A/N: Sorry about the long wait . . .I just kept staring at this story goin' "WTF, mate?" It's turned out COMPLETELY different than what I originally envisioned. This was supposed to be some sort of light romance story, 8-10 chapters, tops. Well, I went and actually got myself involved in a plot (D'oh!), so I hope you guys are in for a long haul. This thing threatens to reach novel lengths. Review Responses are at the bottom!

Disclaimer:

Chibi Cloud: (Screams like a little girl)

A28: (Kicks some rabid fangirls in the head) Leggo my Cloud-o!

Fangirls: (Talking like "The Others") This Cloud is ours . . .this Cloud is ours . . .

A28: No, he's mine!

Disclaimer Man: Ahem.

A28: Oh, fine. He's not.

Disclaimer Man: And . . .?

A28: And neither is Squall. (Kick) Or Riku. (Kick) Or Anything from Kingdom Hearts. (Kick)

Disclaimer Man: But you do own Amaya.

A28: Yes.

Disclaimer Man: Alright, then sign here, here, here, and initial here.

A28: Ug. . .(Lets Cloud go. Cloud goes flying right into a group of fangirls) I hate all this paper work . . .

Chapter 10

"Ug!" We groaned, putting the dresser in place. "That's it, Aerith," I plopped down on my new bed, "I'm not moving it again! Just be happy with it where it is, or get Cloud to do it!"

Aerith and I had moved all the new furniture into the back bedrooms, in several configurations by this point, so that Yuffie and Squ—Leon could have their rooms back. Everyone, including Riku, had made themselves scarce the second they'd heard about moving furniture. Even Kairi had abandoned us ("Yeah, that thing I have to go to . . .it's starting soon . . .Bye!").

Aerith laughed, "Okay, okay. We'll just get your things in here." She disappeared, returning with my bags, and started folding their contents into the dresser, "We need to take you shopping again later! You only got a couple of outfits!"

"Can it at least wait until tomorrow?" I pleaded, "I'm exhausted!"

"If you really want to. Can you go check Yuffie's room? If you leave something in there, it probably won't be there tomorrow."

I reluctantly pulled myself off the bed and trudged down the hallway. The second I opened the door, my eyes flew to it. The stone, shining in the bright light form the window, deep blues and burgundies hiding it its depths. That was mine. I picked it up and studied it. Such a pretty little thing, no bigger than a marble. Probably totally worthless. I tried to remember when I'd gotten it, but carelessly tossed the idea aside. Who cares when I got it? It's mine, right?

I shook my head. Where had that come from? It wasn't like me to be so possessive, and certainly not like me to be so inattentive to detail. I frowned; even when I really thought about it, I could not remember getting this stone. Had I always had it? No, I was sure I'd gotten it recently. But I'd already had it when I got here, right? So when . . .?

I was still absently playing with the stone, feeling it warm in my hands, when I walked back to my new room.

"Oh, what a pretty stone!" I grasped it self-consciously, but forced my hand to relax and open as Aerith held out hers, "May I see it?" I reluctantly handed it over, still criticizing my behavior; why was I being so selfish? It was just a little rock! Why did I feel so strangely about it?

"Have you ever thought of getting it set? It's a little big for a ring," she examined it, "But it would be lovely on a necklace, or maybe a bracelet." She held it up to the light, "And al those other colors in it! I wonder what kind of stone it is?" She put it back in my waiting hand, "Good thing you got this away from Yuffie—this time tomorrow it would have been in a pawn shop."

"Really?" I was shocked; would Yuffie really have sold it for a few measly munny?

Aerith smiled wryly, "She probably would have felt guilty about it afterward, but yes. She seems to have developed an unfortunate habit of stealing. I honestly don't know where she got it from. We—Leon and I—tried to keep her out of trouble, but . . ."

"She just attracts it?"

"She goes hunting for it, or else creates it herself." Quipped Cloud, walking in and planting a kiss on Aerith's cheek, "You did a great job on finding furniture."

"You think so? I'm still trying to figure out how to paint the walls, but I thought I'd wait for Kairi, so we could see what colors she likes."

"Good idea. Have either of you guys seen Leon?"

"No," I answered, "Why?"

"Well, we were all training in the cave under Merlin's house—Leon and Yuffie and me—when he suddenly blew up and walked out."

Aerith raised her eyebrows, "Leon blew up?"

