It should have been quiet. Final exams were right in front of a class of thirty freshman math students, all sat in desks with cheat-proof dividers set up. The clock was ticking away on the wall, their time limit an hour and a half to completely fill the bubble sheet in front of them. Cloud was about halfway through the test, doing his best to keep his attention on the small booklet and bubble sheet he had in front of him while chewing lightly on the eraser of his number 2 pencil. He couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows and glance up every once in a while, brown strands of hair blocking his view of the paper below.

"The answer's C, Strife." came the annoying yet calm voice of Leon, who for some reason only Cloud was able to hear and see. Gunmetal gray eyes glanced down at the papers he must've read a thousand times over, lower half of his body going through the desk dividers and rested on the desk parallel to the blonde's, not that anyone but him noticed the obnoxious brunette.

After doing his best to ignore Leon for so long he finally let out a soft sigh and set his pencil on the desk in front of him, leaning back in his chair. He took in the sight of the man that had literally been haunting him for six months with folded arms and raised an eyebrow in silent questioning. He knew the brunette well enough to know he was bored, but he could easily terrorize anyone else for the next hour and a half. Why did it have to be him?

"You got questions 3, 7, 12, and 16 wrong so far. Could explain why if you want to change them and get a perfect score." Leon offered, and Cloud's eyebrow just went up higher, making no move to change the questions he apparently got wrong. If he was going to take final exams, he would pass and fail with the knowledge that he had, even if the brunette was always right about which questions he missed. He kept the mistakes every time anyway. Leon sighed, picking his light body off the desk behind him and pulled it through the dividers. He moved to sit on the edge of Clouds desk, leaning towards the blonde in frustration.

"What's wrong, Strife? Still trying to deny my existence? Need me to trip your girlfriend again?" He asked with a smirk, which goaded a dangerous scowl out of Cloud. Even that was a mild response compared to when Leon had first threatened Tifa. Cloud would literally go off on the brunette ghost, whether anyone was there or not. As time went on, Cloud found it to be an empty threat to get his attention. In fact everyone had been pretty much left alone since Leon started following Cloud around during the day. For that alone, the blonde tolerated the gray eyes following him through the hallways and into classes.

Not everything was hunky-dory though with Leon around. Tifa started questioning him, or more his sanity since he seemed to talk to himself more. In reality he was responding to a comment that came from dead invisible lips; the lips of a man that Cloud just couldn't seem to shake from his mind, even after he went home and left said sulking man behind.

Spirit, he had to remind himself. Not a man.

Cloud gestured with his head towards the door, silently shooing the man out of the room. He just wanted to finish his test in peace, though Leon seemed far too comfortable on the edge of his desk. After a few minutes of having a stare down, Leon finally got off of the desk, folding his arms.

"Sometimes you are just way too stubborn. See you after your test, Cloud." He said casually, walking through the person parallel to him and made the poor kid jolt before leaving the room entirely. Cloud sighed, running his hands through spiky blonde locks as he stared absentmindedly at the bubble sheet in front of him. The brunette spirit always had a way of getting under his skin, and he seemed to cling to every fiber of muscle he owned with just a few short words.

Somehow Cloud had managed to finish the test, though he was sure that he got most of the last questions wrong. He had a hard time concentrating on the test after the encounter, flickers of gray and brown passing through his mind the entire time. It was driving him absolutely crazy.

"Boy, that test was a doozy." Tifa said, walking in step with her blonde haired boyfriend, whose head seemed to be in the clouds. No pun intended.

"Yeah." Cloud agreed, barely registering that she was even there. Tifa rolled her eyes and stopped in front of Cloud, planting her feet as he bumped into her like he did whenever he was thinking about Leon. Not that she knew what he was thinking about at the time. With a bit of muscle, the raven haired woman grabbed hold of Cloud by the arms, glaring up into his baby blue eyes with a ferocity that only Tifa could have.

"Earth to Cloud! You're doing it again!" She said with a huff, turning and continued down the hallway towards her locker.

"Guess I was." Cloud said, shaking his head to come back to reality as he followed her. It was bad how much he seemed to space out lately. How totally aggravated and even entranced he seemed to be towards Leon for seemingly no reason.

"Something on your mind, Strife?" Cloud groaned. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. The blonde did his best to ignore the spirit, following Tifa to her locker in hopes that he could apologize.

