Hey guys, sorry it has been a while since my last update.

~A Spark~

It had been a few days since the news of what Sora was to Xehanort had been revealed. Diz had been working hard on finding any info he could on Xehanort and the mansion. Riku knew that it'd take too long to get enough, they needed someone on the inside but Diz wouldn't risk it. Riku glanced over at Kairi who had just left her house, as an idea formed. He walked towards her, gaining her attention and she smiled, and listened to his request.

~Leon~

Leon sighed as he glanced over the servants carefully, making sure they all did their work properly. He glanced up as he saw Cloud coming from upstairs, or to be more accurate from Sora's room. Cloud had been tending Sora's wounds for the last few days, and they had begun to clear up. Still every time Cloud returned from Sora's room his eyes seemed even sadder than before.

Sora hadn't really reacted to any of the other servants when they tried to speak to him. He sometimes nodded for Leon and Cloud when they spoke with him, but he never spoke. Cloud was forced to watch their adopted son isolate himself from everyone else. Forced to watch as he only ate and looked out the window, he never interacted with anyone else. Their masters hadn't even approached the boy, not wanting to see him till he was fully healed.

Leon knew that the boy was taking the punishment very hard, he knew Sora didn't regret what he did, but he knew his son missed the outside world. That was what was killing Sora's spirit, the fact that he couldn't go outside. Sora was a child who couldn't be tied to one place, he had always liked being able to leave the mansion it's the only thing that probably kept him sane. Now that he was permanently locked inside the mansion, Leon had no idea what it would do to Sora; he only hoped that Sora would be able to hold his normal spark, though he doubted it.

He blinked as he saw Neku, a young boy that worked in the house, approach him. Neku seemed slightly nervous, and that caught Leon's attention. Normally the boy wouldn't be that nervous, but something must have happened.

"What is it?" Leon asked, slightly worried about what the boy needed.

Neku looked Leon directly in the eyes as he answered, "Someone just came to the back door requesting the head of the servants."

Leon raised an eyebrow before heading to the door, curious to see what this was about. As he opened the back door, he was surprised to see a young boy, possibly only a year older then Sora, standing outside the door. The boy had short silver hair, and sea green eyes, he wore a yellow and white vest with black lining and blue jeans.

The boy turned to look at Leon as soon as the door opened, and Leon almost froze. The boy's eyes definitely could intimidate people just by staring at them. He knew the boy was going to cause trouble no matter what the reason for him being there was.

"Can I help you with something?" Leon asked.

The boy nodded, "I'm looking for some work, and was hoping a big mansion like this could provide me with some."

Leon watched him, "And what is your name?"

"Riku," The boy answered.

"Why would you want to work here Riku? Surely you could find a better job by being an apprentice at your age."

Riku continued to stare at Leon coolly, "Apprenticeship doesn't interest me. To many things to learn, I just want to earn money and possibly have a place I can leave from when it's time for me to move on."

Leon raised an eyebrow, "Wouldn't and apprenticeship be better for that?"

"No…for those jobs you need to be able to stay in one place. I might need to leave sometime soon."

Leon considered the boy; he had to admit the boy looked strong. He could probably help with lifting things and repairing parts of the mansion. As Leon thought about it there were several things the boy could do, but he'd need to talk to his masters first.

"I will need to talk to my lords before I decide fully, but if you can show me how well you work then I might consider it till then."

Riku nodded, "Of course, what needs to be done?"

"Well can you help carry supplies to the kitchen? Our shipment just arrived a little while ago."

Riku nodded and went to the direction that Leon pointed him to. He began carrying a bag of flour inside, careful under Leon's watchful gaze. As he made his way to the kitchen, he kept an eye out for Sora but saw nothing of him. As he set the last bag down, he noticed a blonde, with spiky hair like Roxas and Ventus, who looked rather frustrated.

"Is something wrong?" Riku asked the man, slightly worried.

The blonde looked startled a bit, "I'm just in a hurry, and I forgot I needed to get something delivered, but I have another task I must attend to…"

"Can I help with one of the tasks?"

The blonde looked at him, "Well…I need to deliver these letters, I'm the fastest here for that so if you could take care of my other job that would be great."

"What's the other job?" Riku asked.

The blonde ignored him and called over a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. He knelt down next to the girl and began instructing her to take Riku to his next task. Riku also heard the blonde say that Leon was not to find out about this, or the masters. Riku blinked as the blonde then quickly departed from the room, leaving him with the small girl. He looked at her and she smiled up at him.

