Well guys, I updated! I figured I should do this now before I become busy with my jobs! and I am so sorry that these chapters just seem to become shorter and shorter! Even though this chapter was 11 pages long! Dx so I don't know how that happened...but oh well, I'm trying to keep them long! Dx

Anywho, I hope you all enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Disney, or the characters.


Sora had barely fallen asleep for more than an hour and a half before being woken up by the sound of the other servants getting up and dressed.

He blinked away the sunlight as he saw the shadows of his roommates in the servant's quarters and managed to roll over in bed before yawning.

Once he had gotten up and stretched he walked over to Riku's bed, where the other man was still asleep.

Sora pursed his lips to the side before leaning down slowly, touching Riku lightly on the shoulder as he shook him awake, "Riku. Riku, come on. Wake up."

The silverette turned in his sleep and mumbled a few incoherent words before going back into his deep slumber.

Sora chuckled and shook his head, moving to shake the older teen harder, "Riku! Come on, I'm hungry! Wake up!"

Aquamarine eyes slowly opened as he squinted at the morning light that filled the room. He turned his head to his assailant and yawned before sitting up in bed.

"Good morning, Sora." He yawned, raising his hands over his head as he stretched his arms, hearing his back pop.

Sora tried to hide his nervousness, afraid that Riku would out him about what he had seen that previous night. "Good morning, Riku." He smiled, affectively hiding his apprehension.

Riku rubbed at his eyes as he turned out of bed and put his feet on the floor, shivering at the coolness of it.

Once Riku was up and about Sora started to shake. He didn't know why Riku wasn't saying anything about what had happened. And he didn't know if that was good or bad.

Sora remained quiet as they made their way to the washroom to get ready for the day.

Riku had just finished buttoning up his shirt when he turned to Sora, a puzzled look on his face, "You know, I had the strangest dream last night." He said, turning to Sora who had just finished putting on his shoes.

"Heh, oh really? And what was it about?" Sora chuckled as he looked up to his friend, trying his hardest not to sound fearful of what the older teen might say.

"It was just…it was so vivid." He shook his head as he brought his hand to press up against his temples. "You were a…" He turned to look over at the younger teen, pure innocence and cluelessness on his face, "…never mind. It was stupid." He laughed it off as he put a hand on Sora's shoulder and started to walk toward the dining hall.

Sora stared at the other's back, 'He thinks it was a dream...!' A feeling of hope surged through him, pushing back all of the anxiousness that had clouded his thoughts throughout the morning. The younger teen ran to catch up to his friend, a huge grin on his face.

Riku had no earthly idea how relieved the young man was next to him.


At breakfast they were met with Master Leon already waiting for them in the dining hall, a serious look on his face. "Everyone, I need your attention." He called.

All of his servants looked up from their plates, giving the Master of the House their eyes and ears. "As you all know, I accepted the proposal to marry Lady Rinoa of Galbadia."

The room filled with nods as they continued to listen, "Well I just got word today that she should be arriving sometime this afternoon. I want her to feel completely at home here. This also means that cleaning duties will be extra-long today. I do not want to see a speck of dust out of place, not that there should be a speck of dust in my house anyways. Is that clear?"

A series of 'Yes, sir!'s and 'Yes, Master Leon!'s echoed throughout the dining hall.

"Good." Leon moved and walked over toward each servant, telling them their specific duties of what was to be done before Lady Rinoa arrived.

When he got to Riku he looked over toward Sora. He leaned down toward the elder teen. "Riku. You are going to make sure that Sora doesn't mess up, alright? I want you with him at all times since you two seem like good friends."

Riku nodded obediently.

"You will be cleaning my study today, as for Sora, have him rearrange all of my books on the bookshelf in alphabetical order."

Riku once again nodded, delighted at the fact that he would get to work with Sora again.

Leon then moved over to Sora and stared down at the young boy. Sora stopped eating, noticing a presence behind him. He slowly turned around and looked up to meet the eyes of Master Leon.

He gulped, "Uhm…Hey, Master Leon….g'good morning!" Sora stuttered, afraid that Leon had found out that he had been going for late night swims.

