Enamis09: There are some guys out there that treat girls like Riku does. Don't give up until you find one! :) Hope the rest of your exams went well!

Angie-ange: Good request! I'll be posting requests starting next week, so look for yours in a few weeks.

A/N: I'm over halfway through the second draft of Inferno's Edge. However, I've already decided that when this is done, I'm gonna need to take a little break from it, then go back and edit some more! Maybe not an entire third draft, but there's definitely some more details I want to try to add here and there. I haven't been able to devote quite as much time to writing lately because I've been sewing like crazy...the local ComiCon that we attend every year is coming up in two and a half weeks, and I've got a massive cosplay to finish before then haha. But I hope that I'll have this sequel ready to go by maybe the end of July!

More fun and fluff this week – though this time it's fluff of the family variety. I actually originally planned on posting this with the sequel, because this moment is briefly referenced in that story. That's why you'll see a little change in formatting in the form of italics in this chapter – that's a change that I've made in the sequel, as well, putting some thoughts in italics. Anyway, I decided in the end that this fit in better with the last few oneshots that I've posted, and since there are no spoilers in it, it made more sense to post it now instead of waiting.

This chapter takes place one month after the ending of Sorrow's Promise.

Bonus Chapter 1

Meli's Perspective

"Okay, everybody, time to eat!" Mr. Yoshida called down the stairs.

That's all it took for the boys to completely abandon their super competitive game of pool and pound up the basement stairs at lightning speed. Kairi and I exchanged smiles and rolled eyes, following at a much calmer pace.

"Boys and their food."

She laughed. "I know, right? As much as I love those two, it sure is nice to have you around to balance out their testosterone a little these days."

A minute later, we were all settling around the Yoshidas dining room table for dinner, Riku and Sora not hesitating to pile the food high on their plates. "You'd think they had just fought Xemnas today, not a month ago," I quipped.

"Hey, going to school and doing homework takes a lot out of a guy," Sora protested before shoveling a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"And playing pool," Riku added with a smirk.

"Uh-huh, dat too," Sora agreed with his mouth full.

Mrs. Yoshida, sitting directly across from me, clasped her hands together in front of her, watching all of us with a sparkle in her eyes. "Well, it may have been a month ago, but it still makes me so incredibly happy to have you all back around my table again. Plus one very special addition, of course."

I ducked my head to hide my blush, twirling my fork around in my pasta. After a moment, though, I felt like she was still watching me, and I lifted my face slightly. She was, indeed, still staring, a strange look on her face.

"Mom? Everything okay?" Kairi asked.

Mrs. Yoshida shook her head as if waking from a trance. "Oh. Yes. Sorry, I just...it's strange. You two..." She cut her eyes back and forth between me and Kairi, who was sitting right next to me. "I never noticed it to start with, but I've started seeing lately...you look...startlingly similar."

Kairi immediately turned to look at me with raised eyebrows, but I tilted my face in the other direction, rubbing a hand up and down my cheek to block her view. "Oh, uh...really? I...never noticed," I stammered.

Nodding, Mrs. Yoshida leaned forward as if to get a closer look. "Yes, well I did notice the eyes right off the bat. Maybe it was because you were so thin when you first arrived, Meli, that the other similarities didn't stand out to me. But now...your facial features are nearly identical, not to mention your body types." Leaning back again, she glanced around at the others. "Doesn't anyone else see it?"

Finally getting tired of me hiding, Kairi pulled my hand down from my face and grabbed my chin, turning my head towards her. "Well, I always did say that we looked a bit alike, but I never thought of it being identical." She beamed. "Maybe we really are long lost sisters, like I said before! Twins, even!"

I laughed nervously. The others were talking quietly among themselves, but Riku's eyes caught mine from the end of the table.

He raised one eyebrow. You haven't told them yet?

I cut my eyes away, pressing my lips together. No...

His other eyebrow went up to meet the first. Don't you think you ought to?

I gave him somewhere between a smile and a grimace. Probably, but...how...?

His face dropped into an expression of amused scolding. Come on, Meli. You can't keep it a secret forever.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. I know.

"Okay, what was...that?" Kairi furrowed her brow, pointing to first me, then Riku. Apparently she had been watching our silent conversation. "You guys know that was so not subtle, right? I know you two know something, so spill."

Whimpering, I slid down in my seat so that only my eyes and the top of my head were visible above the table. Riku laughed. "Come on, Meli. You're acting like it's embarrassing or something. Just tell them."

I shook my head vigorously in reply.

"It's not embarrassing, it's just...weird."

"Not helping!" I shot a glare at him.

"Okay, fine. I'll tell them." He leaned onto his elbows on the table. "Meli is from a parallel universe."

Sora paused mid-chew and stared, then swallowed his food. "You mean like, from another world, right? 'Cause we already knew that."

