Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix and Disney do...-twitchtwitch-

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, folks..but here it is! Chapter four! Huzzah! XD Yes, yes..took me longer than usual to post this one..but hey, atleast it's finally here, right? Right? But it was totally not my fault! I swear! I've been babysi-- erm, hanging out with relatives from Italy..who I had to take to Miami..where we got lost (they don't know we were lost, though). I am ready to stab the six-year old with a fork if it will get him to shut up. Please, someone..anyone...have pity on me. ;;

Anywho..some people may be happy to see a certain ninja (though, she isn't a ninja here since it is AU..) in this chapter! YAY! That means Leon will be introduced soon..cause I'm sure a lot of people were wondering about him, right? Right. Of course they were, he's Leon.

Also, I decided to continue the RikuxSora oneshot..so it's not a oneshot anymore..o.o;; I just suddenly had an idea of what I could do with it earlier..so be happy all you RikuxSora fans! For I am a kind and generous fanfic writer! XD Ahaha..I love you all. 3

Now read! -laughs evily-

Warning: Curse words and suggested stuff.

Chapter Four

Vanilla

Sora felt his face flush, the words Cloud said were buzzing around his head like an angry swarm of feminists at the Playboy mansion. It took him a moment to notice that he was severely stretching the elastic of a pair of boxers. "W-what did you say..?"

Cloud's face was expressionless, but it was clear that he was enjoying making Sora freak out. "You're really naive, I could say just about anything and you'd be embarassed."

The brunette pouted, letting his eyes narrow into slits, "Oh yeah? If I'm so 'naive', how'd I get a detention?"

"You were late to class; you told me that day," the blond said matter-of-factly.

"Oh. I did? I don't remember.." the younger boy wrinkled his nose in thought, trying to remember the conversation they had.

"I think you told me during the first few minutes when we introduced ourselves.."

"Really?" The brunette couldn't help but wonder if that was true; was he really that friendly? Hm, maybe Riku did have a right to worry about who he hung out with..it seemed like he would tell a random person walking down the street his address...

As if he could read Sora's mind, Cloud interupted. "You're the type of person who's really friendly, you know. The kind who would help anyone who's in trouble."

"You think so?"

"Am I wrong?"

Sora was quiet for a moment before shrugging. "I guess you're right. I do do that a lot."

The blond nodded. "I could tell, I guess that's why I helped you."

"I thought you said you helped me because you 'wouldn't be able to forgive yourself if a cutie like me got beat up'?"

"Ah," Cloud smiled. "I did say that, didn't I? I guess I was caught up in the moment.."

Sora's face fell. "You don't think I'm a cutie?"

Sighing, Cloud gave the brunette a disbelieving look. "Are you sure you're not the annoying one with your friends?"

The boy laughed, hoping to God that his new friend wasn't being serious..it was hard to tell with Cloud sometimes. "You wouldn't be saying that if you met Wakka."

Pointing at the pair of boxers Sora was trying to..uh, unstretch, the blond snorted. "After seeing his underwear, I already feel as if I know him."

Grinning, the brunette gave up and threw the undergarment into the washing machine and turned it on. Relaxing at the soft hum of the machine, Sora sat on top of it. "Oh! That reminds me, do you remember that song that was playing in your car?"

Cloud shooked his head. "Song?"

"You know, the song," the brunette hummed the tune of the song, slightly annoyed that Cloud didn't remember...and he would be even more annoyed if he didn't recgonize the tune, despite how off-key his humming was.

"The Oscar Myer song?"

Sora groaned; he knew he wasn't that off-key. "No-- even though I do like that song-- the one that was like, 'All the lonely people'..blah blah!"

"The Beatles?"

"Ew, where! Are they on me?"

It was Cloud's turn to groan. "Don't tell me you don't know who the Beatles are?"

Sora coughed, "Fine, I won't tell you."

"Well," the blond began. "They're a band. The best band, actually..well, most of them are dead..but they're still the best."

"Dead?"

"Shot..and other things."

"Oh. Poor bugs."

"B-bugs? They're human beings, Sora!"

"Really? The Beatles is a stupid name, then.."

And then Cloud laughed, in a..You-are-the-stupidest-person-ever-to-live-yet-you-are-so-cute kind of way. Yeah, simply adorable. "Are your friends this..erm, you know..?"

"Oh. Oh. Nope!" Sora shooked his head. "Just me, for I. Am. Batman!"

Again, Cloud laughed. The brunette pouted, not really seeing what was so funny. He really was Batman, he had the costume and everything..jeez, no one ever believed him..

"Batman?"

Okay, time to change the subject. "What about your friends? What are they like?" Sora asked.

Cloud cleared his throat. "Oh, them..um..they're.."

"They're what?"

