Read the author's note at the bottom of this chapter; I explain shit down there.

Quarters

Tails

Something was poking into his nose and a rude and abrupt manner, prodding away the peaceful daze he'd managed to settle into after a restless night of lying on the couch, his bed being taken over by his 'guest'. A hue of blacks and creams swam behind his eyelids, and a throbbing beat behind his temple in the insistent beat of whatever was prodding his nose.

He groaned and groggily swatted it away with his hand. When it stopped, he relaxed against the hard cushions of the cushions on his leather sofa, heated cheek cooled as it moved to a new place on the arm. His eyelids relaxed, the tenseness rolling off of his shoulders to allow back sleep.

A few moments later, the poking was back again.

This time, Leon growled, something that even surprised him.

The poking stopped…

He relaxed.

….And then it started again.

Without even batting an eye, Leon's hand snapped up and snatched at whatever was poking him. His fingers enclosed around a thin, warm wrist, and a surprised gasp rang through the air. Ignoring that, Leon yanked down, and a soft fhlump alerted him that his victim was now successfully sprawled on the ground. With a soft sigh of ease, keeping the bound wrist tightly clenched in his hand and pinned against the carpet by the couch. It strained against his grasp, but nothing fazed the man who was gently drifting back to slumber.

A long pause. A buzz of silence hung in the air, stiff and suffocating, blocking out the cooing of morning doves outside his window. And then….

"LET ME GO!"

It was becoming quite apparent to the older brunet that his short night of sleep was at a close, and that he should give up now. But he was stubborn, especially in the mornings, and especially when he hadn't had his coffee yet.

"Oh come on!" the voice below him whined. "Get up! You promised!" A hand was now batting at Leon's wrist, struggling to relinquish the grasp keeping him to the floor. "You told me I could go and see him when I was clean! And I'm CLEAN! So let's GO!"

Leon sighed heavily, Sora's voice cutting into his wistful fantasies of more sleep like a hot knife through butter.

"I'm up, I'm up, you damn brat," Leon grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose and tilting his head back slightly. A rancid taste in his mouth made him rinse, and that more then anything made him sit up, releasing the brunet's hands as he did so.

His sleep-mussed hair was hanging over his eyes, but through messy bangs he could see Sora perched on the floor, legs cross over one another and hands clutching at his knees, wide blue eyes staring up at the man expectantly.

And then...

"You look funny."

Leon chose not to respond to that.

Mumbling obscenities under his breath, he stretched his back, rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the tensions there and lifting a hand to over his mouth as he yawned widely.

Sora was still staring up at him.

Leon noticed absent-mindedly that he really shouldn't let Sora run around the castle to see his friends in a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt that looked more like a tent on him then anything else, and no socks or shoes on his chapped feet. His tan skin showed through the large neck hole, one thin shoulder poking out like a pole from the shirt, making Leon feel a tinge of regret in his heart. And they were hitting this kid? He was surprised the boy hadn't shattered like a vase.

And then the boy started to speak again. "Sooo... what's your name?"

"Classified," Leon said in a serious tone.

"No it's not."

"How do you know?"

"Because I do, that's why."

Leon sighed. The sooner he got off the couch, the sooner he could get dressed and brush this little rat out of his home. And he could get his bed back, too. And find a nice fire to burn those rags Sora called clothes as soon as possible.

Blunt fingernails scratching his scalp, Leon used his other hand to wipe away the sleep from his eyes and he straightened himself up, yawning as he stood once again. His serious demeanor always slipped a bit when he got up, and he was determined to show as little of his other side as possible.

And so, leaving the teen sitting smack dab in the middle of his living room, still cross-legged and clutching at his knees nervously, Leon left to go and make his morning coffee.

Heads

The burning sensation was back again, sinking deep within the cuts and scraped on his arm. Riku'd been aware of the pain for quite some time now, but it only seemed to be growing in intensity as he fought to keep his face expressionless. He was pretty sure Aerith knew he wasn't sleeping anymore, but he didn't care.

Perhaps he could go back to sleep after this was over... his mind was dragging him down heavily, and weights seemed to have settled themselves over his chest and head. His heart seemed to be throbbing harshly in his ribcage, and every rush of blood soaring through his veins burned. Riku could feel his own pulse, beating deep from the depths of his heart, his heartbeat increasing a bit as he finally let out a hiss of pain.

"I knew you weren't asleep," he could hear his caretaker saying matter-of-factly, but her merely tilted his head away from the sound of her voice, refusing to justify the statement with any sort of retribution. He just wanted to sleep.