"Sorry, Tifa… Can't seem to focus lately." He said, leaning up against the lockers next to hers. Leon watched from the middle of the hall, amusement in his eyes that Cloud caught, earning him a fraction of a glare. The ravenette let out a long sigh, pulling a couple of books out of her locker before turning to her boyfriend. She looked almost at the end of her rope with him, though no one could really blame her since Cloud was seemingly talking to thin air.

"Cloud… You've been like this for months. I can't count the times me or even someone else has caught you talking to yourself. It needs to stop." She said with almost a pleading tone. Cloud sighed, suddenly finding the black streak of sharpie on a locker very appealing. Leon was chuckling, and Cloud wished that he could beat the smugness out of him.

"I'm serious, Cloud, you need to do something. Anything. If it's a counselor you need fine, but it has to stop." She told him, finality in her voice as she shook her head and headed to class. Cloud turned his attention to the smirking Leon, gritting his teeth. He looked around and waited until the hallway was decently clear, then grabbed the poltergeist by his nonexistent shirt.

"What do I have to do to get you the hell away from me?" He gritted out, teeth still clenched. Leon shrugged, grabbing the blonde's hand and pulled it off his shirt.

"Take me home with you." He said. It was such a simple request that Cloud almost missed it entirely. He blinked, letting the request process in his brain.

"That's it? If I take you home once you'll leave me alone for good?" He asked, bewildered. If that was all the brunette wanted, Cloud would have gladly done it months ago. Gray eyes met his, an unreadable look on his face as he nodded.

"Yeah. If that's what you want anyway." He said. Cloud didn't even hesitate as he nodded.

"Fine. Meet me at the gates at the end of school." He said, hearing the final bell go off after that. The blonde looked between Leon and the bell, and rushed to his next class with optimism. One night and he was home free. How bad could that be?

"We should probably stop before your eyes melt." Came Riku's sexy voice next to me. I whined, playing with Riku was so much fun! He shot me a look that obviously held tickle threats if I didn't cooperate, so I just put the controller down and pouted. There was no point in arguing anyway, the console was already turned off.

"Yeah you're right. Man I'm starving! You hungry?" I asked, stretching forward like a cat before heading into the kitchen. Riku didn't speak, looking like he had something on his mind. I shrugged, it must've been the curve of my back that had him totally stunned. With that thought I grinned ear-to-ear, making some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for both of us.

"Hey Sora, what do you remember about Cloud?" He asked, making my grin go flat. Why was he so interested in my brother today? I tapped the butter knife against the counter, trying to bring back ten-year-old memories. I couldn't even remember right off the top of my head what he looked like!

"Umm… Blonde spiky hair like my mom's, blue eyes… and he was super tall. But I was also eight the last time I saw him…" I told him as I recalled it. Cloud towered almost three feet over me then, but now that I thought about it, he would probably still have a good few inches on me. It made me scrunch my face up, how dare he get the tall, good looking gene.

I finished up the sandwiches and sat back down on the couch, handing Riku a plate of food. He was cautious about taking it, which seemed weird since Riku was as graceful as they come, but didn't say anything. I didn't want to embarrass him and possibly have him mad at me forever!

"Why'd you want to know? He's been gone so long…" I nibbled at the edge of my sandwich in anticipation.

"No particular reason. Just curious." He said with a shrug and took a bite out of his own sandwich. I felt my lower lip jut out in another pout. How come Cloud is such a popular topic even after being MIA for ten years!? It was so unfair how popular he was where I was lucky to get any attention.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I furrowed my eyebrows. Hardly anyone texted me except for Roxas and Axel, and they were usually too busy making out and doing relationship stuff to text me at seven in the evening. I pulled the device out of my pocket and groaned, nearly chucking the offensive thing at the wall for daring to put THAT name in the screen. It was Kairi.

"Hey Sora! Wanted to know if you wanna go shopping with me, Selphie, and Tidus before the mall closes." The message blared after I unlocked it, opting to not destroy my brand new seven-hundred-dollar phone that I spent the entire summer saving up for. I didn't want to go, every fiber of my being telling me to say nope nope nope… I texted back saying that I would be there in an hour and groaned. I was WAY too nice for my own good sometimes. Or maybe it was just that it was one of my favorite activities. Not shopping, no, shopping isn't manly at all. Just… you know looking at interesting items and purchasing a few… a lot of stuff.