Leon looked on in fondness at the young boy, before ruffling his hand through Sora's spikey hair. He just couldn't help himself. It felt so much like Cloud's hair when he used to run his fingers through it all those years ago. His eyes turned solemn again, thinking about what was going to transpire today, "Good morning."


Sora rubbed at the spot where Leon had rubbed his head. "What do you think is up with him?" Sora asked Riku as they made their way up to Leon's room.

Riku shrugged his shoulders and smirked, flinging the rag in his hand over his shoulder, "I keep telling you that he likes you, but for some reason you don't ever believe me." Riku teased opening up the door for Sora that lead to Leon's room.

Sora rolled his eyes at that and stepped into the room, turning toward the book shelf. "So I'm just supposed to put these in alphabetical order while you clean?" Sora asked. He felt like he was given the easy job.

"Yeah. Trust me though, that's only one out of the many book shelves that Master Leon has."

Sora's eyes opened wider and he pursed his lips, "Oh…"

Riku set the cleaning supplies down on the floor as he grabbed his rag, dipping it in the solution to get ready to clean all of the furniture and windows in Master Leon's room…that was until he heard a loud gasp from Sora.

The silverette turned his head in the direction of the teen. Sora was staring blankly at the first book that was on the shelf. He hesitantly turned to Riku.

The older teen walked over to his friend, a concerned look on his face. "What is it, Sora?" he asked, stopping at the younger boy's side.

"I uhm uh…" Sora's face was turning red as he ran his fingers across the spine of one of the books, "I can't read this."

Riku cocked an eyebrow, "You can't read?"

Sora looked back up at Riku and glared, "Of course I can read, you idiot!" Sora turned his head away and crossed his arms, "I just…I just can't read this." He gestured to the books that were on the shelf, "Where I grew up, our alphabet is different…a lot different."

"Really?" Riku inquired, "That's interesting. I thought it would be the same since we speak the same language." He had a puzzled look on his face, "How far away from here do you live anyway?" he asked.

Sora dodged the last question, "Our language may be the same, but our writing symbols are different. That's just how I was raised." He turned to Riku and shrugged his shoulders.

Riku in turn looked baffled as he turned around, "Uhm….okay. Here…" He walked over to Master Leon's desk and grabbed a piece of blank paper and picked up the quill, making sure that it had plenty of ink.

Sora walked over to him and stared down in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing out our alphabet so you can know where the books go. Just look for the first letter on the spine of the book and see if it matches the letter on the piece of paper, and then you can start putting them in order." He said as he continued to write.

"Are those the capital letters?" Sora asked quietly, pointing to the larger symbols on the paper.

"Mhmm." Riku nodded, blowing on the paper as he continued writing out the alphabet. A couple second's later he finished. "There. All set. I'll do the first couple for you so you can see what I mean." He smiled as he walked back over to the book shelf, Sora following behind.

"See this letter?" Riku pointed to the first letter on the sheet of paper, "That's an 'A', and it's the first letter of our alphabet." Then Riku's eyes roamed the bookshelf in search for a book that started with the letter 'A'.

"Here we go." Riku smiled as he pulled out a book. "See? the letter on the paper matches the letter on the book."

"Oh, yeah! I got it now!" Sora smiled, taking the piece of paper from Riku's hands. "Thank you!"

Riku smiled back, "No problem."


Riku and Sora had been tidying up the room for about thirty minutes when Sora pulled out a leather-bound book with no title. He pulled his lips to the side in confusion. 'This one doesn't have a name on it….' He thought. He continued to turn the book upside down, sideways, and diagonally, looking for a title so he could put it in alphabetical order. After he turned it over again a folded up piece of paper fell out of the pages.

Sora glanced down at the piece of parchment that was lying on the ground before looking around him. He peered his glance over at Riku who was hard at work scrubbing the balcony that was outside of Leon's room.