The two turned towards the doorway, surprised to hear a feminine voice in the boys' locker room. A dark-haired girl was leaning against the doorway, watching Sora and Cloud with amusement in her eyes, as if they were the two most interesting people in the world.

She grinned at the two, before waving at the blond. "Hey, Cloud! I knew you would be in here..just not with anyone. At first I thought I was interupting something, but then I realized it was you so of course I wasn't--"

"What do you want, Yuffie?" Cloud muttered.

"To meet your friend, duh!" she answered, unfazed that she was just rudely interupted. Yuffie winked at Sora. "I'm Yuffie, the one and only! Friend of Cloud, president of the Lets Irk Cloud and Leon fanclub!"

"Uh..hi.." Sora gave Cloud a quick scared look. "Nice to meet you! I'm Sora."

Yuffie grabbed Sora's left hand and shooked it happily, causing, in Sora's opinion, blood vessels to burst. "Now I know why Cloud's been so hard to talk to lately-- well, harder than usual-- because he has a little boyfriend--"

"Yuffie."

"-- I can see it now! Me and Aerith can be the bride's maids, and some of your girlfriends, too..I've seen you walking around with two girls..and it can be at Cid's shop! Oh, how great! Then a big rave afterwards! Drinks! Hot, gay men having se--"

"Yuffie."

"-- all over the place! Um..what kind of cake..? I know! Van--"

"I don't really like vanilla," Sora giggled at the disbelieving look Cloud gave him. "Chocolate?"

Yuffie nodded. "Yes, chocolate, what was I thinking? Vanilla. Pfft! The Devil's food!"

"Yuffie."

"Yes, Cloud?"

"What are you doing in the boys' locker room?"

-----

Riku was suspicious, oh yes he was. Sora should have been finished hours ago with the laundry..how dirty can clothes get?

But, then again, it was Wakka's..

"Do you think he got raped or something?" Kairi licked the tiny Dairy Queen spoon, trying to get as much ice cream as possible off of it.

"It could happen. with all the freaks running around these days.."

"Name one of these 'freaks'."

"Well," Riku scratched his chin, deep in thought. "I know! That guy in the Mercedes! You said yourself that he was watching us!"

"I said that I had a feeling, a feeling that could have been wrong, ya know."

"But maybe the feeling was right..and now Sora's tied up in the backseat of the mentioned Mercedes..tears running down his cheeks screaming for his two best friends..who are currently enjoying a sundae together at Dairy Queen."

"Riku," Kairi said sweetly. "Lay off the Lifetime marathons."

The silver-haired boy muttered threats under his breath, impatiently wondering why girls never saw the seriousness of any situation. It was Sora, for crying out loud! Why must she be so..girl-ish at a time like this! He could be hurt, or scared, or..or..

Walking towards them right now.

"There you are!" Kairi smiled. "Riku was having a seizure just now."

Riku glared. "Was not, stop filling his head with lies, woman!"

"Aww," Sora purred. "Poor Ri-ku. If it makes you feel better, I'm still a virgin."

"Ha!" the girl stuck her tongue out at the older boy. "Told you!"

Laughing, Sora squeezed in between his friends, grabbing a banana from the large sundae before answering. "How are you two?"

"You mean, where have you been?"

The brunette wrinkled his nose. "Washing clothes, you knew that, silly!"

Riku sighed. "It shouldn't have taken you that long, Sora."

"Fine, fine," Sora threw his arms up in defeat. "I was abducted by aliens. Then I washed the clothes. Happy?"

"Not really.." But Riku decided not to press on with the matter; he couldn't if he wanted to figure out what was wrong. If Sora hadn't cracked down under the pressure of keeping something from his two friends, it was serious..whatever "it" was.

"Well," the boys turned to face Kairi. "Now that that's settled, Selphie said something pretty interesting to me today..."

Oh God, here it comes.

"...Wakka wasn't with him because he was at 'blitzball practice'. Now, as we all know, the day we some her and Tidus never has practice scheduled on it. Some religious stuff, I think..Anyway, what else--"

"You guys still haven't told me what you were talking about," Sora whined.

Kairi, though, ignored him. "--Tidus said that Wakka told them to go ahead, and that they decided to wait for him to catch up. Pretty weird, if you ask me--"

"Seriously, you guys!" Sora gave his friends a pleading look. "I wanna know!"

"--They're hiding something, and I want to know what."

Just like Sora's hiding something, Riku thought to himself. And I want to know what..and I always get what I want.

"You know, when I get married, I want chocolate cake."

"What?"

"Isn't vanilla just gross?"

------

The blond inwardly groaned; first time he got to talk to Sora in weeks..and She had to come and ruin it. Cloud gave the girl a quick glance, wondering how did she always find him during the worst possible moments. Like an hour ago with Sora. Or when he was taking a shower. The second, though, seemed to happen a lot..

