It had been two hours since Cloud had stormed out of Sora's kitchen. Riku had spent an hour of that wandering the neighborhood. He did not try to find Cloud, knowing that they both needed some space at that time. The last thing their relationship needed was for them to start shouting at one another in anger. They did not argue much but when they did, both were quite adept at finding the most hurtful things to say.

For the second hour, he walked between Sora's home and his own small house. Cloud had a very good sense of direction and Riku did not doubt that no matter what direction his lover had gone, he would be able to find his way back to one of the two houses. He kept the thought that Cloud would not return far in the back of his mind; Cloud always came back just as Riku did.

Thankfully, outside of her initial words, Jenova had kept quiet. He could still feel her stirring but she seemed content to let him be. Maybe she figured this relationship was already doomed and she was not going to have to do a thing to help it along. He knew eventually there was likely to be a rather bad episode with her but for now he was simply glad for the peace he had.

Night had finished its descent and the steady noise of insects filled his ears as he began his next circuit from his house to Sora's. The streets were empty, the houses he passed lit up from the inside as their occupants settled in for the night. It was peaceful and Riku felt in uncommon ache tug at his heart.

He supposed it said something that the twilight and first hour of full night was his favorite time of the day. He did not see the darkening of the sky and therefore the world as something ominous or symbolic of sinister things. When night came, so did peace. The world settled from the bustling activity of the day into a calm rejuvenation. He had felt this way since he was a small child.

Riku approached the house Sora had lived in for his entire life. Sora and Leon were sitting on the front steps but it didn't appear they were actively discussing anything. The spiky-haired brunet was leaned against the rail while Leon was upright, forearms resting on his knees. He knew they were waiting for either him or Cloud to show up.

Stopping at the bottom step, Riku muttered, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Ku." Sora returned softly. Leon nodded but refrained from speaking.

Riku, wanting to keep the mood light, chuckled. "Needed a break from Seiya?"

Leon blew out a breath. "That woman is a force all her own."

"You should have seen Sephiroth's reaction to her." Riku flicked his silver bangs. "I really think she scared the hell out of him that first week."

"I can actually see that." The older man commented. "I don't imagine your brother has had much experience with women like her."

Aqua eyes brightened with Leon's casual acknowledgement of Sephiroth's status as his brother. That coupled with his surrendering of control of the Restoration showed that at least he had completely accepted the idea and was willing to give the man a chance. Of course, Leon did not have quite the reason to be distrustful of Sephiroth.

"Yeah, Mom can be a little intimidating." Sora grinned. "She drives me crazy sometimes but I love her."

"I've come to the conclusion that it's the people you love most that are most likely to make you go insane," Riku noted, a bit of exasperation in his voice. He felt a stirring beneath his consciousness and quickly put up one of his mental shields just in case. "But it doesn't keep us from loving them."

"The worlds would be a sad place if it did." Sora laughed.

"Yeah." Riku set his hip against the rail. He managed to remain casual. "Either of you seen Cloud yet?"

"No." Sora shook his head. He quickly smiled reassuringly. "But I'm sure he'll come around soon."

The silver-haired teen nodded. "I'm not going to worry too much until morning. If he doesn't show up by then…"

He did not need to finish the sentence; both Sora and Leon understood how he thought. They also knew how Cloud needed to go through things. Sora had not been present for many of their arguments but Leon had and the two had talked about how to handle them before. If this altercation went like those in the past, there should be at the least movement toward resolution by morning.

Leon straightened his back and looked at Riku. "Cloud really is trying to accept Sephiroth, Riku."

"I'm sure he is." Riku sighed. "And I didn't expect anything to change overnight. What's really bothering me right now is that he doesn't seem able to separate my relationship with Sephiroth and his relationship with him. Since he can't do that, it's causing confusion in our relationship.

"I don't know what it's going to take to fix that. Sephiroth has nothing to do with us but Cloud is convinced that he somehow does." The young man twisted the ring on his finger. "I don't know what I can do to fix that."

The other two were quiet for several minutes. Sora felt terrible for his friend but had no idea what he could do to help the situation. He knew Cloud loved Riku, know that the man would do absolutely anything for him, but he also understood what Cloud was facing.

For years, Cloud and Sephiroth have been locked in some twisted dance. Over the past year, the space between them had grown but there had not been any actual movement toward a reconciliation until a few months ago. That movement had only occurred because of Riku's presence in both of their lives. Sephiroth had never attempted to resolve things when they did interact; it was not at all surprising that Cloud would be suspicious of anything involving Sephiroth.

"This is something you and Cloud are going to have to figure out," Leon spoke softly. "And you need to do it before getting married."

"I know." There was no way Riku was making that kind of commitment with this big of an unresolved issue between them. "I just pray that we can."

"I think you will." Sora nodded with his statement. "We all know Cloud wouldn't have proposed if he didn't seriously want to marry you."

