six-year old was sitting atop his best friend, who had pure silver tresses and aquamarine eyes. The boy was one year older than Sora, and looked a little uncomfortable with Sora on top of him.

"Yes, Sora, I saw it. Can you please get off me though?"

Sora laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek before climbing off and helping his blushing friend up. Cloud and Squall gave each other a look; one was smug and the other just knew. Tifa watched this exchange with eyes that spoke volumes: she was used to this sort of stuff. Little kids showed off public displays of affection all the time, and it wasn't like she hadn't seen teenage boys kissing while she was younger. It made no difference to her.

"Anyway, Sora, these men would like to get to know you better. So please answer any question they might have for you, okay?" Tifa had other duties to get to, but she could ask one of the girls to come up and supervise.

He nodded and gave her one last hug before him and the guests went to sit in the boys' room. Within minutes, a blonde girl with many braids and a lengthy ponytail arrived. Sora glomped her with an affection cry of "Two Ks!" 'Two Ks,' otherwise known as Rikku, hugged him back.

"I'm happy to see you too Sora! I get to hang out with you for a while!" Then she saw the other men, and introduced herself. A while after, the questioning began.

The questions were simple, Sora found no qualms in answering him, 'cause he didn't mind talking about his favorite colors or anything like that.

An hour later, the men left, with Squall and Cloud promising to come back within the week. Sora was happy, he liked them; especially Cloud and King Mickey. And Squall made the funniest faces when Sora asked him if he liked kittens or puppies better! It was a good day for him, and he went to bed eagerly anticipating their arrival.

Days passed. Cloud and Squall kept their promise, although they did not come back with King Mickey or Ansem this time. However, Sora still had fun; they played with him and pushed him on the swings! Even Riku joined in, once he felt like they weren't going to hog Sora if he asked if he could play too.

Twelve weeks had gone by and Sora was now allowed to go out to public places with Squally (as he liked to call him), and Cloud. Sometimes one of the workers would come with, usually Aerith or Rikku. Sora didn't mind, he liked being surrounded by his favorite people. The only problem he had was that poor Riku didn't get to come with too, and get to try the local treat- sea salt ice cream, which Sora got addicted to.

It had been six months or so since Sora had first met Cloud and Squall, and it would be his first time going to their house and not having anyone else come with (well, except that one time, but Aerith said it was a good home for him)! He had a great time, although some days were trying for Cloud and Squall when he learned when not to go into their room unannounced (if they were doing something), or that he shouldn't eat so much ice cream (he threw up). And it was the first time Sora had ever really stayed with any grown ups, and slept in their bed with them, feeling like he had a family. The guilt sometimes came though, when he had nightmares and expected Riku to be there to make them go away- but he wasn't.

When he got home he proceeded to give Riku the biggest hug there ever was, and all was well, but Sora wanted to take Riku with too.

Finally Riku got his own taste of being with family, when a couple came in and fell in love with his politeness and playful smarts. They were Cerise Karada, and Mr. Daren Karada. Sora liked them; they were nice to him too and really cared about Riku. He no longer got those sad looks when Sora went to sleep over at the Leonharts, and no longer felt guilty when he brought home a new gift. Riku got his own, and Sora shared his toys with the other kids, and was cheered when all four possible parents brought some new toys for the kids of the orphanage for the holidays.

Spring arrived when Sora was allowed to stay at the Leonharts for longer amounts of time, and even go out of the city with them. Sora was awed by their first trips to the beach- he hadn't been there since the last field trip there, when Sora was four. He played for hours in the soft sand, and napped on the beach when he got tired. It was paradise.

It was in the warm months of June when Sora's birthday arrived; and they all celebrated first at the orphanage, with a splendid lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sea-salt ice cream, fruit, and other assorted snacks. Then they all hung out, and Sora got a picture of himself and Riku with twin smiles on their faces. Afterwards, Sora spent the night at the Leonharts, where he got to meet some more of the Leonharts friends and reminded himself they could now be his friends too. It made him smile.

And when the breezy winds of fall came back, Sora found himself tearfully saying goodbye to all the staff, and the kids. Sora even said goodbye to all the animals on the property of the orphanage. When the time came for him to go, he found himself flinging his arms around Riku in the longest goodbye hug he had ever given. He promised that he would still see Riku again, and Riku agreed, because in another six months, he'd be with his new family too. They would go over to each others humble abodes, and be best friends forever. He even made Riku promise to take care of Kairi- the little redhead that Sora used to have a crush on a long time ago, who had been their friend.

However… this did not last forever.

Sora and his parents were forced to move out, due to tight finances and the fact that Cloud had somehow picked up a crazy silver-haired stalker was making Squall paranoid that he was going to break into their house and either a) rape Cloud b) kidnap Sora so that he could get Cloud in return and then rape him or c) set fire to their home. Sora never got to tell Riku, and he only hoped that he could find him again someday and make sure he was okay.

So they moved; Squall changed his first name to Leon- how creative- to throw off the stalker, and Cloud enrolled Sora in the Twilight Town elementary school. There, Sora met some great friends- Hayner, the local punk-wannabe that was always raring to fight Seifer (the town bully), Pence, the chubby boy with the gift of intelligence and a love for food (like Sora), and Olette, the responsible member who always made sure they did their homework (and made them take her shopping in return). Sora loved his new friends, but he did miss his old ones.

One day when Sora was 16, it was an unusually dark night. He had to stay late at school to make up a test, and with winter approaching, day light savings time was over. It was only about six o'clock and since Sora had missed the train that took him home, he had to walk. He felt chills prickle his spine as he traversed the darker alleyways of the downtown part of the town, and the full moon didn't make him feel any better, only giving him some light to go by besides the occasional glare of a club's neon lights.

He was only a few blocks home when he experienced his first heartless attack. A small, almost bug-like creature with glowing yellow eyes had lurched towards him, reaching out to grasp Sora's light-filled heart. If consumed, it would be something the heartless could delight in the after taste for weeks.

Sora flung his arms out in front of his person, hoping to stave off the attack, and closed his eyes. He thought he was going to die, but fate had something else in mind- and the whole world froze.

End of chapter one

Rei: Well wasn't that exciting:D This chapter took me a few hours to finish. I'm excited at how it turned out, and I hope you are too. Are you stimulated enough to give me a review? I hope so. 'Cause if you don't, I'll be sad. :P

Notes: In case anyone was wondering, the stalker is of course Sephiroth (XD). Also, for the system of adoption... my aunt is currently going through the process of adoption, and I did listen to some of it, but otherwise I did make this up. I went with whatever made sense to me, and I hope it makes sense for you all too. And yes, I did make Sora much older for his first heartless attack- why? It's because I think fourteen is a little too young for him to (later) enter a relationship with someone who is probably at least seven years older than him. And plus Sora's much cuter when he's older. XD Any other questions can be answered via review replies or PMs.