Title: A Good Influence

Author: Andro

Warnings: AU, Yaoi, mild violence, hints of drug abuse, suicide.

Type: Comedy, Drama, romance. Part high-school genre, but not really.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, FF7, FF8, FF9, FFX, FFX-2 or any of these characters, pretty much. =3

Author Notes: First of, thank you to my lovely beta reader, Emmy. 3 And thanks to everyone who has reviewed. =) You guys really ido/i make me update.

*~*~*~

"Woah... you live here? Seriously?" Turning on his heel, Sora tilted his head far back to look with great interest at the glittering chandelier. The way the light reflected playfully from one crystal to the other was seductive and hypnotic. He got dizzy trying to count how many crystals it was composed of.

"I have the keys, don't I?" Leon mumbled, tossing mentioned object carelessly on top of a small, tasteful desk. Sora transferred his attention to that instead, and tried to study the pattern, trying to figure out whether it was an antique or not. It looked pretty damn old, not the sort of thing one would just -throw- things on.

"Yes."

Sora shot Leon a puzzled gaze.

"Mn?"

"It's an antique. Louis XIII."

"Err. Right," Sora agreed blandly, not having a clue at all what that meant.

"The chandelier too?"

"Mother collects them."

"Ooh, cool. Is she here?" Sora questioned, following the taller teen-somewhere. It turned out to be a pleasant living room, furnished in rich warm colors. The floor sank beneath his feet, and Sora glanced down warily for a split second, then realized he'd stepped on to a carpet. He smirked a little at himself, and turned into a half circle, studying the pieces of art on the wall. He'd vaguely recollected hearing somenone saying something at one point about Leon being loaded, but he'd never exactly been interested. Whatever the case, Leon's family was certainly well off to afford a two story house on the outskirts ot the city with an expansive amount of private terrain all around. Sora had no doubt that any one of the landscapes he was studying cost more than his father's car.

"No. She'll arrive later."

"Mn. K'. So." Resisting the urge to touch the tranquil lake scene captured in brittle oil, the sophomore switched gears. They had a job to do.

"We work here?"

"If you wish."

"Hey, I don't care where we are, as long as we're not below a flock of birds," Sora chirped, letting his backpack slide down from his shoulder and opening it up.

Leon rubbed his forehead, wondering just how he was going to tolerate this overly cheerful idiot for the rest of the year.

Sixteen minutes and four seconds later, Leon Hart was forced to admit defeat on something. The only two other options were to shoot his partner or shoot -himself-.

"Fine, he can have a damn talking dog," He breathed out shortly, looking disgusted at himself for giving in.

"K'. Scratch the dog thing."

"What?" Leon stared. If it had been anyone but him, it might have been described as belwirement.

"I just wanted to see if I could get you to say yes," Sora admited casually, crossing his arms behind his head.

"..."

"Oh, come on," Sora peered at him. "You were just arguing with me about why he shouldn't have a talking dog! I -know- the cat doesn't have your tongue." He paused at that, and Leon began to realize that those pauses meant the soccer player was about to embark in another rant.

For one of the few times in his life, Leon was grateful to hear the little jingle of keys and the click of an opening door.

A heart shaped face framed with pitch black curls sneaked a peek inside the living room, and Elma Hart smiled, but it was a faltering one that swiftly disappeared..

"I'm sorry, I thought I heard voices...?" She siphoned off when noticing that her son wasn't actually alone, and blinked before smiling again, puzzled.

"Hello..."

Sora waved a little, and bounced on to his feet.

"Hello! I'm Sora Kogai, are you Leon's mom? I hope we're not bugging you, we're just working on a school project. And stuff. Yep. No drugs involved," He assured her.

With raised eyebrows, she nodded and took his offered hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, yes... I'm Leon's mother. Please, just call me Elma," She offered, looking pleasantly surprised.

"Nifty," Sora beamed. "I'm just Sora too! Except.. not 'just Sora'... uh... Well, I'm sure you know what I mean. I hope. I think." Sora blinked. "... You know what, don't pay attention to me, I haven't eaten yet."

"No?" With that bit of new information, she cast a berating look on her son, who hadn't bothered to rise from his seat and kept his eyes coolly fixed on the piece of paper they'd been writing ideas on. A light frown touched her face, before she shook it off and beamed at Sora.

"Well, we'll fix that right now. I love cooking," She admitted. "But I don't like cooking for just myself. Would you like to be my test bunny?"

"Would I?" Sora grasped her arm, clinging to it desperately.

"Can I come live with you?" He inquired pitifully. "I'll even deal with grumpy over there. I'll make him talk more, even! It'll be like teaching a dog new tricks!" Pause. He glanced back at Leon. "That's not a -bad- thing of course, I like dogs, thank you very much," The brunette added, "So what are we having, oh-nice-and-cookingful-mom-number-2?"

