i'm back! well, technically i got back Memorial Day, but details, details...

so... before i ramble on too much, we'll just go right to the reviewer responses (don't worry, you can catch me rambling at the end of the chapter)

TomiSama04: er... sorry, can't answer those questions. it'd give away too much--sorry! but yes, i like fluff too. :) its just so... fluffy (eh... lemme alone, i can't think of good synonyms right now --;)

xcloudx: thank you! glad you liked it :) here's the next one

Anon: that's ok! you made the 3rd chapter so i'm happy :D and Group Truth or Dare... i'll just let you read and find out how that goes

Froline El-Vasper: yay! i'm happy you like how i characterized Wakka :) and you think its a good balance? thank you so much! and about Riku liking the top... i bet he does too, but will Sora let him? gah! too much information! um... anyway... thanks a lot for the review and stuff :D

Koneko-Aishiru: yay! cookie! -munches on cookie- thanks so much! (for the cookie and the review)

AngelicOrqueil: ;;... i'm so happy you like Sora as the seme! heehee, isn't he just adorable that way? so much fun switching roles like that :)

Child of the Dark Wood: yep, dirty-minded Sora ish fun :D and yeah, dying flamingos... i'll be honest, i have no idea where that analogy came from either. glad you like the plushie and the story:D

ArosxIrukxOxarsxLeax: whew, your name takes a while to get right... but you're not bossing me around! you're giving me ideas! and that's always good. ideas from the readers are always nice to hear :)

so... on with the chapter!

"Have you performed the headcount?" a voice asked sharply, its owner twisting auburn locks of hair around her finger.

A head bobbed in response. "Yes, my Queen, and someone appears to be missing."

"What? Who?" the voice rose steeply.

"Sora, my Queen," it answered.

"Sora, huh? . . . That little . . ." the voice trailed off. "Send Axel in. Immediately!" she shouted when their movements weren't speedy enough for her satisfaction.

The head bobbed again. "Yes, my Queen."

-

Axel, however, was escaping Demyx yet again. The darn dirty blonde wouldn't leave him alone. Or anyone else, for that matter. Axel just happened to be the only one around.

Lucky him. (coughsarcasmcough)

They'd been chasing each other around Castle Oblivion for some time now, seeing as curfew had ended recently. Everyone else–well, almost everyone else–had gone to sleep though they would soon be rudely awoken if Demyx and Axel didn't shut up.

"Dammit Demyx! Leave me alone!"

"No way! If you'll just listen–"

"Not gonna happen!" Axel shouted as he sped away.

"Axel," a voice, different from Demyx's, said.

"Yeah?" he wondered, coming to a halt.

"The Queen would like to see you," it stated.

Axel cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Really, why?" Demyx asked, having overheard them as he finally caught up with the redhead. "If he won't listen to me, how will he listen to the Queen?"

"I'll listen to the Queen 'cause she might actually have something important to say," Axel said, smirking at the irritated musician.

"Just come along," the voice sighed. Axel obliged, perfectly willing to leave the helpless Demyx standing there, looking totally lost.

-

"Did you want something, my Queen?" Axel asked.

"Don't be rude, Axel. It's not a good thing to get on my bad side, you know that," she said, grinning maliciously.

Axel sighed. "So, you must'a dragged me in here for something, right?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I might simply call on you to enjoy your company?"

"Nope."

"I didn't think so," she chuckled.

"So . . . what did you require?" Axel asked, choosing his words carefully.

"Sora is missing."

The redhead's eyes widened. "What?"

"Sora has stayed past curfew; I would like you to be the one to bring him back to

me directly . . . Understand?"

"Yeah, I'm goin', I'm goin' . . ." Axel muttered before opening an entrance in the shadows. Darkness swirled around him, swallowing him, as he left Castle Oblivion.

-

"Woo-hoo! Group Truth or Dare time!" Selphie shouted eagerly, followed by several loud 'shhh!'s.

"Let's play in there," Olette suggested, pointing to the downstairs' main room. Everyone nodded and followed the quiet brunette and overly-hyper Selphie into the room.

"Um, how exactly do you play?" Sora asked uneasily once everyone was settled in a circle in their bean bag chairs.

"It's easy, Sora. You know how to play regular Truth or Dare, right?" Selphie said.

"Yeah."

"Ok, well it's the same as that except everyone has to do the dare or answer the truth," explained Selphie.

"Ok," Sora said, nodding.

Selphie grinned. "Great! Let's start!"