"I'm Rhyme! I'm to take you to the room where Cloud was to go!"

Riku smiled, "Thank you, and Cloud was the blonde correct?"

The little girl nodded before motioning Riku to follow her, he grabbed the supplies Cloud had left, noting that some of them were healing salves. He followed her up the stairs and away from the servant's quarters. He followed her through the mansion till they reached a closed door. Riku blinked and looked down at the girl who looked sad.

"Is everything okay?"

Rhyme shook her head, "I'm not allowed in…only Cloud and our masters are right now…no one else…so you must not let them know."

"I won't, I'll be right back okay?"

The girl nodded, and Riku readjusted the grip on the supplies that Cloud had left him. He watched as the little girl sat down against the opposite wall to wait for him. He opened the door and stepped into the room, his eyes widening as he took in the room.

Though plain in design it was definitely better than any room a servant would have. He almost thought it was one of the lord's room but noted how plain it looked so decided it wasn't. As he spotted the familiar brunette near the window as he looked around he knew whose room it was. Sora's back was to him as he looked outside the window, not even turning when the door closed.

"Sora…" Riku said, almost afraid of hurting the boy just by speaking to him.

Sora jolted, obviously not recognizing the voice as one he was familiar with. He turned from the window, and Riku felt his heart nearly shatter as he saw those dull eyes stare at him. Though when their eyes locked he noticed a look of fear return to them, though fear for who he wasn't sure.

Riku made his way over to Sora, and when he tried to touch the boy, Sora only flinched back. Riku blinked, but shook his head to clear his hurt feelings; Sora probably didn't trust him completely. He stepped back and looked at Sora, not sure what to do with the boy, or what Cloud's task was.

"Cloud had to run off somewhere…so I took over his job…so what is it that I need to do?"

Sora moved away from the window and to the bed where he sat down. Riku watched as he pulled his shirt off and resisted the urge to throw up. Despite the wounds being nearly healed, how many were littered over the boy's body made it truly gruesome to look at.

"Did you get these because of the other day?" Riku asked worriedly.

Sora didn't reply, he just went to take one of the containers of salve. Riku stopped him and took the jar for himself. He began to gently spread the salve over the healing cuts and watched as Sora flinched a bit. The whole process was quiet, and Riku hated that, Sora always seemed talkative and friendly, but now he was just silent.

"Sora…" Riku paused not sure what to say, "We're going to get you out of here."

Sora turned his head to look at Riku, his eyes showing confusion. Riku still saw nothing in Sora's deep blue eyes except for fear. What he said didn't even give the brunette hope, and that made Riku mad.

"Your father is looking for a way to save you as is your older brother," Riku assured.

Sora shook his head at that and Riku saw his eyes gave away even more of his confusion. Riku sighed, knowing it was useless to speak with Sora, he wasn't going to get the brunette to speak to him. As soon as he finished putting the salve on he went to the door, but stopped.

"Your masters aren't here…we could leave now and escape."

Sora's eyes widened and he shook his head. Riku watched him and approached the brunette, but felt hurt when Sora backed away from him in fear. Riku sighed before turning and leaving the room, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere. As he exited he saw Rhyme stand up and look at him with hopeful eyes.

"How's Sora?"

Riku smiled sadly, "I don't know…he didn't talk to me…is that normal?"

Rhyme nodded sadly, "He doesn't speak to his parents either…"

Riku's eyes widened, "Parents?"

"Leon and Cloud…they were the ones assigned to raise Sora when our lord first brought him here…"

Riku noticed her sad look and knelt down next to her. He patted her on the head and gave her a reassuring smile. He could tell that she cared about Sora deeply, probably a sisterly love. Before he could say anything they heard a door open downstairs and Rhyme looked scared.

"We have to go…the lords are back!"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the stairs hurriedly and to the servant's quarter. Riku really wanted to go and punch out the lords for what they did to Sora but knew he needed to wait. For now he needed to worry about securing a position for himself inside the household.

~End ch. 9~

I hope you liked the chapter, next chapter will center around Roxas and Axel, finally. Also still trying to find a pairing for Vanitas and Xion.

Reviewer's corner:

Guest: Riku is already in the picture, he was just a background character.

Bianca: Well they're at least closer now I guess.

Till next time.