"And he did think through everything that went with that proposal despite how sudden of a decision it was." Leon added.

Riku felt a stirring in his heart. Frowning minutely, he turned his focus inward trying to identify it. This was a new feeling, like a faint, warm glow that slowly grew. It took him a moment to realize what it was and when he did, a smile nearly formed on his face.

He could feel Cloud now.

Turning his head, he spotted his lover walking up the block from the direction of the Eastern piers. The man held his boots in a hand and the bottom of his pants were damp. Even from the distance, Riku could tell his blue eyes were placed upon the three on the steps.

As he got closer, Leon nudged Sora but the teen was already moving to get to his feet. Leon also stood but the pair waited until Cloud was coming up the short walk. Once they were fairly certain there were not going to be any confrontations, they silently disappeared inside the house.

Riku did not move from his position and simply waited. It was obvious that Cloud regretted his outburst but the younger male needed to hear how Cloud apologized. One of the things about Cloud that Riku had picked up on almost immediately was that one could easily figure out his true thoughts and feelings by how he said the words he used.

"I'm sorry," Cloud whispered, not averting his eyes from Riku's.

"I know you are."

"I know I'm being ridiculous about this. Sephiroth," Cloud paused, "Your brother, has nothing to do with our relationship. We fell in love before he entered the picture, he came to encourage me to stay with you when I was being bull-headed, he's given his blessing on our wedding…all without the slightest trace of deception or adversity."

The blond traced a finger along the white metal of the railing. "I know it's my own paranoia but I won't say it's completely unreasonable. However, I'm going to find ways to better handle these feelings and not let my fears get in the way of our life together."

Riku studied him for a long moment. Cloud was sincere with his words, and he had no reservations with saying them. He had truly made up his mind to do this. This was not the end of the issue but for now, they could move on.

Moving from the rail, Riku stepped down to Cloud. He brushed the backs of their hands together, and smiled lightly. "Come on."

Cloud fell into place beside him. Walking in the direction of Riku's small house, they remained quiet. The older man was a little tense still but he did not seem timid or afraid about anything. He knew that Riku had forgiven him.

"Did you go wading?"

"Yeah." Cloud glanced down at his bare feet. "I went to the shoreline north of those piers to the east. The waves are surprisingly gentle up there."

Riku knew exactly where he was talking about. "Yeah, they are. We weren't allowed to play up there because there's a really strong riptide about ten feet out. It looks calm up there but it's one of the most dangerous areas of ocean around this island."

"I guess it's a good thing I didn't want to take a swim."

"That could have ended up very badly." The silvered one concluded. He flicked his eyes toward the blond. "The water is soothing, isn't it?"

"It is." Cloud lifted his head, fixing his attention ahead of them. A moment passed before he quietly asked, "It's going to be hard for you to leave, isn't it? Harder than you thought."

Riku waited a few beats before answering. "I realized that a few days ago. For a long time, I focused only on the things I hated about this place. When I came back, I had hoped that it would turn out that most of the negative feelings were due to Jenova wanting me to find a way out of here but as time went by those feelings returned.

"Sephiroth explained to me when he was here that while Xehanort used what was in my heart, Jenova could only work with what was already here." The teen pointed at his temple. "I never felt I belonged here, never really thought of it as home. I love the Islands. I love the ocean and the beaches, the feel of the breeze against my skin, the smell of the sea air… but despite all of that, it still isn't home. My home… isn't a place."

Cloud faced him with a curious expression. "Then what is it?"

The younger male stopped and turned toward his fiancé. He brushed his fingers along Cloud's cheek, marveling again at just how delicate the man's skin was. "Home is wherever you are."

Blue eyes gazed into aqua for several moments. Cloud had come to this conclusion for himself right before making the decision to ask Riku's hand in marriage. He was never at peace, did not feel complete, without Riku being near. It did not matter where they lived; so long as they were together, anywhere was home.

Cloud took a step closer and slipped his arm around the taller male's waist. "So if I decided that I wanted to give living here a shot…?"

"You wouldn't last a week." Riku grinned, tugging his lover closer to press against his body. "The Islands are a great place to visit but I really can't see you staying here."

"Yeah, I never liked humidity." Cloud agreed. "Besides, Tifa would be devastated if I left again."

"Not to mention Aerith and everyone else." The younger one ran his fingertips along Cloud's spine. "Your family is there, your life is there. I'll miss Sora and Seiya terribly along with the others but…"

Somehow, Cloud understood what Riku was saying despite the lack of sentence completion. Nodding, he pressed a kiss to the other's lips and when it ended, he squeezed at his waist. "You know what I think we should do?"

Riku got them started walking again; Cloud did not remove his arm from his waist. "What?"

"Start saving up some munny and buy a vacation house here."

