A/N: Okay, I know this is about half the size of the last chapter, but whatevs, amirite?

Right?

No? Okay...

But anywho, this chapter, like the last could use a little revision from me, but I just wanted to get it out there. I have a real itching to start another fic right now, and I'm getting kind of distracted. I don't want to let that take away from this story, so I think I'll leave this for the rest of the day.

I'll be working on The Journey of the Sun and the Moon and Crimson Rivers either later today, or tomorrow, so keep your eyes open. I can't guarantee that I'll have much writing done after Easter, and in very worst case scenario, won't have anything out until this summer. The next break I have after this one is for Memorial Day. Yeah, I know. A long way away, and it'd only be three days. Most weekends (which are my only free time) I have a crapoola of homework, like you wouldn't believe. Yaay honors classes /sarcasm/. I promise to all of you right here and now, That I will try my hardest to get out more chapters! And I'll try to do a little more writing during the week! I promise I won't let you all down again!

Chapter 2: Surprise

"Hey Sora!" A familiar voice calls from down the hallway. Sora's school was the generic High School. Dirty, packed, and filled with teenagers who really need to shower more often. Sora shuts his locker after grabbing all of the books he was going to need for the day. He turns around, to see Roxas standing right behind him. Roxas and Sora were constantly being told how similar they looked. If they had the same hair, they could pass off as twins. Roxas smiled his usual, small smile. He never had the same intense, stop-the-world smile as Sora constantly had, which was another small difference between them.

"Hey Roxas!" Sora shifts the book he is holding to one arm, to capture Roxas in a hug. This was their morning ritual. Every morning they'd get their stuff and hug, then talk about the day or weekend before, and their plans for the rest of the day.

"How are you?" Roxas asks, shifting his backpack to a more comfortable position. Sora is about to stuff the rest of his books into his backpack when he sees his Geometry homework. The same homework that Riku helped him with. Sora pauses for a moment, and it catches Roxas's attention. "You didn't have a nightmare, did you?" Roxas inquires, cocking his head slightly in curiosity. Sora feels the urge to tell the truth bubbling up inside of him. It takes all of Sora's willpower to continue packing his back, and getting ready for class and not tell Roxas.

"No. It wasn't a nightmare." Sora starts, hoping that Roxas will buy his flimsy, lame excuse. If anything, he hopes that Roxas will put it off until later. Sora zips up his backpack, and shouldering it, makes eye contact with Roxas. He half-pleads through his eyes to drop it. He doesn't know how much more of this secret he can keep veiled before he lets it all out. Well, figuratively. Sorry, but Sora's keeping his pants on. For now.

"Fine. Don't tell me. If you want to talk about it though, let me know." Roxas's eyes remain firmly fixed on Sora's, determined. Roxas seems to search Sora's features, but resigns himself when he finds nothing. They wander off to class, shoving their way through teenagers that happen to get in the way.

"Seifer got into a fight with Hayner again yesterday. For once, they both seem pretty bruised." Roxas says, no longer making eye contact with Sora. Roxas turns his face away from Sora, as if to hide his emotions. Sora waves to Kairi as she passes by the cousins. Kairi stops the cousins for a moment.

"Hey you two! Did you know that there are supposed to be two new students today? No one knows their names, but they should be here somewhere! I'm looking for them now! Okay ciao!" Kairi waves behind her head to the cousins. Sora and Roxas share a look, curiosity passing through their brief eye contact.

"I wonder who they could be. If we see them, we should say 'hi.'" Sora tells, his usual challenge-the-sun-cause-my-smile-is-that-bright smile breaking across his face. If anything could move him past last night's events, two new students surely would! Roxas reads his expression and smiles sadly back to Sora. Roxas knows that something is still up, but he won't confront Sora about it anymore. Sora has the right to privacy, just as much as Roxas does.