"No, dude, I literally mean from a parallel universe." Riku launched into an explanation that was, in his own words, basically what DiZ had told us when I had first arrived. How universes split off from each other, the infinite possibilities that existed, the fact that only a handful of people could travel between them. I inched myself back up in my chair as he spoke, keeping my focus mainly on my food, but sneaking peeks at everyone's faces periodically.

"So what you're saying is, there's an infinite number of all of us out there somewhere, each leading completely different lives," Mr. Yoshida clarified as the story concluded.

Riku nodded. "Basically, yeah. Though the lives may or may not be all that different, depending on what changes were made in that universe's history."

Everyone seemed to be taking this information in and digesting it. Kairi, however, was quick on the uptake. She rotated quickly to face me, a look of concentration in her eyes. "You're...you're me, aren't you?"

A deafening silence fell as everyone ceased eating to listen. I swallowed hard, my eyes darting up to Riku, then back to my plate. Were they going to completely freak? Would they kick me out? It didn't really matter now. I couldn't just lie to her face. "Um...as far as we can tell...yeah."

Someone choked on their food, and a fork clattered loudly onto a plate. I jumped, rubbing my hand up and down my arm nervously. "That, um...that would explain, you know...why we look alike..." I hastened to continue.

"And why our backgrounds are so similar," Kairi finished with a smile of realization. "Neither of us remember before a certain age..."

"The same exact age," Riku pointed out.

Kairi nodded thoughtfully. "You just...never got adopted."

I bit down on my lip and nodded. "Right."

Sora finally spoke up again. "But you have purple hair."

I cracked a small smile. "You thought that was natural?" I indicated Kairi's hair with my thumb. "My natural color is...that."

He shook his head. "So wait...isn't there like...shouldn't you be, like, causing some kind of rift in time and space right now? Isn't there some kind of law against two Kairis..." He looked back and forth between us. "Or...two Melis...whoever you are, two of you existing in the same room at the same time?"

I shrugged lightly. "Hasn't been a problem so far."

Riku cleared his throat. "Also, as more proof that they're the same person...Meli knew versions of me and you back in her universe."

Sora's jaw dropped open. "Really? That's so freaky! Is that me just as cool as the real me?"

"Well you're both plenty real," I smirked, picturing Zephyr's goofy grin. "And...let's go with he's just as dorky as you are."

Before Sora could protest my answer, Kairi gasped and planted her palm on the table. "Is that why Aiden looked so much like Axel?"

Sighing, I rubbed my face vigorously with both hands. "Maybe..." I did not expect that subject to come up quite so quickly.

"You dated Axel?" Sora cried, his nose scrunched up in disgust.

"No, I dated..." I dropped my forehead onto the table with a groan. "Can we please not talk about them right now?"

"Well, this is all...very...unexpected, and interesting."

I lifted my head slowly to look at Mrs. Yoshida, not sure what kind of expression I expected to see. When she caught my eye, she smiled. "You always did seem very...familiar to me. On the other hand, though, you and Kairi are so different in many ways."

Wetting my lips, I stared down at my hands in my lap. "You're not...are you...mad? That I didn't tell you right away?"

"Of course not!" Mr. Yoshida chimed in. "I would imagine that this is a secret you're used to keeping from everyone."

I glanced up at him and nodded once. "I was afraid you'd be really freaked out by it. I wouldn't blame you."

"It is definitely very surprising, and a lot to think about," Mrs. Yoshida replied.

Pressing my lips together, I inhaled sharply before blurting out my true fear. "If you don't want me to stay, then...I won't. If it freaks you out for me to be here, then just...just let me know, and...like I said, I won't blame you."

Immediately Kairi's arms were wrapped around my shoulders, and she pressed her cheek up against mine. I tensed slightly, still not used to all the physical affection she bestowed. "You poor thing, is that what you were worried about?"

"We're not going to kick you out, sweetie." Mrs. Yoshida leaned forward, an earnest look in her brown eyes. "We've told you before that we want you to stay as long as you want to, and that's not going to change just because of a little thing like this."

Mr. Yoshida was nodding fervently. "That's right."

"I don't care who you are, I'm still gonna keep pretending that you're my sister," Kairi giggled, giving me another squeeze. "That's what you feel like to me!"

Tears stung my eyes, and I dashed at them with the back of my hand. This feeling of warmth inside of me...it wasn't just from Kairi's ongoing hug. It was something much stronger, something that I hadn't felt a lot of in my lifetime. Acceptance. I met Mrs. Yoshida's eyes again and smiled. "Thank you."

Please let me know what you thought in a review, and if you have any special requests, shoot them my way! Ideas for scenes can be as vague or specific as you want. I'll try my best to do whatever I receive!