"Hey Riku, how do you feel about shopping? With a group of people?" I asked him, mentally slapping myself for not bringing it up with him in the first place. What if Riku didn't like shopping and he decided to head home? What if he thought I was too girly to hang out with anymore? The thoughts made me want to both cringe and cry. Keep it together Sora, you're a big boy!

Riku raised one of his beautiful eyebrows at me with an unreadable expression. That was never a good sign, but I braced myself for whatever he had to say.

"Why did you say you would go if you don't really want to, Sora?" He asked. Well that wasn't what I was expecting. Should I tell him? I don't think Riku would judge me for it.

"It's not that I don't like shopping, and I miss hanging out with Kairi and Selphie, but… Kairi's prick of a boyfriend's going to be there. Did you meet him? Blond hair, short, really annoying." I told him. It was embarrassing to admit that even as a senior there were people who picked on me. Without much thought I beckoned for Riku to follow me upstairs to my room, finding something a little more comfortable to change into while walking around the mall.

"That does seem like a problem." Riku said as I pulled out a light blue sleeveless turtleneck and some black skinny jeans. I nodded absentmindedly, debating if I should just change there in front of the drool-worthy man or in the bathroom. I felt a rush of blood that immediately tried to go south. Oh yeah, bathroom would definitely be the best choice.

"What if you were on a date?" Riku asked, and my heart stopped at that. Someone call an ambulance! Okay, keep cool, He's probably not talking about himself. Maybe he was trying to set me up with a friend of his? As if anyone would like a blind date with me, anyway.

"That'll be the day pigs fly and cats moo." I tell him, hopping over all of the dirty clothes I had scattered all over the floor. Once I'm in the bathroom connected to my room I let myself give into the desire to pout a little, stripping down until I'm left in my boxers. What I hadn't accounted for, is said sex on a stick following me in and wrapping his arms around my neck in my now nearly nude state.

Don't. You dare. Shiver, Sora.

"Uhm… Hi?" I said, mustering up every bit of courage I had to face those drop-dead gorgeous eyes of his.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I find you attractive?" Riku asked me. Okay, I shivered. I shivered hard at that as I felt myself drown in sexy aquamarine eyes staring back at me in the mirror.

"A-a little." I admit to him, inwardly cursing the stammer that came with it. I couldn't help it, okay? His breath was on my neck and ear and it felt so good! My eyes must have closed at some point since I couldn't see our reflections anymore, but it only made his touch feel that much more electrifying. Keep it together, Sora!

"Well start believing." He said in a cheekily commanding voice and I swear my whole body turned into jelly. I had to lean back against him for support as his hands came down to my hips. My eyes opened a little, though my eyebrows came together at what I saw. Riku was… fading? Nah, it had to be the lighting, or my lashes getting in the way. Riku didn't give me much time to think about it, tilting my head sideways. At first there was just silver in my vision, then aquamarine, then nothing once again. A shock ran from my mouth straight down to my toes as I felt the soft, oh so soft and velvety lips of the godly person behind me. He was kissing me. Riku was kissing me.

It was the most amazing thing I'd ever felt.

The kiss didn't stop right away either, oh no, Riku lingered, massaging those sinful peachy lips against my tanner ones. It was obvious that he'd wanted to do that for a long time, if you could consider 8 hours to be a long time. Somehow it felt like much, much longer though.

His tongue swiped over my bottom lip and I felt my legs threaten to give out. Thankfully Riku tucked his strong arms under mine to prevent that, and without a hint of hesitation I let him explore my mouth. It was such a different experience from kissing… Well anybody I could think of in the moment. Though that was almost nobody, except Riku. Handsome, kind, strong, good-kissing Riku.

I did not just whimper when he broke the kiss. No, men don't whimper, dammit!

Still, I was glad that he kept holding me, even for a minute. He felt nice behind me, and he looked nice next to me in the mirror. Aw who am I kidding, Riku just looked nice, period. He was also fully clothed, where I was not.