"Who's goin' first?" Hayner asked.

Olette, Pence, Roxas, and Riku all pointed to Selphie who just grinned.

"Guess I'm first then. Ok, Hayner, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," he answered. Dares from Selphie were varied and, to be honest, frightening. With Selphie, it was like a box of chocolates. You never knew what you were going to get.

"Ok . . . hmmm . . . How about something simple? What's your favorite color?"

Hayner sighed in relief. Selphie wasn't overly hyper yet.

"Mine's green," said Hayner.

"Black," Pence said.

"Orange," replied Olette.

"Mine's red," Roxas answered.

"Blue," said Riku.

Sora had been thinking for a while. He didn't necessarily have a favorite color. He had colors he liked and he had colors he didn't like, but he wouldn't call any of them a favorite. However, when Riku said 'blue' a lightbulb turned on above his head.

"Aquamarine," Sora said, eyes glinting.

Riku looked at the brunet curiously for a moment. Did he just say that his favorite color was Riku's eye color? Then again, Riku had said his favorite color was Sora's eye color, but he didn't mean to! It was true that his favorite color had been blue and probably would stay that way for a while. He'd liked that color ever since he was little. It being Sora's eye color had nothing to do with it, but did Riku's eye color have anything to do with it being Sora's favorite color?

Sora grinned. Riku was flustered–the vampire could tell. He was staring at the brunet intently, as if trying to figure something out. To Sora, it was quite amusing.

"Ok, Hayner, your turn!" Selphie said encouragingly.

"Alright, let's see . . . Roxas, Truth or Dare?" Hayner challenged.

"Let's go for dare," Roxas said.

Hayner grinned mischeivously. "Ok, then . . . let's see . . . I dare you to go find the other group in the building and see if there are any hot girls."

"Or guys!" Selphie chirped.

"Wait, don't you guys gotta go with me?" Roxas asked uneasily. He wasn't one for those 'stealthy spy' games.

"Yeah, but you'll be the only one to go inside their room," Hayner answered.

Sighing in defeat, Roxas stood up. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

Selphie jumped up eagerly behind him and Olette hurried to follow suite. Olette was one of the few people that could actually calm the hyperactive girl down. Pence and Riku got up after them–slightly afraid and excited, but mostly they were just praying they wouldn't get caught. Hayner and Sora were last out the door. Sora held up the rear as Hayner rushed ahead to be next to Roxas.

Eventually, the group was split into a line. Roxas and Hayner up front. Selphie and Olette behind them. Then Sora and Riku with Pence holding up the rear.

"Aren't you hot?" Riku whispered to Sora.

"Hell yeah, I am. Other words I use to describe myself include: sexy, gorgeous–"

"I meant your body's temperature–you know, warm, cold . . ."

"Oh, you meant that way . . . not really, no," Sora answered.

"But you're wearing a trench coat in summer."

Sora shrugged his shoulders. "I get cold easily. But you know . . ." he said, eyeing Riku. "I could always ditch the trench coat for something warmer."

"Like what?" Riku asked, already afraid of the answer he was going to get.

"Oh, I dunno . . . do you have any suggestions?" he wondered, purposely walking closer to the teen.

Christians aren't supposed to have those kind of thoughts! Riku chastised himself. We're at a church camp! Clean! CLEAN!

Sora grinned. He hadn't gotten an answer from the boy yet, but he didn't think he'd need one as a light blush made its way across the human's face.

"Sora?" Riku said.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you keep hitting on me?" the teen asked.

"Are you really that dense?"

"What do you mean!"

"Well, usually when someone hits on someone else, it means they like them."

"So . . . you like me, then?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you think?"

Riku thought for a few moments while Sora prayed Riku would get the hint. (Not that he actually prayed. Vampires didn't get that religious.) Hadn't Sora been obvious enough already? He'd . . . let's see . . . He'd kissed his forehead. He'd made sexual suggestions around him. He'd jumped on him. He'd sat on his lap. And . . . so far that was about it.

Was Riku really that dense?

"Roxas, I hear noise, check it out," Hayner suggested, pointing to a door down the hall.

"Do I have to?" he groaned.

Hayner rolled his eyes. "Duh, it is a dare–your dare, so get on with it."

Roxas murmured something resembling "Why me?" before proceeding to the door–everyone else close on his heels.

As Roxas reached to grasp the doorknob, it abruptly twisted on its own and slammed itself into Roxas's face with a loud thunk!