He shrugged his shoulders as he bent down to pick it up. It felt so delicate in his hands that he was afraid to even touch it, but being a curious teenage boy, he decided to open it up anyway. He walked over to Leon's desk and sat on the chair, putting the book on the table as he laid out the letter on top of it. He slowly opened it up, trying not to tear the paper where the folds were. Once it was fully open, he looked down at the writing. Whoever wrote it had weird handwriting. It didn't look like the nice print that was on the piece of paper that Riku had given him. This letter was written with the same alphabet but the symbols were kind of odd in their shapes.

He looked over it again, wishing that he knew what it said so he could read it, so he wouldn't be even more of an outsider than he already was. He sighed as he folded up the piece of paper again and slid it back in the book.

When he walked back over to the book shelf he was struck with the same problem that led him to find the letter in the first place, 'Now where the heck am I supposed to put this thing?'


Hours passed by as Sora and Riku finally finished their chores.

"Man, my arms hurt from picking up and putting back all of those books." Sora whined.

Riku smirked and shook his head, "Yeah, and my arms don't hurt at all for doing hard labor."

Sora rolled his eyes at that and playfully punched Riku in the shoulder.

The two boys were bantering when Leon walked passed them, heading to his room.

"Geez, Master Leon you don't look so good." Riku stated, concerned for his master's health.

Leon remained quiet as he stared at the floor, "I just…don't feel well."

Riku put his hand on Leon's arm, causing the older man to look at him, "It'll be okay Master Leon."

Leon sighed and looked away from him, "I just don't know what I'm doing anymore." He said, wishing that he didn't have to do this, any of this.

It was Sora who spoke up next, "Yeah, Master Leon, you can't be meeting Lady Rinoa looking like that!" He smiled cheerfully, trying to lighten up his master's mood, "You have to look presentable! Go wash up, brush your hair and put on some nice clothes. You don't want your future wife thinking you're a slob." Sora said matter-of-factly, putting his hands on his hips.

Leon looked over and glared at the young teen before pushing passed the duo and slamming the door to his room.

Sora cringed at that, "Geez, he's like a little kid throwing a tantrum." Sora said, following Riku down to the servant's quarters.

Once in the room Riku sighed and started changing into his nice dress clothes for their new arrival. "Yeah, well…I've heard stories that Master Leon was in love with someone before I was even born, much less started working here. So maybe he has a right to be upset…" Riku sighed and turned to Sora who had a solemn look on his face. "Oh…I never even thought of that."

Riku sadly smirked and walked over to Sora, taking his discarded shirt and throwing it in the bin that was for dirty laundry as the younger teen put on the new top that he was supposed to wear.

"Well still," Sora huffed as he pulled the shirt over his head and straightened out his clothes, "I hope that this Lady Rinoa makes him happy."

Riku smiled sadly at him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Me too."


All of the servants were gathered in the main hall, awaiting the arrival of Lady Rinoa.

Most of them were giddy with excitement, barely being able to contain themselves. Riku and Sora on the other hand were bored.

"We have been standing here for almost forty-five minutes….when is she going to come?" Sora whispered over to Riku, trying not to disrupt the happy feeling that was in the mansion.

Riku sighed and leaned on one foot, a hand on his hip, "I'm not sure, but I could use a nap after all that hard work today." He yawned.

Sora hummed in agreement.

About five minutes later Leon started walking down the steps, catching all of his servant's attention.

"Oh, Master Leon, you look so handsome!" One of his maid's said.

"Absolutely marvelous!" another yelled.

"Wow..." Sora whispered, "Rinoa is a lucky lady." Sora said in aw, looking at the Master of the House.

Leon was dressed in a sleek black uniform with many intricate designs on the shoulders with gold trim and a belt around his waist. His hair was even more styled than normal. It looked as if he was some prince charming that had come straight out of a fairy tale.

Riku nodded in agreement, "He does look great."

Leon walked slowly down the steps and stopped in front of his workers, "She's here." He said with feigned confidence as he straightened out his uniform.

He must have seen her coming from a window on the upper story of the house, because no sooner had he said that then they all heard the sound of an approaching carriage.