Cloud shrugged, "Well, he did the Leon version of blowing up. He hit one of Yuffie's ninja stars so hard it got stuck in the wall—it's still there—said he was going for a walk, and took off. I thought he would have come home by now."

"No . . ." Aerith's forehead creased with worry, "I hope he's okay . . ."

"I wonder what could have gotten Leon so angry . . ." I thought aloud.

"I'm not sure. You know how Leon is; he keeps to himself." But a small flash of worry crossed Cloud's face.

"Hmm," Aerith hummed, sending a clear "we'll-talk-later" look to Cloud, just as the front door opened, "Hey, anybody home?"

"We're in the back," Aerith called absently, smoothing the wrinkles out of one of the new bedspreads.

Kairi walked in with Sora in tow, "Where's Riku?"

I shrugged, "The lazy bum took off as soon as he found out that we were moving furniture."

Kairi rolled her eyes, "Sounds like another lazy bum I know." She bumped her shoulder against Sora, a smile sliding up one side of her mouth.

"Hey . . ." Sora pouted.

"Anyway," Kairi continued, "Merlin wants to talk to him, ASAP."

The front door opened again, "Riku?" I called.

"No." Came the short reply, leisurely steps coming down the hallway.

"Oh, hi, Leon." Did he look peeved? Did I do something to make him angry? I hoped not. "Are you okay?"

He looked at me coldly, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Yikes! Who spit in his spaghetti? "No reason that I know of; you just don't seem very happy."

"I'm fine."

"Okay . . ."

"Leon," asked Sora, "Have you seen Riku? Merlin wants to talk to him."

He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed against his chest, "No."

"Well, I guess I'll go out and look for him, then. I needed to go out anyway."

"Didn't you just come back?" Asked Sora, confused.

I smiled, "Yeah, but I forgot that I wanted to get this," I pulled out the stone, "set."

"Ooh!" Kairi exclaimed, leaning over to look, "How pretty! Oh! There's this shop, upstairs from Cid's, I bet they could set it for you! They do stuff while you wait, don't they?"

Sora rolled his eyes, "Their accessories are different, Kairi."

"Well, it shouldn't make a difference whether it's magic or not! It's the same idea, right?"

"I guess."

"Right!" She turned back to look at me, "Right above Cid's."

"Alright, I'll see you guys later." Yay, off to Cid's. Wherever that was . . .

Everyone just sort of stayed in that back room. The girls kept trying to start up a conversation, and they tried everything from color schemes to blitzball, but they all shriveled and died, gasping for breath. The silence didn't bother me, but the fact that Aerith and Cloud were obviously tip-toeing around me, and the kids had caught on enough to do it too, was really irritating. It wasn't like it was some big deal. I'm allowed to get mad every once in a while, right? Right? They don't need to know everything—it's none of their business!

" . . .I'm going out."

"Oh, okay, Leon," Aerith answered, startled, "Where are you going?"

" . . .Out." I turned around and walked back out of the house and into the sunlight.

The bright light seared through my eyes, making me all too aware of a headache I didn't know I had, "Damn, I need to buy some sunglasses," I mumbled, making my way down the hot street.

I'd actually been able to find Cid's, luckily enough the huge sign stood out pretty well. I knocked on the door on the second floor uncertainly, "Umm . . .is this the accessory shop?"

"Kupo-upo!" Something inside squeaked, and the door fell open, "You need anything customized? We're the kupos to do it, kupo!"

I stood in shock. The fluff-ball spoke! To be more precise, a short fluff-ball with what looked like a cat toy on its head.

"Um . . .forgive me for being rude but . . .well, I've never seen anything like you before . . ." I wanted to touch the red ball hanging over its head, but that would probably be some sort of offense punishable by death, so I kept my hand away.

It shrugged and smiled, I think, before turning back to several other fluff-balls in the room behind it, "Newbie, kupo."

It gestured for me to follow as it walked back into the room, "We're moogles, kupo. And before you ask—" it gestured to its head, "This is my pom-pom. Yes, it's real; yes, it's attached; no you may not touch it!"

I just nodded, and the little moogle smiled again, "What did you need, kupo?"

"Umm, well, I have this stone . . .I was wondering if I could get it set in something." I took the small thing out of my pocket.

It grabbed the stone out of my hand with a shockingly soft paw, examining it, "Shouldn't be a problem, kupo. Let's look at what we got. By the way, kupo," he (I decided it looked masculine) held out the empty paw, "I'm Mog. (1)"

"Thanks, Mog," I answered, shaking his paw, then following him to a box in the back of the room. He pulled out pawful after pawful of empty rings and chains, their empty sockets staring, empty hooks grasping for a gem to call their own.