Aqua eyes flicked over. "That's not a bad idea. I know that Seiya would welcome us whenever we want but I don't want to impose on her too often."

"Yeah."

"Actually," Riku mused slowly. "The house I'm in now has a purchase option. Sephiroth got all the details on it when he found it and asked if I wanted him to buy it. I said no because at the time I had no interest in staying here any longer than I had to."

Cloud worried his lower lip in thought. "Do you think the offer still stands?"

"I would think so; Seph has told me numerous times that if I ever need anything to just ask. He has a ton of munny sitting around."

"He made a lot at the Coliseum. I've got a fair amount too in accounts but nothing like him…" Cloud added, still in thought. "Maybe we could make an arrangement with him. If he could loan us the extra cash, I could pay him back within a few months."

"He'd just outright buy it for us."

"I'm sure he would." Cloud's voice was a bit tight and Riku could not tell what part of the conversation was causing it. "But I won't be indebted to anyone like that. I'd have to pay him back for it."

Riku understood that and did not argue. "I'll ask him about it next time I talk to him."

Cloud nodded. There was another long silence then the older man gently squeezed at Riku's waist. "I'm sorry I took off earlier."

"Don't worry about it," Riku assured. "You needed to calm down and if you hadn't left, it probably would have gotten bad."

"Did you guys get anything done?"

"I left almost right after you did. Knowing those three, however, I'm sure they got something done. At the very least, they'll have it set up so we can start over tomorrow."

Cloud exhaled. "Leave it to me to ruin our one full day to relax with each other."

It hurt Riku to hear the disappointment in his fiancé's voice. Cloud was as bad as he was about blaming himself for things that he really should not be. "You didn't ruin anything; we'll still be together and if I know Seiya and Leon, they'll have it arranged so that we can whip through everything. They aren't going to want to spend any more time on this stuff than we do."

Cloud seemed to accept this easily. They were a few houses away from Riku's and the lights in the passing windows were going out. It had to be getting rather late now.

"I'm not tired." Riku suddenly announced.

"Neither am I."

"What do you say I make up some quesadillas and we sit around and watch movies all night?"

They turned up the walk as Cloud chuckled. "If you promise to make them with that fajita chicken of yours, you've got a deal."

-0—0—

"Think those two are okay?"

Leon glanced over from the TV. Sora was still watching the screen but there was a worried look to his eyes. The teen had been concerned since Cloud and then Riku had disappeared and it had not improved much after seeing the couple come back together. "They'll be fine."

Sora nodded slowly. He appeared to be a little reassured but not by much. Leon knew the young brunet well enough to realize that Sora was not so much concerned about the argument today itself as he was that it had happened in the first place.

"Look, Sora," Leon spoke softly. "Those two have a lot of things they need to work out but they'll do it on their own time. They love each other too much to let their personal coping mechanisms destroy what they have."

"I hope so."

Leon observed Sora for a few minutes. "Are you thinking they shouldn't get married?"

"No." Sora answered quickly, shaking his head. "I'm really happy for them and it says so much about how tight they are just from the fact that Cloud even asked him. I'm just… wondering how they're gonna make it work. Communication isn't exactly either of their strong suits, ya know?"

"I know." Leon reached over and casually rubbed at the brunet's neck. "But I trust they'll get it together. Aren't you the one always saying love conquers everything?"

Sora smiled and looked at him. "Yeah."

"So don't worry about them too much." Leon pulled the boy closer and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. Sora took obvious comfort from this and relaxed against him. They may not have been pseudo-dating any longer but that did not mean that they stopped caring about each other. "They'll get all of this worked out and if not, well, then we'll intercede if we have to but if their marriage is going to work-"

"We have to let them make it work for themselves." Sora concluded. "I get it."

"I bet they're at the house right now curled up together on the sofa."

"Really?" Sora smirked. "You don't think they're going at it like they usually are?"

Leon faced the TV again and took the remote from Sora. "You haven't really had a chance to notice it yet, but whenever those to fight, they get almost disgustingly romantic for about a day after. You'll probably see it tomorrow at some point."

Sora bit his lip. "That… sounds almost worse than watching them all up on each other."

"It can be."

"Joy. I guess it's a good thing we were able to get most of the wedding stuff done without them then. We can just send them out to spend the day together."

"Sounds like a really good plan." Leon tugged at one of the teenager's spikes. "So what are we doing tomorrow?

"Well…" Sora pursed his lips in thought. "There's a blitzball game tomorrow afternoon. I know Wakka has a few extra tickets. Wanna see that?"

"Sure. I'm curious how that game works."

"It's fun. We have a modified version we play but it's very little like the real one." Sora watched as Leon flipped through channels. He finally settled on one of the cooking competitions his mom often watched. "And after we can get the others together for dinner. Maybe Riku and Cloud will have most of it out of their systems by then."

"Sounds like a plan."