And to knock that damned bowl of healing solution from her pretty little hands, but he was finding it quite impossible. The leather straps still bound him tightly to the bed, and he discovered that there were more around his ankles when he went to stretch an hour ago.

The silver-haired teen supposed it was for the best, but he'd never admit it. The bounds holding him down kept him from stretching out any of his wounds, and for that he was grateful. But that didn't make up for the fact that he was now being held prisoner by his most hated enemies, and had entrusted his fate to a boy who hadn't been able to tie his shoes properly until the age of ten.

Riku let out a long sigh.

"Oh, I'm not done yet," Aerith informed him, obviously mistaking his sigh for one of relief. "I'm going to get the rest of this arm, and then Cloud'll be here and you can have some breakfast."

"And Cloud needs to be here because...?" Riku prompted irritably, not at all in the mood for any guessing games.

"Incase you try to pull any more of those stunts like you did yesterday," she replied crisply, pressing a little bit harder on an long scratch that was welded deeply on his arm that ran from the elbow down to the back of his hand and making him wince. "And you can sleep for a little while after that..."

"And Sora?"

Aerith talked over his comment, not catching it, as she said, "I'll wake you up some time in the afternoon and we'll work on the other arm... I'm not sure when King Mickey wants to talk to you, so..."

"Aerith?"

"...you'll just have to wait to find that out. But you'll be staying here..."

"Aerith!"

"...until I'm satisfied that you're healed sufficiently. And you and your friend will be put onto strict diets. I'll figure them out as soon as I give you and him a phsycia---"

"AERITH!"

The brunette woman blinked at him patiently, now working on the split on his pinky. "Yes, Riku?"

"What about Sora?"

"What about him?" she inquired, dapping at the burn marks on his palm down.

Riku bit his lower lip to keep from yelping as the cold substance stung his wound deeply.

"He's with Leon, if that's what you mean," she clarified, and, to her patient's great relief, finally dropping the bloody sponge back into the basin of poisonous green liquid. "He rested there for the night, and he should be here sometime today..."

Riku just nodded at her words, letting it soak in. She hadn't spoken a word about what the outcome of this whole mess would be... and he almost afraid to ask her.

Wait... since when am I afraid to ask a simple question? Riku thought numbly, surprised by his own incompetence. Maybe Aerith would have some insight into their situation... the teen knew he couldn't be getting out of here anytime soon, so he might as well know his sentence.

That is, until he was healed. And then Sora and he were high-tailing it out of the castle as soon as the chance came to light.

And then, in a gentle whisper that could barely be heard even in the dead-silent room (save for the soft crinkling of linen sheets as he shifted nervously), Riku asked, "What do you think... is going to happen to us?"

Aerith just started at him, green eyes piercing into his forehead since his gaze refused to meet hers. "Well..." she replied delicately, "it depends on why you've been stealing for the past seven years in the first place. If you have a liable excuse, you could probably get an easy punishment."

"How easy?"

"A few years easy."

"Damn it."

Aerith just laughed as Riku scowled at nothing in particular. "You brood almost as much as Squall," Aerith pointed out bluntly.

Riku blinked. "Squall?" he repeated, raising a silver eyebrow and shifting to look over at her. "Who's Squall?"

"Oh," she said in brief surprise. "I haven't told you. Squall is Leon's real name, before he changed it."

"Why'd he change it?" Riku inquired.

"It's a long story," Aerith responded, smiling gently. "Why don't you get some sleep?"

"I'm not tired," Riku insisted stubbornly, even though the weariness in his eyes and his slouched form on the bed spoke of anything but. "I have time, come on."

Smiling, Aerith asked, "Oh? And what if I said that I wouldn't tell you if you don't tell me your story, hm?"

Riku scowled. "Nothing much to hear."

This time, Aerith frowned sharply, lips thinning a bit. "Oh yes there is," she pointed out. "I saw your injuries, Riku. Both you and I know that we didn't cause all of them Some look days, weeks old. And a multitude of scars... too many for a teenage boy, even for someone like you. Unless something happened to you..."

Riku winced, taking the chance, to advert his gaze to somewhere over Aerith's shoulder until he could perfect his mask of confusion once again. He was tired... he didn't need this right now.

But Aerith seemed to be playing off of this slightly as she pressed on. "We can help you, Riku," she insisted. "just tell us who did this to you... and maybe you can get out of this whole mess and---"

"That's bull shit," Riku snapped, eyes flying back to meet her widened ones. "There's no way anyone is going to let me and Sora off the hook, not after seven years! It doesn't matter what I tell you; it won't matter!" And then, his face twisted into a mocking smirk. He was angry and tired and in pain... his chained temper was slowly unhinging itself from the back of his mind, and he didn't care.