"..." Leon sighed. Great. Now his mother -and- Sora were together. Could life get any worse? They were never going to leave him alone now.

*~*~*~

The soft emerald carpet muffled the heavy strides of someone passing.

Riku glanced out every window as he swept by, light green eyes showing a nervous anger. In an effort to appease himself, he'd worn his favorite outfit. A sleek pair of comfortable gray jeans, and a loose Romeo shirt. In normal Rokio weather, the outfit would have been stifling, but in the chilly winter...

His fingers skimmed across an undone cuff, fiddling with the mother of pearl button. His agitated movements still held a certain skill of elegance, even as he wanted to kick something. Preferably someone alive. To be more exact, someone named 'Sora Kogai'.

"...You can't blame her, you know," The tone of the new voice was knowing, but not smug. If it had been conceited, Riku would have turned on his heel and left. As it was, he simply eyed the enigmatic woman half hidden in the shadows with a resigned posture.

"What?"

"The girl. You can't blame her for something he hasn't done."

"How do you-... nevermind," Riku snorted. Why bother asking Lulu how she knew how his mind worked? He knew how she did it, and he'd be damned if he didn't also think it unfair that he didn't know her as well.

"You can't blame her. Don't you dare go and put the fault on her."

"Since when do you care?" Riku murmured, crossing his arms and leaning back slightly.

"I don't. But it's not right that you blame this person for your father's mistakes."

"Ever the wise Aunt Lulu," He drawled. "I'm not going to blame her for anything, I'll even be -civil- to her. Good for you?"

Lulu flicked him off.

"Do grow up one of these days," She suggested, laying a slim hand on her hip. "Then I might be pleased."

"That, according to my father, is never going to happen."

With that, Riku turned his attention to the world outside of the flimsy glass. Being on the second floor of the mansion provided him with plenty to look at in, including the cul de sac driveway. His fingers returned to fiddling impatiently with his sleeve, and Lulu shook her head slightly, causing her braids to click together in an erratic melody.

"Don't be rash. God knows what your father will do if you send this girl screaming out that front door." Feeling that saying anything else would be too much, even for someone like her, Lulu turned and moved down the hall. She frowned subtly. /I hope this girl is strong enough to at least tolerate him.\

"Family," Riku voiced out loud, half wishing he was a total orphan.

"..."

/Sora.\ He thought idly. /Do I know her?\ His mind scanned the list-the very small list- of girls he knew at Rokio High. None of them matched. He'd never even -met- anyone named Sora before in his life.

It was odd that they were putting a girl on his case. Usually 'adults' were so concerned about putting two teenagers of the opposite sex together... apparently they all thought teenagers had the hormones of a lion. It made him consider what -they- had been doing in their teens.

"Paranoid fucks..." Breathing in deeply, Riku stopped messing with his shirt and stepped back from the window, suddenly finding it rather unlike him to worry. /As long as she's not a religious nut, she'll be easy to ignore.\

*~*~*~

'She' at the moment, was busy looking around at the regal walls surrounding the Jakunen property. Sora eyed the cracks formed by age with particular interest, contemplating if they were strong enough to hold his weight. He wasn't as heavy as most other boys his age, but he had no doubt something flimsy like that would crumble.

"Hmn..."

"Hmn what?" His mother raised an eyebrow and shot him a side glance while somehow keeping the car going in a smooth curve. Practice after so many years of dealing with her first born.

"Nothing," Sora waved the consideration away for the moment and gazed at the house they were quickly coming up on. There was no point in comparing the house to Leon's house. No point at all. Riku's house wasn't a house, it was a -mansion-.

"I wonder if it's a common trait amongst the rich that they're all anti-social..." The soccer player mused, pressing two fingers against his lips.

"Don't you -dare- just go out of the blue and ask them that," His mother warned, looking appalled at the idea.

"You mean me?" Sora's gaze left the mansion and turned innocent doe eyes on his mother.

"Me? I'd never."

"Of course you wouldn't," Mrs. Kogai raised her eyes towards the sky, asking someone, anyone, for patience in dealing with her son, and stopped the car.

"... Oooh, ominous silence, always fun...." Sora volunteered after the two had been quiet for several seconds.

"Sora..."

"Mn?"

"Be careful."

"What?" Sora eyed his mother as if she'd grown an antenna out of her forehead and had started singing "It's A Small World After All". Needless to say, his hand edged towards the door latch. Teenage instinct ingrained by thousands of years of having to suffer through parental 'chats' was currently blaring like a siren. Or Selphie at a pep rally.

"I want you to always remember that we're at home, waiting for you." Abruptly, Lucille Kogai swung the door open and stepped out of the car, leaving her son to stare a little somberly at her back.

"Mn..."

*~*~*~