All of the servants starting shifting around in place, trying to straighten up to give a good first impression to their Master's Wife-to-be..

Once the noise of the carriage had stopped, one of the butler's opened up the door, and it took every ounce of self-control that they had not to peer out and see the woman whom their master was going to marry.

"Thank you, Sir." A woman's voice said, followed by the sounds of a dog barking.

Sora raised an eyebrow at the noise. He has never heard it before.

It wasn't long before a beautiful woman with long brown hair and fair skin came waltzing into the main room, a man carrying all of her luggage behind her. There was an audible gasp, as well as whispers of 'She is so pretty!', and 'She is a fine match for our Leon.'

It was then that Leon put on a fake smile that he hoped looked genuine and walked over to greet her.

"Hello, Lady Rinoa. I am pleased to finally meet you." He bent down and took her hand in his before bringing it to his lips for a light kiss.

"And you as well." She smiled back, bringing back her hand to her side. "I have been looking forward to this for so long."

He smiled at her and looked over her shoulder to see a dog hop out of the carriage and come running toward the couple. Everyone in the main room was startled, especially Sora. He had never seen such a creature in his life!

"This is my dog, Angelo. I'm sorry, but I just had to bring her." She knelt down and rubbed at her companion's head.

Leon looked down at the animal, "Of course, that is understandable."

Then his attention was brought to the man who was carrying her bags. "Here, let me show you to your room." He motioned with his hand for one of his servants to come and take the bags from the other gentleman and bring them to her assigned room.

"Oh, thank you, sir." She politely curtsied, bringing her hands down to the sides of her white dress.

"Please, don't call me 'sir'. Just 'Leon' will do." He nodded.

She brought her brows together in confusion before nodding in agreement, "Of course, Leon."

As she followed the men up to her room she was wondering why he didn't ask to be called by his true name. As the woman whom he was intended to marry, of course she knew that his real name was Squall, but she was curious as to why he didn't want her, or anyone else for that matter, calling him that.

She put the thought out of her mind as she walked into the huge guest bedroom that she would be staying in for the remainder of her stay, Angelo following close behind.


At dinner time both Leon and Rinoa ate together in Leon's bedroom, trying to spend some quality time together and get to know one another better. Everyone else was downstairs in the dining hall.

"Lady Rinoa, are you weary from your travels?" Leon asked as he cut up his steak.

"Oh I'm quite alright." She said, picking at her salad with her fork. "It was a long trip yes, but I had Angelo to keep me company." Then she adverted her attention to her food and began moving the lettuce around on the plate.

Leon took notice of this, "Miss Rinoa, is something troubling you?" He leaned forward in his chair, looking her in the eye.

"Oh, I'm fine, I just…I'm missing my home is all. I'm going to be gone for quite a while." She looked into his gunmetal eyes before putting on a fake smile, "But I'm sure that this place will feel like home to me in no time!" She giggled, going back to eating her salad.

Leon just sighed in response, but he was relieved. In the short amount of time since her arrival he could tell that she didn't want to be here. And maybe that could be used both to his advantage, and to hers as well.


It had started raining about an hour after dinner, and while all of the other servants were celebrating Rinoa's arrival in the kitchens, Riku and Sora were in the servant's quarters, sitting on a random bed by the window, watching the rain.

Sora looked almost mesmerized at the storm. It fascinated him to see it out of the water instead of watching the rain pelt the water's surface from below.

"It's beautiful." Sora said, leaning up against the window sill.

Riku looked over toward him, watching the other's face be illuminated by what light was coming in through the window. "It really is, isn't it?" Riku said.

Sora turned toward him and smiled before returning his gaze back to the storm outside.

"Yeah…I just hope that Master Leon is okay now." He said quietly. "I never understood arranged marriages." He sighed sadly and leaned his head on the window sill.

"Yeah?" Riku asked as he sat closer to the other boy, "Me neither." He smiled softly, "My dad always told me to marry the one you love. Even though I'm a servant I wouldn't really have the choice to be in an arranged marriage anyway, not here at least, but I still wouldn't agree to it."