With a blush I slowly pulled up my pants that had been pooled at my feet the entire time. Riku's smirk as I pulled away from him made my cheeks heat up. Not in a blush, obviously… ok yeah I was blushing. So what? I pulled the turtleneck over my head and glared back at Riku, finally turning to look at him.

There was something that seemed much more defined about the man. He'd been with me practically all day, but somehow now he seemed… really there. If that made sense, which it didn't really even in my own head, so I shrugged it off.

"Ready to go?" Riku asked and I nodded, grabbing my Mickey Mouse patterned wallet out of the mirror cupboard in the bathroom. hiding money in random places was something I did a lot. It came in handy sometimes, especially when I forgot I had it, which may or may not happen all the time.

"Uh yep…let's go." I said, biting my lower lip. Should I hold his hand? I decided to just go for it. We made our way through the jungle of mess that was my room- and dear lord his hands were just as soft as his lips. I was ready to just run out the door and show off my… boyfriend? I'd have to ask about that. But Riku tugged my hand towards the living room instead, throwing his thumb over to the counter in the kitchen.

"Got an extra set of keys?" He asked and it was like he turned on a lightbulb in my brain. I nodded vigorously and quickly shuffled around the counter, pulling out an extra set of house and car keys my parents kept in case someone came to stay with us, or if I locked myself out of my car. Less than 24 hours in and I don't know what I'd do without this man!

"Ready!" I beamed, pocketing the keys and once again took Riku's hand in my own and headed out the door, locking it with my free hand. School may be close enough to walk to and from, but the mall was a ways and it was still pretty hot outside, so driving it was. I bounced over to the driver's side and went to open the door but Riku had already beaten me to it, opening the door for me. I couldn't help but smile and blush even more. He was such a gentleman too! Could this man get any more perfect? Probably not.

I climbed in and let him shut my door, waiting for him to get in before driving off. I was practically vibrating in my seat from all the excitement, Riku's hand firmly laced with mine and it was WONDERFUL!

The closer we got to the mall though, the more I started to think. What if they end up not liking Riku? They didn't acknowledge his presence at all when we were at school earlier… It doesn't matter, I decide, rubbing circles on the back of the man's hand with my thumb. Riku was absolutely perfect in every angle you looked, even upside down, and their opinions don't matter as much as that to me.

There was an available parking spot close to the entrance, and I quickly took it, nerves balling up in my stomach. Okay, keep calm, it's just a date. I looked over to Riku and he must've sensed my nervousness, or maybe just saw my face. My eyes did feel like they were the size of puppies, after all.

"Relax, We're here to have fun remember?" He told me and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He was right, we're gonna go shop and have fun doing it! I nodded to him and went to open my door, but stopped short when the silver haired god practically dove out of the front seat. Oh, right. I should probably let him be the awesome gentleman that he is. The thought made me squirm happily, and I had to stop myself from swooning and singing to the heavens. How lucky am I? Can someone pinch me?

The feeling didn't last long though. We made our way into the mall via the food court and my stomach dropped. Kairi, Selphie, and Tidus were sitting at one of the tables, talking and sipping on smoothies that had to be from the smoothie joint they had here. Correction, they WERE talking, until they looked our direction. I swear all of their jaws could've hit the floor if they tried a little harder, and I wanted the floor to swallow me. Or Riku to swallow me…Metaphorically, of course. Sure.

I felt his grip tighten around mine as we got closer to the table. They hadn't been staring at me, they were staring at Riku, like it was the first time they'd actually SEEN him. I mentally scoffed and stuck out my tongue. That's right, gawk over the sex god before you!

"Y-you didn't tell us you were bringing anyone." Kairi said. I could tell she was nervous, watching her feet rock back and forth underneath the table. Were those… butterflies flying out of her tummy? I grinned and let go of Riku's hand, linking arms with him instead.

"Guys, this is Riku! You know, the one I was telling you about earlier?" the one that you guys totally didn't notice, I added mentally. I eyed the salt on the table and considered throwing it around in a tribal dance to express my feelings… but that might weird Riku out. Or would it?

"Oh yeah! It's nice to meet you." Kairi said with a cheery smile, holding her hand out. Riku returned the smile with his own, charming, straight-toothed one and shook her hand, though part of me hoped that his teeth were the only thing straight about him. I blinked at the drooling Selphie and less than impressed looking Tidus. Yeah, he's totally jealous!