"He was nice."

"Huh?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes, enjoying that she just made Cloud feel like an idiot. "Sora, you found a nice one."

He averted his eyes, wishing that the girl would just shut up for once in her damn life. "Stop talking about him like I bought him online or something."

She laughed, her raven colored hair bouncing around her ears joyously, making Cloud smile despite his current frustration towards her. "Online? Like eBay? Oh! soraBay! Get your own previously owned and molested Sora! Fun, fun!"

"You think of the weirdest things."

"Someone has to around here."

The pair were seated in Cloud's car, randomly driving around the city. The blond sighed with satisfaction as the cool breeze hit him, calming him down a little. Just a little, though..Yuffie was still talking.

"It makes me happy seeing you make new friends."

Cloud rose an eyebrow. "Happy?"

"Yeah," Yuffie paused, lost for words (for once). "It's usually just us..you know, the little group. I have other friends, and I'm pretty sure the others do-- Leon might be an exception, who knows with him-- but you..you're just, so.."

"Not friendly?"

"Exactly! Wait, no!" she pounded her fist on the dashboard. "You're pretty friendly once you open up..just that you don't do that a lot. I mean, you were the one who asked me to become you guys' friend..but after that you got, I don't know..shy. It's kinda hard talking to you when you just grunt and..be all..Leon-ish."

"Shy?"

"Yeah! I think you are, anyway," Yuffie nodded. "Some people say you're an ass, but I don't think so. You're..wait, I'm getting off topic. How long have you've known Sora?"

Cloud shrugged. "Not sure, that was about the second time we had a conversation, though. Why?"

"There! You looked so relaxed around him..and it was only your second conversation! The only time I ever saw you that relax is with Aerith..or..or..Tif--"

"And, this is where you get off." Cloud quickly leaned over Yuffie, opened the door, and shoved her out of the car, before driving off into the sunset.

He knew, of course, that he just declared war on none other than the Yuffie.

------

Sora yawned, pulling his pajama top over his head. He could hear his mom watching her soaps across the hall, smiling at the thought of her crying over the death of Samantha's fiance..only to find out it was really his long-lost-twin-brother-who-was-really-his-sister-who-looked-like-a-man..or something. The boy spun around on his swivel chair..thing, stopping in front of the computer, where he was currently in a chatroom.

born2blitz: sora man! where r u? i need help with math hw, ya!

my kai kai: Wakka! do your own homework, jeez

born2blitz: u wouldnt b sayin that if u had my grades

PaupuLurv3: haha..yea..his grades are really bad

born2blitz: and no one asked you!

Riku iz hawt lol: i'll help you, Wakka

born2blitz: thanks riku, man!

Riku iz hawt lol: no problem

PaopuLurv3: where's Tidus?

my kai kai: not here?

sora likes pie: guys, i'll be going..tired

Riku iz hawt lol: haha..tell me what happens to Samantha

sora ate pie has left the chatroom.

Smiling to himself, he tip toed to his mom's room, finding her nestled under the comforter, eyes glued to the T.V screen. "Mom?"

"Uh huh?"

Sora climbed into the bed, snuggling close to his mom. Hey, he was a momma's boy, big deal? "How's Samantha doing?"

Haruka gave her son a tearful look. "Awful! As it turned out, her fiance, Jack, was really his long-long-twin-brother-who-was-really-his-sister-who-looked-like-a-man! Who would have thought it?"

Another point for me, Sora mused. "Poor Samantha, almost as bad as her last fiance who turned out to be a monkey.."

"Such a charming monkey, he was," his mom winked. "I would have married him, too bad his spaceship blew up.."

The brunette frowned. "Then I would have a monkey for a dad, no thanks!"

"It's either the monkey or the long-lost-twin," she smirked.

"I'll take the monkey."

"Thought you would."

The two watched the show in silence-- well, besides all the sobs and rustling of tissues being passed back and forth-- until it ended. Sora watched his mom turn of the television before deciding that it was alright to tell her. "Mom, I met someone."

"Is he or she cute?"

"Mom!"

Haruka giggled. "Go on, go on."

"Well," Sora said. "I don't know why, but I don't want anyone to know about him, besides me--"

"You told me, sweetie."

"I'm a momma's boy, of course I told you." Sora said impatiently. "Anyway, Riku, Kairi, and I made a promise; we're not suppose to keep secrets from each other or anything! And I don't want to break it..so, what should I do?"

His mother was quiet for so long Sora began to wonder if she'd fallen asleep, and he jumped atleast two feet when she spoke. "Well, what do you think is more important? The promise or the boy?"

Kairi and Riku or Cloud.

And to his surprise, he couldn't choose.