"I just think…that if you love someone it shouldn't be a crime." Sora sighed and buried his head in his hands. "I just don't understand."

Riku hesitantly placed his hand on Sora's back, noticing how the other tensed up at his touch, but soon relaxed into it.

Riku started moving his hand in soothing circles on the other's backside, "Your dads…right?"

Sora nodded numbly, "I just...I just want to be a family…"

Riku and Sora remained in silence for quite some time before Sora moved to open up the window.

He took in a big breath, smelling the rain that was still pouring down. "Wow, that smells so good." He said, placing both of his hands on the window sill.

Riku got up and stood next to him, "It does smell nice."

Sora turned to him with a smile on his face, "Come on! Let's go play in it!" he grinned, his solemn mood gone for the moment.

"What? Sora, are you kidding? You could get sick!" Riku scolded.

"Haha, come on Riku! Quit being such a downer and let's go play!" Sora grabbed Riku's sleeve before pulling him out of the door. They both ran down into the storage room before bursting out into the open.

Sora ran out into the rain while Riku stayed back inside.

The young boy twirled around in the rain and fell on his bottom, making sand angels as the water splashed all over his body.

Riku stood by the door, leaning up against the frame as he watched his friend in amusement. Though he found himself on the verge of blushing as Sora's white night shirt was now see through due to the rain.

"Sora, come on! Get back inside!" Riku chided to the other boy, who absolutely refused to listen.

The brunette sat up in the sand and called over to him, a playful smile on his face, "If you want me to come inside then you better catch me!" he then stood up as he took off running down the beach.

"W-wait! Sora!" Riku called. "Aw man…" He groaned as he too followed the young boy out into the storm, trying to run with his hands over his head to fight off some of the onslaught of the rain.

"Come back here!" he yelled. He was barely able to keep his eyes open the rain was pouring down so hard, but he was just able to make out the outline of the other boy heading for the cave that was near the ocean.

He smirked and started running faster, removing his hands from his head in order to gain more speed.

He caught up to the other pretty quick, but not before Sora slipped into the cave through an opening. Riku just made it through and managed to grab Sora's shirt, making the younger teen fall, as well as the older falling down with him.

"Ah!" Sora cried as he fell to the ground, laughing all the while. He barely even noticed the weight of Riku on top of him, and by the time he did, it just made him laugh even harder.

Riku was breathing heavily on top of him, trying to find out why this kid had so much energy.

"Well," Sora managed to huff while he was trying to catch his breath, "You caught me." He turned over, thus making Riku fall off to the side.

"Yeah? Well you were fast." Riku laughed as well, bringing up an arm to cover his eyes.

After a couple seconds of regaining his breath Riku removed his arm and turned to his side, only to find Sora staring at him intently.

It caught him off guard and he had a nervous smile on his face, "What is it?" he asked, trying to not sound apprehensive.

Sora smiled at him before brushing some of the silver hair that was stuck to Riku's face out of the way, "Nothing." He kept smiling, realizing how content the other man made him. Riku made him not feel so alone, and he thanked him for that.

After a couple seconds of Riku holding his breath, trying to hide the blush on his face, Sora reluctantly stopped his movements of running his hand through Riku's hair and stood up.

Riku finally was able to breathe again, holding back a nervous chuckle. He rubbed at the back of his head before standing up as well, "What was that all about?" Riku asked, trying to not sound too eager.

Sora sniffed and wiped his arm on his sleeve before turning to the other male, "I like you, Riku."

Riku's face went blank, all of the blood draining from his face, "Y-you what?" he stuttered.

Sora turned away and placed his hand on the wet surface of the cave, gazing out toward the way they came in, "I like you. You are the only real friend that I have made since coming here, and you don't make me feel so homesick…and I would like to thank you for that."

Riku let out a breath and swallowed, "Sure thing, Sora. You're my friend too. Even though I'm friends with pretty much everybody at the manor, none of them are as close to my age or make me feel…" He stopped himself once he noticed that Sora had tears coming out of the corners of his eyes.

"Sora? Are you okay?" Riku asked as he walked over to the other teenager.