"Pleased to meet you, as well." Riku said politely, and I took a minute to really take in his appearance while he was busy meeting the group.

He had on a black sleeveless shirt, the top part unzipped just a little to add to his sexiness, or at least to me. He also had on a pair of baggy jeans that hid the white skate shoes he had on, though you could see bits of the yellow stripes they had on each side. Had Riku been wearing that all day? He must've, there was no time to change. Still, it felt like I was missing something important.

"Sora?" Shoot! I shook my head, gotta snap out of it!

"Yeah? Sorry I was uhm… admiring your shoe stripes?" I said, shifting my weight back and forth on my feet. He was giving me that heavenly smirk of his and I inwardly melted. What was I thinking about? The fact that my date was an amazing person? Oh, yeah.

"Careful, you might spew all that faggot juice all over our table." I frowned and looked over to Tidus. Kami only knew what Kairi saw in him.

"Seems like something you need, with that kind of attitude." Riku shot back just as quickly. The fighting made my body tense up, but Riku took my hand and it helped calm me down a bit. The reassurance didn't reach his face though, and I gulped. Riku's face was scary angry.

"Come on, Tidus. Please stop picking fights? We're all here to have fun." My heart panged at the sound of Kairi's soft voice. Why couldn't she just defend me? Why did she have to pick that stupid jerk to be with, of all people!?

Once again, I felt Riku's hand squeeze mine. Aww man, this man was way too angelic to be dealing with this crap! I looked up to him, trying oh so very hard not to let the ball of tears work its way up to my eyeballs. It wasn't allowed to win this time, dammit! Not in front of my- this sex god! His angry face only turned into a calm smirk, and that scared me even more.

"That's right. We are here to have fun. So if we're done with introductions, me and Sora are going to go have some fun." Wait, what? Did- did he want to… right now!? Just like that, in the middle of the mall!? I stammered, my brain trying to form words. Why was everything so blurry all of a sudden?

It kinda looked like Riku had gone up to Tidus, and it kinda looked like Tidus flapped his gums. No idea what he was saying, but after Riku whispered something, we were walking off.

Well, Riku was walking off. I was being dragged along I think, since the next thing I remember I was right in front of Hot Topic with an ice cream cone being waved in my face. Oh wait, that's an ice cream cone for me?

"Earth to Sora? The mothership is calling?" Ahh, ice cream paired with that delicious voice… I can die happy now. Was I allowed to die? Nah, I wanted to get to know Riku for more than 9 hours, and for that, I needed a body. Not everyone could have a ghost boyfriend, after all. I grinned and took the ice cream, sitting down at a nearby bench to consume the delicious strawberryness.

"Heh, sorry. Don't remember why I zoned out." I told him, feeling my face heat up despite stuffing it with freezing deliciousness.

"Don't worry about it. You're cute when you're embarrassed, Sora. I can see why you wouldn't like meeting up with those people." Oh, right. He mentioned us going off to have some 'fun'. The heat in my face quickly traveled to my ears, and I quickly looked down to my ice cream. Kami, I was still a virgin, and we'd only known each other for 9 hours, a-and I wasn't some easy hooker!

"R-Riku… I-I'm sorry, b-but u-uhm… d-don't you think that-"

"When I said we were going to have fun, I meant walking around the mall. Getting food, going to the arcade, maybe a movie. You know, date stuff." My legs shivered. The heat was unbearable, and I knew at that moment, I was evolving. Into a tomato, a cherry, strawberry, I wasn't sure yet, but it was bound to be a thing with a red color.

"…Oh. Y-yeah, of course! We could do that stuff, no problem! Bet I could school ya at racing, Riku!" That's it, change the subject! Challenge his godly powers and cease the metamorphoses! His smirk turned into its own smile, one that was perfect and handsome and totally Riku as he stood up.

"Sure you don't want to back out now, Sora? I wouldn't want you crying for the rest of the night." Oh, it was on. I finished the rest of my ice cream and jumped to my feet, determination fueling me as I took the man's warm hand. He was not gonna best me in my specialty!

"Them's fightin' words!" I called with a laugh, bounding up to the counter to grab a stack of coins. There was no way I was going to lose!

"Are you serious!? No way you beat me again!" Yes, I was whining. In a very unmanly way. But could anyone blame me? Riku had beaten me not three, not five, but eight times in a row! That was the final straw!