Roxas smiles to himself. He knows that he has to track down these new students and introduce Sora to them. Maybe they can be the solution to Sora's nightmares. When he and Sora were eleven years old, and a robber had taken Sora hostage in a small robbery, Sora's nightmares started. We had all figured that they'd go away, but a year had passed and nothing changed. For another six months or so, Sora saw a counselor who prescribed these supposed 'dreamless drugs' that had only intensified and locked Sora into his dreams. After a week he stopped those. Leon pushed Sora to continue seeing the counselor. After six months, and no improvement, Leon and Roxas couldn't think of anything else to help Sora. They wanted to do whatever they could, but at midnight every night, Leon would be woken up to Sora screaming and entering his room, seeking refuge. Then, about six months after that, Sora just stopped having nightmares. Just like that. No one knows how it happened, it just did.

Ever since then, Roxas and Leon have been watching for a relapse, which never occurred. Up until now, as they believed. Roxas believes that if he kept Sora happy by meeting these new kids, the relapse will stop.

Sora reaches his class as the warning bell rings. "Bye Rox! See you later!" Sora calls from the doorway, as Roxas rushes to his class which is further down the hallway. Sora sits down in his seat. Since there were an odd number of students in his class, Sora was unlucky to have the only empty desk. Sora's first class is biology, and he nearly wishes he had friends in this class. Then, at least he wouldn't be the one without a lab partner. Every time.

Sora takes out his biology homework and places it in the empty space next to his seat, and he pulls out his notebook. They have more notes to take today. Wonderful. Sora hates biochemistry, just like any student with a conscience. The stuff is torture. Sora leans on his hand, half sprawled out across the table.

The teacher hardly glances at the students' homework before walking back up to the front of the class. He begins to call out names, and when he finishes, he declares that he needs to make an announcement.

"We will be having a new student in this class within the next few days. Sora, since you have the only open seat, they will sit next to you. Understood? Good. Now, carboxyl groups…" The teacher seemed to drone on and on as Sora zoned out of what the teacher was saying. All of this carboxyl-hydroxyl-amino-acid-group nonsense drives him crazy. He hates biochemistry with a passion.

Sora zones back in, halfway through the lesson. Just as the teacher is beginning to discuss ionic bonds, someone knocks at the door. Saved by the… door… I guess. Sora thinks to himself. Sora smirks, laughing to himself. He really didn't like biochemistry.

Although, he didn't think his life could get any worse as an all too familiar, sickening feeling crossed Sora when he saw who entered the room.

"Alright. This is our new student, everyone. Please go to the back of the room and sit next to the spiky-haired, zoned-out, brunet in the back. He will be your lab partner." The teacher booms. At the teacher's description of Sora, the new student's attention is drawn, and teal and cerulean eyes meet again.

Riku.

Riku smirks from the front of the class. Didn't he-? Wasn't he-? If this is a nightmare, wake me up now. Sora thinks to himself. How was he supposed to be strong when the source of his terror was once again, going to be within a mile radius of Sora throughout the day? Riku strolls down the aisle, and girls practically swoon as he passes them. Sora is frozen, and can feel the tension back in his shoulders. If he could have run, he should have, because he was feeling just like a trapped animal.

"Hello, stranger, didn't think I'd have any classes with you." Riku practically breathes down Sora's neck, as he takes his seat next to Sora. Sora can feel himself shaking, heck, he could see his hands shaking.

Without necessarily thinking about it, Sora pulls his homework over to his half of the lab table to make room for Riku. Keep it together, Leonhart. Keep it together. Sora tells himself. You can't have a conniption here. Sora grasps the bottom of his chair, ignoring the chewed gum that he knows is there. Sora can feel how pale he is, and can feel the panicked expression on his face.

This criminal was in his school! In his class! How was this possible? Riku looks over to Sora and smiles kindly. If Sora didn't know that he had broken into his house, he would've believed that Riku was entirely innocent. Sora had a sneaking suspicion he had just gotten away from a previous crime, but he didn't know what. Riku could very well be a murderer too. His threat last night certainly made it seem so. Riku studies Sora for a moment before raising his hand. The teacher, hardly missing a beat, calls on Riku.