"I thought it would be a bit big for a ring . . .do you think we could put it in a necklace?"

Mog nodded, "Definitely doable, kupo! Silver or gold, kupo?"

"Silver," I answered, watching the stone gleaming in his grasp as he held it up to various sizes of sockets, looking for one that would fit, "Size 8 . . ." he mumbled to himself, opening a drawer labeled with a piece of masking tape and a hastily-scrawled 8, "Pick whatever you'd like, kupo!"

Wow. I had been planning on something simple, but they had so many different ones to choose from! There was one that made it look like the stone was a pearl inside an open-mouthed oyster, one that looked like a teardrop, the gem shimmering in the center, ones that looked like suns and moons and stars. Countless ones shaped like animals, some that I knew and others that I could only guess were mythological.

A calloused hand reached over my shoulder and pointed at one, a little fairy that would hold the jewel in her arms, "You should take that one."

I turned around, startled to see Leon behind me, "Leon? You scared me."

He continued, not seeming to take any note of my comment, "All the detail on it will make up for the fact that the stone isn't cut."

"Umm, yeah. I thought it was really pretty, too, but I don't have enough money . . ."

He picked the trinket up, "Do you really like it?" I looked at him, confused. He almost smiled, "You act almost like you're scared of me. I don't want you to think you have to agree with me."

Scared of you? No. It's just that you are Mr. Gorgeous and I seem to have taken leave of my senses for a moment. I mean, this guy was my first crush, you know? "N-no, I'm not scared of you. You just startled me just now, is all. It is very pretty Leon, but please put it back. I can't afford it."

"Hey, Mog," he called. His voice is so odd. Odd-good, not odd-bad. He doesn't need to speak loudly—it just seems like everyone else suddenly becomes quieter when he talks, or his voice just carries over them or something. Effortlessly. "We'll take this one."

"Oh, Leon, kupo! I didn't know this girl was a friend of yours, kupo!" Friend of Leon's? Did he consider me a friend?

"Yeah," I had to control the little bubble of happiness filling my chest. Lord above, I am still such a little girl, to get so happy over him just calling me his friend. "We come from the same world. She only recently found us." The look that came over his face at the last statement almost punctured my little happy bubble. Was I the reason he had been upset earlier?

Mog smiled, "It's good to hear happy stories, kupo! You don't hear them often enough, kupo." He took the little fairy in his paw, "That'll be 2000 munny, kupo, and the necklace will be ready in an hour or two, kupo!"

Leon ignored my sound of protest as he handed over the munny, "Okay, we'll be back then." He grabbed my hand and started walking back out the door.

"Have a nice day, kupo!"

"Umm, you too!" I called over my shoulder as we went back into the bright sunlight. I saw Leon wince against the glare, "You should get some sunglasses, Leon."

(1) I'm just using this as a generic moogle name. It is not meant to be any one particular Final Fantasy Moogle, though I know the name "Mog" shows up in VII, VIII, and IX.

Review Responses

Riku of Darkness: Your advice is noted. I hadn't even really meant to even put the love triangle in there—it just sort of happened. And now that it's in there, I can' t seem to get it out. I promise, though, Amaya is far from perfect. Oh! And thanks for catching my boo-boo . . .I haven't played Kingdom Hearts in a while, so I kinda forgot that Selphie was on Destiny Islands! (Pouts) I have to go change it to someone else now . . .I really like Selphie . . .(Brightens back up) Thank you for all your reviews!

Jen: Thanks for the review, Jen! I can see where it might be confusing, especially to someone who hasn't played the game. When I get around to revisions (chibis all laugh at the thought of Aries getting around to doing anything) I'll make sure to fix it.

Ice Dagger: I finally updated! Now you! Go work on your fic!

Tenchi Kai: I'm glad you think the Amaya/Riku stuff is cute . . .I hope you don't kill me for not having any in this chapter. (Begs for forgiveness)

Angel of Darkness and Light: Hee hee, I'm glad you like it. Oo Don't tease Squ—Leon too much. He looks kinda dangerous.

Doomboy2000: Does your name have anything to do with Invader Zim? (Gir: Sing the Doom Song!) Anyway, I'm really working on getting the plot moving—it's just that my original idea for the story and what it has transformed into are drastically different, so I'm trying to cover a lot of ground, now. I promise, there is a point to all this!