"And you know what?" he said slowly, voice carrying a slight hiss that made Aerith narrow her eyes in a reprimanding way. "It doesn't matter if you sentence us to life in jail. Because we both know that Sora and I can escape here. None of you can do anything about it, either. So no, I won't tell you anything at all. Because it doesn't matter. By the end of a few weeks, you won't ever see my face again."

"I know that."

This calmed Riku down. Her monotonous voice brought him down from his stupor of inexplicable rage, as he was on the point of starting to thrash on the bed until she had to take off the straps. She knew? She couldn't... This woman was trying to get him with reverse psychology, and it almost made him laugh out loud.

But Aerith's next words quickly extinguished the urge.

"I also know what you're trying so hard to hide," she continued. "And that is how incredibly childish you are."

Riku narrowed his eyes angrily at her, aqua-marine flashing dangerous. "Childish?" he snapped. "I've been getting Sora and me by for seven years! I took on things you couldn't even imagine when you were my age! I took care of us, I protected us! How can you call me childish?"

"Because you are," came the simple reply. "Doing those things doesn't make you an adult, Riku. It's the reasons behind him. And whatever got you in this mess, whatever kept you on the streets starving for seven years, is also the fault of your own childishness. I can see it in your eyes... Your masks don't fool me, Riku. I can see right through them. And I know whatever reasons your tell us, whatever excuse, is a complete lie. I don't know what it is exactly that you've been doing besides stealing for these past seven years, but know that you won't leave this castle until I find out?"

"Were you not listening to me?" Riku muttered bitterly.

"All I heard was your empty threats," she said calmly. "And I think that they're the best choices you've ever made in your whole life."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because you're finally doing the right thing. You may not tell us what happened to you on your own. You may not ever trust again. But you're trying to let us help you... for Sora. And for yourself."

She still doesn't get it, Riku noted absent-mindedly, stunned into silence as Aerith gave him one last meaningful look and went to answer he knocking at the door, signaling Cloud's arrival.

None of them do. It isn't my childishness I'm trying to hide.

It's my selfishness.

Tails

A baggy pair of denim jeans topped with a gray muscle shirt and a thick black belt was being pushed into his arms, the fresh-smelling fabric feeling slightly rough in his bare arms. He still wore the t-shirt and sweatpants he's went to sleep in, and they were slightly wrinkled by now.

"Take these and get dressed," Leon commanded quietly, giving Sora a slight shove in the shoulder blades with one hand towards the bathroom door. "You can't walk around walking in those all day."

Sora pouted. "But these jeans probably don't fit me either..."

Leon merely raised an eyebrow at the younger brunet. "That's what the belt is for. Now get moving... that is, unless you want to spend the day in here..."

Leon had never seen anyone move so fast in his whole life. In the blink of an eye, Sora was whirling around and darting into the bathroom, hair whirling out behind him as he rushed through the door and snapped it shut loudly behind him.

Leon blinked once.

Twice.

And then, before he had the time to let even the smallest of smirks curl at his lips, Sora was flying out of the bathroom again. His torso was contorted slight as he tried to pull the shirt down one arm, which was proving to be quite difficult seeing as how the hand of that very same arm was currently fumbling at the best, trying to get the thin rod of metal through the whole in the black leather.

Leon sighed. "You really are impossible..." he muttered, annoyed, as he watched the boy continue to struggle. But did he bother trying to tell the teenager that he was trying to do the same thing with the same arm at once? Oh no.

This was a little thing he liked to call free entertainment.

After around ten minutes, in which Leon leaned up against the wall, his foot propped up on it's cream-colored surface, and watched Sora bounce around in circles as he attempted to multi-task. Something he obviously wasn't very good at. Eventually, Leon had helped him out of the mess. And then there was an argument over what Sora would wear on his feet, for he couldn't walk around barefoot. Aerith would kill the older of the two. She'd probably just give Sora a muffin or something.

Heaven knows the kid needs something on his bones, Leon thought ruefully, surprising himself with his own show of emotion.

That was it. He was kicking the kid out now before it wriggled under his skin even more.

Feeling much more awake now that he had his coffee, Leon was back to his rude mannerisms as he ushered Sora out of the door hurriedly, clicking the door shut behind him. Sora wasn't complaining, but he did start to when Leon took an extra long time to lock the door shut.

"Oh come on!" Sora whined, blue eyes looking slightly put out as Leon slowly inserted the key into the lock, and the older brunet seemed to have been fumbling on purpose. "You don't need to lock the door! The whole place is your home anyway!"

"I like to make sure no one gets in here," he replied coldly, now taking his good old time in twisting the bracket of metal.