"Whoops! Sorry 'bout that!" a girly voice said as its owner peered out from behind the door. She had blonde hair in numerous braids and wore pale yellow silk pajamas with a little duck print on them.

Roxas, however, was on the floor unconscious.

"You know . . ." Hayner began, crouching down near his fallen friend. "I think his head might be hollow–it went 'thunk'."

"Rikku, what's wrong? Why aren't you going anywhere?" another voice from behind the door asked.

"What?" Riku asked. Was she talking to him?

"Rikku, move, we need to introduce ourselves to the innocent bystanders you nearly plowed over," a different voice said sternly.

"I didn't plow them over!" the blonde whined, but she obliged anyway.

From behind the door came two other girls. One had shoulder-length brown hair that was spiked at the ends, and she wore a light blue nightdress that had plenty of frills and lace. She caught Sora's eye when he noticed one of her eyes was blue while the other pure green.

The other girl had short, spiked silver hair–but not as light as Riku's. She wore black pajamas that had skulls and crossbones on them. And somehow she gave off the impression that if someone was to invent leather pajamas, she'd wear them.

Omigod, she's like a female Leon . . .Sora thought.

"So sorry about that," the brunette apologized. "I'm Yuna."

"And I'm Rikku!" the blonde said enthusiastically. "And this is Paine!"

"Hmph," Paine said.

"It's ok! Roxas was just fillin' out his dare, hee hee!" Selphie giggled.

"What dare?" Paine asked.

"To meet you guys!" Selphie squealed.

"Omigod! That's, like, exactly what I just dared Yuna!" Rikku squeaked.

Holy crap, Selphie has a twin . . . Riku realized.

"So that's Roxas?" Yuna asked, gesturing to the blonde on the floor.

"Yep! That's Roxas, I'm Selphie, she's Olette, and that's Hayner, Pence, Riku, and Sora," Selphie introduced, pointing to said people in turn.

"Whoa, that's so weird. We have the same name," Rikku said in awe, staring at the silver-haired boy.

"Tell me about it," muttered Riku. He had the same name as Selphie's clone. Who wouldn't be freaked out?

"Guys! I told you to wait up!" a voice called from behind the door.

"Aw, calm down, Tidus! We were just meeting some people!" Rikku called back cheerfully.

"What? You guys really waited for me?" the voice–apparently Tidus–said, surprised.

Yuna rolled her eyes. "Yes, so hurry up."

A few seconds later, the door opened and out came a boy with bright eyes and spiky blonde hair (though not as light a color as Roxas's). He wore black flannel pants and a bright yellow t-shirt.

"Omigod you're so hot!" Selphie sqeaked.

"Um . . . thanks?" Tidus said, a little surprised at the sudden outburst.

Yuna, however, Sora noticed, narrowed her eyes slightly at Selphie as the brunette began going on about appearances.

"But it doesn't really matter what the outside looks like, it's the inside that counts," stated Yuna.

"Well, yeah, but being attractive doesn't hurt," Selphie replied cheerfully.

"Um . . . So! Where'd you guys come from?" Rikku asked–sensing Yuna's darkening aura.

"We came from the First United Methodist Church in Twilight Town, you?" said Olette.

"We came from the Our Savior Lutheran Church in Twilight Town," Rikku replied.

Meanwhile, Hayner had begun poking Roxas with a stick that had pretty much appeared out of thin air.

"Oww . . ." Roxas mumbled.

"What's that?" Hayner asked, still poking the fallen teenager.

"I said, stop poking me already! And where'd you get that stick, anyway?" Roxas said, sitting up.

"Oh, this? It was just laying around," Hayner answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh . . . and . . . who are they?" Roxas asked, gesturing at the other group.

"He lives!" Rikku shouted triumphantly.

"Shhh!" Paine hissed.

"Everyone . . ." an unknown voice said from beyond the door. Rikku, Yuna and Tidus stiffened while Paine put her hand up to massage her temples. The Methodist group looked at them curiously.

"What–" Selphie began, but was cut off abruptly by a loud "shh" from Rikku.

"Just what is going on out here?" the deep voice asked sternly. Soon, the voice's owner stepped into view as the door opened. He was tall, wore spectacle-like glasses and held one of his arms limp in a sling.

"Guys, this is our youth group leader, Auron," Yuna introduced.

"Hi, I'm Selphie and this is Hayner, Pence, Olette, Riku and Sora!" Selphie said cheerfully to the stiff man.