"Huh?" Sora whipped his head around and looked at the other, "Oh, yeah! I'm fine!" He said, as he wiped at his eyes, "Geez, all this rain is getting me sentimental." He laughed as he rubbed his cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Riku walked over toward him, putting his hand on the other's shoulder.

"I…I was just thinking…" Sora wiped at his nose and pointed outside, "The clouds…and the rain…even the weather wants them to be together…so how can it be wrong?" he sighed as he put his head in his hands.

Then it came to Riku's attention that Sora probably hadn't really heard all that he had said before. Well he assumed that that was probably for the best. He didn't want their relationship to move too fast. Even though Sora said he liked him, what did that mean? Was it just as a friendship? Or something more?

Riku smiled sadly as he went over and brought an arm around Sora, bringing him to his chest so he could cry without being seen.

He stood there, stroking Sora's head as the young boy let out all of his frustration into his chest. He was crying for his parents, his parents that loved one another so dearly but could never be together. But he was their product, the symbol of their love for one another, and he was proud of that fact.

Sora curled up his hands into fists into Riku's shirt as he sobbed, glad that the rain washed away the evidence of his crying.

"Ssshhhh." Riku soothed, running his fingers through Sora's hair, trying to calm him down.

After a couple minutes had passed he slowly released Sora from his hold, "Hey," he said quietly, "Let's get back, okay? You need your rest after all this." He smiled fondly at the other.

Sora sniffled and slowly looked up at Riku, a smile forming on his face as well.

"Thank you, Riku."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for." Riku smiled and grabbed Sora's hand, leading him out onto the beach so they could make their way back into the mansion.

They walked through the wet sand, hand in hand, through the pouring rain.


The next morning Sora woke up with a smile on his face before yawning. He felt terrific! That was one of the best night's sleep that he has had in a long time. He sat up in bed and walked over to Riku who was still asleep.

Some of the other servants were waking up as well, but not very quickly due to their celebrating the night before.

Sora smirked at all of them and then went to Riku's side, waiting for him to wake up.

When Sora lifted back the covers, he noticed that Riku was already awake.

"Hey, Riku." Sora grinned.

"S-Sora? Achoo!" He sneezed. Once, twice, three times, before laying back in the bed. "I feel awful." He mumbled. His nose was stopped up and he felt like he had been hit with a thousand flour sacks.

Sora looked concerned as he put his hand on Riku's forhead, then he smirked. "Well yeah, you are burning up! And you said that I was the one who was going to get sick from playing out in the rain." He laughed.

"Uhhhgggnnn." Riku groaned as he pulled the covers up over his head and tried to go back to sleep. "You were just lucky." He mumbled back.

Sora chuckled again and laid himself parallel atop of Riku.

"Sooora, get ooofff!" Riku groaned, trying to push the other teen off of him.

Sora chuckled some more before finally managing to get up. "Well it's not my fault that you wanted to go play in the rain." He playfully rolled his eyes as he pushed on the lump of flesh in the bed.

"Ugh, shut up, Sora. I'm trying to go back to sleep." The older teen rolled onto his side, away from the other boy.

Sora huffed as he patted the sick one's shoulder, "I'll go ahead and tell Master Leon that you aren't feeling well okay? So then you can sleep and rest."

Riku sniffled from under the covers, trying to talk through his stuffed up nose, "Thangyou."

Sora sighed as he put his hands on his hips and walked over to his side of the room to get dressed, "Whatever." He smirked.


Well at least I didn't end this one on a cliffhanger...I wanted to though...but there was no where to put one. -.-

And for anyone that is wondering, Leon is wearing his SeeD uniform while Rinoa is wearing the white dress from their dance in Final Fantasy VIII. :)

well, I do believe that from now on it will be a Soriku chapter followed by a Cleon flashback! :D And don't worry guys, the mermaids will still make appearances in the soriku chapters! We just have to move the story along! :) Well I love you guys and if you all could please leave me a review that would be great! I really appreciate them and they mean a lot to me, especially when you like what is happening in the story! xD

So until next time!