"Sir, Sora doesn't look too good. Do you mind if I help him to the nurse. I think I saw it on the way in." Riku explains. Sora doesn't want any help from Riku. If Sora had planned to go to the nurse, he was more than capable of making it there on his own.

"Well, considering there is less than half the lesson left and you most likely don't know any of this and have nothing to lose, go. Sora, you look god-awful. I don't expect you back in class today." With that, the teacher resumes teaching. Riku looks at Sora, who is in a fit of shaking. Riku wonders briefly if he is having a seizure, but he is much too aware of the situation to be having a seizure. Riku picks up Sora's papers and, taking Sora's bag, shoves them into the first pouch of Sora's backpack.

Riku zips Sora's backpack up, and taking his own relatively light bag, and Sora's heavy bag, he helps Sora leave the room. As soon as Sora is just down the hallway, and away from the classroom, Riku spins and pushes Sora flush against the wall.

"What the hell is going on?" Riku asks, his voice fierce and his eyes seeming brighter. His face is halfway angry and halfway 's knees shake as Riku looks him dead in the eyes. Sora can feel a tear running down his cheek. Why couldn't one night of facing his nightmare be enough? Now his nightmare was going to be at his school? In Sora's classes!

Sora shakes his head. He can't trust his voice to speak, or at least say anything that won't get him killed. Sora only then becomes aware that Riku's hands are on either side of his face, and that Riku's face is relatively close to his. Unless he had some sort of third arm in his chest that was holding a knife, he was safe enough.

Sora's shaking tones down just a bit, but his head is still spinning. Sora feels weak, and he leans against the wall for more support. Sora panics just a little, having a criminal so close to him. Even though he knows that for the moment he is safe, the fact that Riku could probably kill him with his hands alone didn't really assure Sora of his safety.

"Sora? C'mon. Listen, can I at least explain everything to you? Please." Riku's eyes beg, and Sora feels slightly calmer. Riku rests one of his hands on Sora's shoulder. "Oh, by the way," Riku starts, and he shifts to grab something from his vest. Sora takes that small moment to examine Riku. He's wearing baggy blue jeans, and a yellow vest with straps that cross in an 'X.' Riku's hair that Sora had cut is still choppy, and his bangs that he cut were fairly choppy too. His entire look made him seem like a dangerous, and dare Sora say it, sexy teenager.

Sora then remembers that Riku is pulling something out of his pocket. Sora has no idea what it could be, but figures that it's a knife and that Riku is about to kill him. Sora can feel his face contort into a look of panic, and he begins to squirm. Riku pulls out some small object, and looks up to Sora. His eyes sparkle with curiosity upon meeting Sora's.

"Your phone." Riku finishes. Sora pauses for a second. Duh! Riku had his phone! Sora reprimands his mind for jumping ahead and assuming Riku would kill him. What had Riku said last night? 'If I wanted you dead, you would've been dead the moment I climbed in your window.' Right. So, maybe Sora could milk this whole not-being-dead thing for a little while longer. Sora retracts himself into his mind momentarily. He knows that he has to treat this like his nightmares. After all, this is a nightmare come true. Sora tells himself that he'll be alright. He doesn't have anything to worry about. Sora is vaguely aware of Riku examining him, but Sora has closed his eyes. He is focusing on stopping shaking. If he can get close to Riku, he can call the police and get him arrested. Sora stops his shaking and opens his eyes again. Brave face. Sora tells himself.

Sora reaches out and grabs his phone from Riku, and shoves it in his pocket. He nods at Riku. Sora still doesn't trust himself to speak, and he hopes that his nod will get his thanks along. Riku nods back in understanding, and he nearly smiles before he wipes it off of his face. Sora was at least somewhat warming up to him. He didn't want to blow it now.