"Nice to meet you, I'm sure, but it's late and time for these four to go to bed. You should probably consider the same thing," Auron suggested, holding the door open for his charges to pass through.

"Maybe we'll see each other tomorrow," Tidus said hopefully before retreating with the others into their room for the night.

"Alright, see you tomorrow!" Selphie called.

"Selphie, I think it's time to go now," Olette said.

"Sorry if we caused any problems," Pence apologized. Auron just "hmph'ed" and went back inside their room. Reluctantly, the youth group headed back downstairs.

"Good job, Roxas!" Hayner congratulated.

"What'd I do? Besides running into a door," Roxas wondered.

"You found out if there were hot girls–"

"Or guys!" Selphie interrupted.

"And there were!" the two chorused.

"What?" Roxas asked again.

"Man, did you not see Yuna?" Hayner asked.

"Tidus was so hot!" Selphie squealed.

Olette just shook her head. Nothing was going to get Selphie's mind off Tidus after that.

-

Axel sniffed the air around the parking lot. Yep, Sora had definitely been here as well as that silver-haired kid (what was his name again? Riku?). But Axel was most concerned with the last scent his nose whiffed up.

Axel smelled Roxas.

And, the redhead noted, Sora appeared to either be with the humans or trailing them. Why he would do that confused Axel, but then again, why did Leon have Roxas's brother as a boyfriend? And why hadn't he bitten the blonde? The questions didn't make sense. Well, they did, but the fact that they even existed confused him because in order for the question to exist, there had to be something he didn't know.

And Axel really hated being left in the dark.

Sighing, the fiery vampire swiftly followed the trail like a hound dog after it's prey.

-

Downstairs, the group went back to their earlier arrangement of sitting in a circle on their colorful bean bag chairs.

"Ok, Roxas, you're up," Selphie said brightly once everyone was settled.

"Alright . . . hmm . . . ok, Pence, Truth or Dare?" Roxas asked.

"Me? Um . . . dare," Pence decided.

"Ok, I dare you to . . . yell as loud as you can in Wakka's ear and see if he wakes up," dared the blonde.

Pence paled. "But . . . you guys gotta do it, too, right?"

"Well, yeah, but you'll be the one to yell in his ear while we yell from the doorway."

"Geez . . . this is so stupid," Pence muttered.

"What's that?" Roxas asked innocently though he heard the boy crystal clear.

"Nothing, let's get this over with," Pence sighed. Quietly, the five followed Pence into the boys' room where Wakka slept, his obnoxious snores echoing in the room.

"Go on, Pence," Hayner encouraged, shoving the boy towards their leader while he stayed back with the others.

"Wait, you guys, what do I yell?" Pence whispered.

"Just yell 'wake up'," Roxas instructed.

Pence nodded. Then, taking a deep breath, he shouted with everyone else, "WAKE UP, WAKKA!"

A few moments of silence passed and the only sound that could be heard throughout the downstairs was their leader's defiant snoring.

Pence breathed out a sigh of relief.

Wakka's eyes snapped open.

"Just what're you guys doin', ya?" Wakka yawned.

"Oh, we're just checkin' somethin', Wakka, no big deal," Hayner covered quickly.

Wakka blinked a few times before replying, "Alright, just get to bed soon." With that, he rolled over and promptly continued his extremely noisy snoring.

Hurriedly, Pence rushed everyone back into the main room before Wakka really woke up because of some stupid thing they did.

"That was lucky," Roxas commented.

"No kidding," Hayner agreed.

"Alrightie, Pence! Your turn now!" Selphie said enthusiastically.

"Ok . . . um . . .Sora, Truth or Dare?"

Sora considered for a moment. If he picked Dare he'd most likely have to do some sort of prank, but if he did Truth he'd have to answer something about himself.

"Truth." It's not as if they would ask him if he was a vampire or something anyway.

"Alright . . . Not to be weird or anything, but I've been wondering . . . What's your sexual preference?"

Sora grinned. "None."

Selphie squeaked something incoherent as Olette covered her mouth.

"Before she says anything she'll regret later," Olette explained. "Your turn to answer the question, Hayner."

"Well, I happen to be as straight as a board. Go 'head, Roxas," said Hayner.

Roxas, however, was thinking. Now that he actually thought about it, he didn't know if he was straight or not. True, he thought he might be attracted to Axel, but he hadn't ever looked at Hayner or Pence or Riku that way. And he couldn't really tell if he was straight because he'd never actually like liked a girl before either. Roxas hadn't really experienced love before, so it wasn't as if he really knew.