"No one wants to get in there!" Sora cried desperately, close to grabbing at the man's forearm and dragging him away. "Please, I want to go and see Riku!"

"Well you can wait."

Sora let out a sigh of relief as Leon finally finished locking a multitude of latches and bolts.

And then huffed in frustration as Leon began to burrow in his pockets for something.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Looking for my wallet. I need to put my keys away."

Leon noted, with growing amusement, that the boy seemed to have adapted a compulsive twitch at the corner of his left eye.

Leon hummed thoughtfully as he withdrew his hand. "Seems I've forgotten it inside," he muttered to himself. And then he was turning around, and inserting the key with a painstakingly-slow speed once again, this time to unlock the door. "Hold on for a minute, kid. I need to go and find my wallet."

Sora sputtered incoherently, gaping at the man who was now smirking lightly, obviously feeling very proud of himself for torturing the boy so.

But Sora wouldn't have this, oh no. He was about to demand Leon to forget about the stupid wallet so they could finally leave, but he'd already walked into the small apartment and was out of Sora's sight before the teen could get in a word edgewise, the door swinging shut in Sora's face in his wake.

And then, curling his hands and fisting them into his air, Sora hunched over and let out a loud scream. of frustration.

Heads

"...I think there's something wrong with Sora."

That grabbed Riku's attention like nothing else could.

"What? What's wrong?" his caretaker asked of the newcomer, who sounded suspiciously like the one he'd met earlier.

"When I was walking by Leon's room, I saw Sora standing outside... screaming bloody murder." Yeah, definitely Cloud, Riku thought.

"Leon's probably just teasing him," Aerith was responding reassuringly as she assured Cloud into the room. "You know how he can be in the mornings... remember what he did to Yuffie when she kept him up all night with her music blaring?"

A quiet chuckle. "Yeah... I've never heard so many curses in the span of ten minutes in my life."

Aerith just laughed.

Deciding to give up on his muddled thoughts for now, Riku chose to train one green eye on the two figures approaching his bed. Cloud was carrying in his hands a large tray which was undoubtedly carrying the teen's breakfast, although it carried twice as many plates and bowls as he'd seen the morning before. The blond was staring right back at Riku calmly, almost challenging the younger boy, daring him to try something.

But Riku couldn't do that very well when he was strapped to the bed with his skin being held together by ace bandages and a prayer, now could he?

Aerith sighed, giving up on refereeing the un-spoken challenge of a staring contest (which ended a few seconds later when Riku's bangs flopped into his eyes from an extra hard breath, causing Cloud to chuckle smugly) and taking the tray away from her friend to set on the bedside table.

"There's breakfast here for Sora, too," Aerith informed him, arranging the plates on the tray absent-mindedly as she waited for the afore-mentioned boy to arrive. On the side closest to Riku lay a plate stacked with two pieces of toast and another small bowl filled with slices of apples, a bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with what looked like cinnamon in between.

On the other side was the same, except instead of toast...

"...Aerith, why exactly did you tell me to get a chocolate chip muffin?" Cloud asked, finally looking away from Riku to raise a questioning eyebrow at the nurse beside him. "I thought you wanted to keep them healthy...?"

The brunette would have replied, and her mouth was open in preparation to respond, if it weren't for the abrupt appearance of two more guests.

And then, with a loud cry of "RIIKUU!" and a blur of white, blue and brown, Sora was across the floor in two seconds flat, whipping past the two startled adults and latching himself to Riku's chest.

"WAH! RIKU! ARE YOU OKAY? I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN FOR THEM TO GET YOU AND I'M REALLY, REALLY SORRY AND OH MY GOD YOU'RE HURT ARE YOU OKAY? WAH!"

"Yes, Sora, I hurt, and you're really not helping me any," Riku choked out, green eyes wide and partly amused as the brunet continued to dig his face into the crook of his neck, still crying out barely-understandable apologies and babbling questions.

Sighing, realizing Sora wouldn't be releasing him any time soon, Riku just relaxed onto the bed as best as he possibly could. His friend really wasn't helping his injuries at all, and a tearing throb in his chest told him that he'd start to bleed again if Sora didn't release him.

Aerith was thinking along the same lines as Riku as she gently touched Sora's shoulders and squeezed, pulling him back a little bit. It wasn't to really move him, but more to grab his attention. "Sora, Riku needs to rest in bed... you can't cling to him like that. You'll hurt him..."

But either Sora hadn't heard her, or he was just ignoring her, because he didn't budge an inch.

Aerith sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose with the thumb and pointer finger of her right hand and placing the other on her hip. "Sora..."