Riku pulled his hand away from Sora's shoulder. He took a step back, and Sora gave him a curious look. Surely Sora didn't think that Riku still wanted to kill him, right? It's kind of endearing. Although, it is good that he doesn't trust me. Actually, it's very good. Riku tells himself. Riku knows that he isn't worthy of trust. Not after what he has to do on a regular basis. He is a thief and occasionally a murderer. He tried to avoid killing anyone though. The Organization says it gets messy, but for Riku, it messes with his mind for weeks after. That's why he'd much rather use other methods to subdue whoever he had to. Riku didn't want to be a killer. It was his job though. 'Eliminate anything standing in your way' or 'achieve your goal by any means.' Riku hated those missions. That usually meant that lives were going to be lost.

Riku wants to be a different person. Someone who Sora isn't afraid of. Someone who deserves trust. Riku gets an idea as he thinks this. He adjusts Sora's backpack on his back. It's pretty heavy compared to Riku's backpack.

"Hey Sora?" Riku asks, looking at Sora who is staying by the wall. Sora can't move. Not only from fear, but after that shaking bout, he didn't trust himself to move and not fall over. Sora decides that he might as well try to speak to Riku, if he wants to get on his good side. He had to find a way to expose Riku to the police. Maybe he could tell Cloud when he got the chance. Cloud would be able to arrest Riku.

"Yeah?" Sora responds, his voice hardly a whisper. Riku notices this, but he decides to keep talking. Sora talking to him at all is a major improvement.

"Can we start over? I mean, I didn't even know I'd be going to school until this morning. I honestly didn't think I'd see you again. I'm sorry for everything." Riku says, looking at the ground. He notices that Sora is wearing giant sneakers. He'd ask Sora about that later. Riku looks up briefly to Sora's face. Sora seems deep in thought, as if he wasn't going to talk to Riku at all. Riku hopes that Sora will say yes, and accept his apology, because it came from Riku's cold, murderous heart, but his heart nonetheless.

"Okay." Sora says, after taking a deep breath. He seems to have come to terms with something, as he meets Riku's gaze and sends him a weak smile. Riku can tell that he's trying, but it sends Riku's heart flying. Yes, that same cold, murderous heart just warmed up a little. Riku returns Sora's smile with a little more vigor.

"You think you need to go see the nurse?" Riku asks Sora. Sora's expressive face amuses Riku. Sora's lip pouts in thought. Sora cocks his head to the side a little in thought too. Riku smiles even more at Sora's actions. Sora, who catches this, gives Riku a questioning look. Sora can still feel a knot in his stomach telling him to get far away from Riku, but he knows his only chance at justice is getting Riku locked up.

"I think I'm fine, but my-our teacher told me not to come back, so you want to just stay here for a while?" Sora offers the whole staying-in-place idea because he doesn't think that he can move again. Riku seems to have that effect on him. Riku nods in acknowledgement and sits down next to Sora, taking both backpacks off, and leaning against the wall. Sora leans against the wall, and slowly sinks his way down to the ground. The science hall is fairly secluded, and no one really comes down the hallway, and since TTHS is relatively small anyway, Sora knew he and Riku wouldn't be bothered. Sora presses his knees into his chest, and wraps his arms around them. Sora sighs, attempting to relieve the tension in him.

He was surprised that Riku had asked to start again. Sora still knew he was some sort of criminal. He wouldn't – no, couldn't – trust Riku. What if this was all just some sort of plot to do some horrible thing to Sora? Sora could feel the panic seeping in again, and his hands had begun shaking. He wasn't going to be able to deal with this anymore. He could feel it in his bones – the nightmares were going to come back. Sora sighed again, a choked sob rocking his body. He was terrified. Leon would make him go back to the therapist, and then the therapist would prescribe the pills that intensified his dreams again.

Sora had begun shaking again, which drew Riku's attention. Riku looked over at Sora. Sora didn't notice Riku's gaze on him. He was too busy trying to quell the panic building up inside his heart. Riku pressed a gentle hand against Sora's arm. Sora's shaking began to shake Riku's arm. Riku felt his heart clench. He wanted to comfort Sora, but he was afraid that he was the reason Sora was like this.

Sora didn't react to Riku's touch whatsoever, which sent panic racing through Riku's veins. Sora was the only one he knew at this school so far, and might even have some insight on his mission. He had to earn the boy's trust somehow.