"I guess I'm undecided," he mumbled.

"Really?" Olette asked.

"Well, it's not like I like anyone in particular right now, so I don't really know, I guess . . ." Roxas trailed off.

"Ok, my turn!" Selphie said loudly. "I happen to be attracted to guys, sorry, Olette."

Olette just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Selphie. I like guys, too."

"So, Riku, how straight are you?" Selphie giggled.

"About as straight as an Arby's curly fry."

"I knew it! Told you, Olette! Told you!" Selphie gloated.

"Geez, calm down, Selphie! You'll wake up Wakka! Ok, what about you, Pence?" Olette said.

"Oh, me? I like girls."

"Ok, Sora your turn."

"Um . . . could we maybe play a different game? I don't have any ideas for a truth or a dare," Sora admitted. Well, technically Sora did have a few ideas, but it wasn't as if he could do those in a church camp. It just wasn't ethical. Not that vampires were ethical, but they did have respect for the places that were.

"Sure!" Selphie agreed. "We could play . . . Honey, I Love You!"

"What?" wondered the vampire.

"It's simple, Sora! Someone kneels in front of you and says 'Honey, I love you, so won't you please smile?' and then you have to say with a straight face 'Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile.' If you don't smile, you win and the person has to say it to someone else, but if you smile you have to tell someone else the saying. Got it?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, so who goes first?"

"You, silly! It was your turn for Truth or Dare anyway, you know."

"Ok, so I just say it to anyone?"

"Anyone in this room," said Selphie.

"Ok," Sora said, gazing around the room. When his gaze lingered on Riku, the teen felt a wave of nerves crash around him. Surely Sora would pick him. Sora had been leaving hints constantly that he was interested in Riku (although the boy had no idea why). It was almost guaranteed that Sora would pick him.

Sora stood up, walked across the middle of the circle, and kneeled right in front of . . .

. . . Hayner?

"Honey, I love you," Sora began in the best Donald Duck imitation ever heard. "So won't you please–"

Hayner couldn't help himself. He smiled widely.

"Alright, my turn, I guess," Hayner said, getting up. Sora went back to his seat while Hayner chose his target.

Riku, however, was silently fuming.

What the hell? I thought he liked me! He told me so! So what the hell was that? Wait . . . why do I even care? It's not as if I like him . . . right? I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous. . . . . . Aw, screw it. I'm jealous . . .

After clearing his throat, Hayner said to Olette in a surprisingly deep voice, "Honey, I love you–"

Olette burst out laughing.

"That was quick," Hayner commented.

Olette, shrugging her shoulders, replied, "So I can't keep a straight face. Sue me."

"Seriously?"

"No."

So Olette went to Roxas. When Roxas lost, he went to Pence. When Pence lost, he went to Selphie. And the entire time, Riku began to notice things about Sora.

For instance, the vampire had begun to twiddle his thumbs and tap his fingers. Those beautiful blue eyes had gradually narrowed. And Sora had laughed less and less as the game went on which saddened Riku. The human liked Sora's laugh. He couldn't say why, but it made him happy to hear the brunet laugh. Especially if Riku was the one that made him do so.

So because of this, Riku found himself wondering Why is he so . . . uptight?

"Hey, guys? I'm gonna go outside for a minute," Sora said as he stood up.

"But Sora, we're not allowed to leave downstairs," Olette warned.

Sora just grinned. "As if that stopped everyone before. Don't worry, I'll just be a few minutes," he assured her. Olette nodded her resignation, but Riku was left curious . . .

ok, everyone, it is summer, which means i'll have more time to write to get out some more chapters:)

so... can people guess who Organization XIII's queen is? she's kinda OOC, but i'm gonna hopeyou can guess who it is anyway

oh! and for the reviewers, i know i didn't really give you anything last time so i'm really sorry, but this time 'round you get ice cream (any flavor) delivered by either Sora, Riku, Axel, Roxas, Cloud, or Leon. oooh... decisions, decisions...

and um... sorry about the lack of CloudxLeon. they haven't done much in the story recently... so i'll try to get them in the next chapter :)

and more Final Fantasy characters in the story now! good? bad? please let me know. i'll admit right now it won't affect the plotline, but i'm curious.

oh! before i forget, if you've never been to Arby's, their curly fries are these fries that are as spirally as one of those staircases in a big tower or something... bad analogy, oh well... please review!