I pulled out all the stops at that point. I flopped back in the plastic, uncomfortable chair in defiance, stuck out my lower lip as though it were a planet. I was gonna make him apologize even if it was the last thing I did.

At least, that was the plan. I peeked open my eye when I felt his soft touch on my arm… Though I don't remember closing them in the first place. It wasn't helping that his hand was so warm, and his touch was so soft and- …oh my god he was kissing me again!

I couldn't help it. I let out a whine, felt my body turn into literal mush. Pudding. A puddle of goo. It was all I could do not to scramble and cling to that beautiful body inside of the arcade, or make a scene professing my love to him in front of everyone present. Hot damn, it was official, the guy in my dreams had been permanently replaced to Riku. Sorry, nameless and faceless guy, you had your chance.

"No fair…" Was that my voice? It was so… breathy and low. Huh. Either way, it got Riku to laugh, and that alone was enough for me to forgive everything bad he had ever done, ever.

"All's fair in love and war." He chided back. I decided to let it slide, literally out of my seat as I took his hand. As much as I adored him, I didn't think I could handle losing another match.

We walked, and talked, and did all sorts of other stuff. I was sad when they announced that the mall would be closing soon, but I also didn't really get to think about it. Out of the blue Riku had stopped, and next thing I knew I was being tugged away in the opposite direction.

"Oh my! Who have we here? Are you looking to find something for your girlfriend, young man?" It was an old lady across the counter, wearing specs that were way too small for her face. As hard as I tried to smile at her, I was pretty sure it came out looking more like I was extremely constipated.

"Actually, He's male. But yeah, I saw that pendant behind the glass there." What, what!? She thought that I was the girl!?

Oh well… at least My smexy date had defended my honor. The old lady didn't seem phased by the correction, instead wandering over to the glass box to open it.

"Ohh, this is one of our most popular items! A rare gem indeed, people have called it 'Heaven's Tear'. Oh, but I don't know anything about that dears. It's just a pretty piece."

"How much for it?" Wow, Riku seemed really into getting the necklace. I blinked and looked down at it. Sire, it was pretty, shimmering with sky blue and aquamarine swirls. It kinda reminded me of an old Zelda item with how glassy it looked. But what as the big deal.

"For you, dears, I'll give you a discount. It's not very often that I get such a lovely couple wandering in here." I was gonna speak up and decline, I was! But before I could even blink, Riku had pulled money outta nowhere and placed it on the counter, giving her a small smile as the exchange was made.

"Thank you. Please keep the change." One second I was standing in front of a counter, and the next I was being hauled outside. It was decently chilly, though for Destiny Islands that meant it was only in the mid-seventies. Still, why was I suddenly being dragged around like a rag doll?

"Riku? What's going on?" I finally caved an asked. Sure, he was cute, hot, sex on legs, but I honestly didn't know if I could handle being a doll for the rest of my days. No matter how hot the owner would be…

"Sorry about that. Here." There was that drool worthy smile again! I couldn't look away, not even as a shiver ran up and down my spine from his hands brushing my neck. Not even when he pulled away, and I was left with a comfortable weight around my slightly sunburnt neck. It didn't even burn.

"I wanted to get you this. There's a legend, that forgotten spirits fall back to earth as tears. They say that the only way to find peace, is to complete the tear." …Oh.

"Huh… that sounds kinda cool." I glanced down, taking the now precious item between my fingers. A spirit could be in it? And it needed to be made whole? I swallowed at the thought of having so much responsibility. It was like taking care of a puppy, or or… even a child!

"Don't worry, Riku… I'll make sure that the spirit gets to be whole again. I don't really know what that means, but I'll make it happen! I promise!" I really didn't know what I was agreeing to at the time, but I smiled anyway. It made Riku happy that I was so willing to help, and anything that made Riku happy, I was invested in.

"Heh… I know you will, Sora."

A/N: Holy cow, finally done. Two years, and it's finally done. And hopefully, from this point on I'll get a chapter out every week!

Thank you to everyone who has been patient with me. It's been a long time coming, but I hope all of you KH fans both old and new will enjoy this story, and stick around for this epic new journey of hype, love, and weird ghosties!

See you all next Friday!