Riku pulled Sora into him. Sora, still shaking, buried his face into Riku's chest. At that point, Sora didn't care who it was, the comfort was nice. So what if he was snuggling up against a criminal? That criminal offered comfort and Sora took it. Sora attempts to control his fear, but each time he manages to take a step forward, his fear pulls him back ten. Sora has always been tempted to just give in, but that's not who he is. He continues to fight his fear, and he fights it tooth and nail.

Riku gives Sora a pat on the back, lightly. He whispers comforting words into Sora's ear. Riku is slightly surprised that Sora accepted his comfort, but he had a feeling that the kid was in a bad place at the moment. Riku sighs, and Sora nudges into Riku a little bit. Riku's heart swells, and he smiles sadly as Sora's shaking subsides.

They still have another ten minutes or so until they have their next classes. Riku has no idea where or what for that matter, his next class is. Riku runs his fingers through Sora's hair, and earns a small mewling sound from the smaller boy. Riku smiles until he hears footsteps approaching from down the hall. Riku is instantly on guard before he even sees the figure. Riku sees a tall, muscular teenager who must have been seventeen. He has blonde hair that just barely sticks out of his beanie, a vest that hardly covers past his stomach, loose brown pants, and dark boots. Not to mention the giant-ass scar across his face, but that was nothing compared to Saix's scar. He glances over at Sora and Riku, and Riku prepares to lunge at him. He can tell by his entire demeanor that this man is up to no good.

"Hey, lamer, where's chickenwuss?" The man asks Sora. Oh hell no. Call Riku possessive, but nobody can insult Sora. He had just started some sort of not-quite-friendship with the boy, and he wasn't about to let anyone or anything come in the way of that. Sora looks up, defeated at the man. Sora sighs into Riku. He examines Seifer before saying anything at all. Riku looks to Sora for any sign that would mean 'jump in and kick his ass.'

"He's in Geometry, Seifer. Probably with Roxas, like usual." Sora replies to the man – Seifer – before curling back into Riku.

"For fuck's sake." Seifer complains before hitting his head against his palm. "Lamer, I knew that. I know he's around here in these halls. Keep your eyes open. Goddamn lamers." Seifer turns around, muttering something to himself about needing to beat someone up. Riku resists the urge to get up and pound his face in, but it is his first day. He can only start causing issues on the second day.

Sora glances at the watch on his wrist to check the time. He sighs, and separates from Riku. His face flushes a tiny bit, and he sighs in defeat.

"I'm sorry you had to see… all of that. It doesn't usually happen. Only when I'm really scared." Sora explains, glancing at the floor in shame. He runs his fingers through his hair, demolishing a spike, just for it to jump back into place. Riku smirks. Sora's hair seems to have a mind of its own.

"Sora, listen, I know that I'm the reason this started, and I swear that I'll do whatever I can to end it." Riku tells Sora, sincerity flashing in his eyes. Sora leans over and grabs his backpack. Riku may be a criminal, but Sora had a fondness for this criminal. "You don't have to go to your next class if you don't want. I'm sure we can convince the nurse to let you go home." Riku says, shouldering his own bag and standing up. Sora stands up mere moments after Riku. Sora shakes his head. He didn't want Leon to know. Not yet, at least. Riku nods. "By the way, can you show me to my English class?" Riku asks Sora, and Sora nods. They have five minutes until their next class, and Sora is more than willing to go out of his way to help Riku find his class.

They walk quietly, side-by-side. Riku knows that he doesn't need any help finding his class, but he doesn't want to leave Sora alone. He feels a sense of responsibility for Sora. He shouldn't have hung around his house the night before that would be enough to terrify most people. Sora though, he was beyond terrified, and Riku was scared that he caused it. He would do anything to make it up to the boy. Anything.

A/N: Their relationship is weird, yes, but it works for them. Don't worry. It's not happening that fast. There'll be some issues in the next chapter or so, don't fear! I haven't gone all mushy on you guise!

-hands out cookies- Enjoy!