"He's fine," Riku cut in calmly, shifting on the bed slightly to allow Sora room to half-straddle him comfortably. "I can get him off if it hurts too much."

"But you both need something to eat," she pointed out scornfully. And now it was Riku who was starting to develop selective hearing. With her last ounce of inner stubbornness, Aerith said, "Riku, you can either tell Sora to get off of you so you can both eat or Cloud will pullhim off."

That Riku heard.

Shooting her an indignant glare, which Aerith blatantly ignored, Riku sighed and wriggled a bit under his friend. "C'mon, Sora, get up."

Sora didn't budge.

"Don't you want to eat?''

Sora's head perked up a bit, and the pressure on Riku's shoulder lessened a bit. And even thought the older teen couldn't see below his chin, he could tell that Sora was looking up at him now.

"...it has chocolate in it."

"...chocolate...?"

"Yup. And you can't have it unless you get up."

"..."

"Sora, now."

With an aggravated huff, Sora let go, pouting as he settled back into the bed. Since Riku had scooted over enough to accommodate Sora, the brunet took the chance of sitting by Riku's side on the side mattress as he eyed Aerith and Cloud reproachfully.

Eyeing his tensed-up friend worriedly for a moment or two, Riku turned away to look up and ask, "So are you going to untie me to eat or what?"

"No," Cloud and Aerith breathed simultaneously.

Riku frowned. "And how exactly do you expect me to eat with my arms strapped to the bed?"

"Wait... you're strapped to the bed?" Sora cried out, blue eyes wide. He grabbed the edge of Riku's blanket and yanked down. revealing his friends bare chest that was thickly wound in fresh, clean bandages that were so thick it made Riku look twice the size he really was.

But seeing as how Riku was so thin in the first place, it really didn't make too much of a difference anyway.

Sora, however, was focusing on the leather belts that still held his friend trapped to the bed and was tugging insistently at them, turning his blazing blue eyes up to the two adults, and now three seeing as Leon has chosen this moment to enter. Sora'd darted ahead as soon as he saw the familiar infirmary door, leaving the older brunet in his dust as he sped towards it.

"Why's he strapped to the bed?" Sora demanded furiously. He was tugging harder now, and it made Riku wince in tthe slightest. "Let him go! He can't move anyway!"

Aerith bit her bottom lip worriedly. "Sora, it's for Riku's own good. If he moves it'll just hurt..."

"There are different kinds of pain," Sora snapped, cutting her off abruptly in mid-sentence. "And tying him here is just making him hurt worse!"

There was a pregnant pause as Aerith looked down on the both of them in a reprimanding manner. Riku looked surprised at Sora's boldness, and Sora was staring stubbornly back at the brunette, arms crossed over his chest. Leon stood in the doorway, not making a sound, as others began to crowd around behind him. These others consisted of Yuffie and Goofy, both of whom had been walking down the hallway when they heard the screaming. From the sound of hurried footsteps, it could be well-assumed that others were on their way to the scene.

And then, Cloud was brushing past Aerith and towards the bed. He looked down into Riku's eyes for a moment, giving him a scrutinizing glare. Riku felt like his mind was being scanned for some sort of interior motive, as if he had a dagger hidden up his non-existent sleeve and was ready to plunge in into the heart nearest him.

And then the blond was unbuckling the straps one at a time. Aerith stood in stunned silence as she watched her friend work swiftly, and her tongue finally unglued itself from the bottom of her mouth when he shifted the blanket to get the ones at Riku's bare ankles.

"Cloud!" she said sharply, fixing him with an unbelieving stare. "You can't..."

"It doesn't matter," was Cloud's short reply. When Riku's legs were finally released, he turned and said to the woman, "If Riku doesn't sit still, then good for him. The pain will keep him down better then any straps can, and maybe he'll learn a good lesson from it, hm?"

Riku, ever-so reluctant to admit to that, just glared some more.

With a soft sigh, Aerith finally managed an uneasy smile, not to keen on the idea of teaching a lesson with pain for the punishment. "All right, then," she said. "Now you both need to start eating, or it'll be stone cold."

Both Riku and Sora shared a quick glance before accepting their meals in silence.

Then knew a lucky shot when they saw them, and they appreciated it. Because lucky shots never happened too often to them.

End

I don't care if it took a long time to update, and I admit that the writing isn't even meeting my own low standards. But I'm too tired, and I feel terrible.

Reviews would be great. But please don't yell at me, or start going at me to update OTHER stories. Because that just fucking pisses me off. I don't need to deal with any half-assed insults right now.

I hope this chapter was all right. Expect the next one to be sooner and longer. And I'm sorry if I sound snappy... I'm just really tired right now. And upset. So... yeah.