Just so you guys know, this story will switch POVs A LOT. So..yeah. I'll try to make it as obvious as I can as to whose POV it is, but PM me if it's too vague to figure out.

And Rachel, of course, is Raven.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


"Yes! You're almost there! Yeah--NO! What were you thinking? You could've passed it to him!" Ryan yelled at the street-basketball players. He and Koma sat on the front steps of their house on that beautifully sunny Saturday morning with Koma's rag doll. The older boys stopped playing, walking up to Ryan menacingly.

"Yeah? Then why don't you show us how, you pipsqueak?" They all laughed, getting back to their game.

"I would, if I could," Ryan mumbled. Koma patted his arm sympathetically as a redhaired stranger came and sat down between them. Stunned by the action, Ryan and Koma studied him. The guy looked about Kory's age, with reddish-brown eyes and orangey hair. He was pretty built, too, and that scared them. His voice, however, soon disspelled any fear.

"Hello girl, hello boy, hello doll," he greeted, grinning widely. "And how are you today?"

"Fine," Ryan answered stiffly, attempting to scoot away.

"Mommy said we're not allowed to talk to stranglers," Koma clarified.

"Strangers, Koma, mommy said we're not allowed to talk to strangers. Not stranglers."

The man looked shocked. "I'm not a stranger! My name's Leon. I'm your neighbor."

Ryan frowned, looking him over again. "You're not our neighbor. Our neighbor is that old, dumb general."

"Hey! That's my uncle."

Koma laughed. "You made a boo-boo!"

"Yeah he did. I guess my uncle can be a bit dumb sometimes, though. I just moved in with him yesterday from out of country, I guess I wouldn't know as well as you two. But I've heard that there's a crazy old lady who lives in this house right here," he added mysteriously.

"Hey! That's my grandma!"

Leon laughed. "Oops! I made a..."

"Boo-boo!" Koma finished happily.

"So," he started after a very tiny silence. "What's your grandma's name?"

"Grandma!" said Ryan and Koma together, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Again, Leon chuckled.

"That's a very nice name for a grandma."

"X'HAL A ZORBLAK TRINXA
BLIBLIBLAH GLRAXNELA..."

All the basketball players took out their handy-dandy earmuffs, clapped them over their ears, and began to play again. Ryan and Koma covered their ears with their hands, groaning. "I forgot it was nine o'clock! She always sings at nine o'clock every morning," he told Leon, who's face was schrunched up in distaste.

"I'll put a stop to that." He got up, walking out so he was in clear view of the window of the Anders's house.

"Best of luck," Ryan mumbled after him.

"Oi! Grandma! Grandma!" She didn't hear him, and kept singing. "GRANDMA!" Everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch this young man attempt an impossible feat. "GRANDMA!"

The singing stopped, and the said grandmother came to the window. "Is someone calling me?"

"Yes! Down here!" Leon waved his arms wildly. "My name is Leon! I am General Raskov's nephew! Very nice to meet you!"

"General Raskov?" Grandma Anders asked interestedly.

"Yes! May I ask what you were doing?"

"I was praying to X'hal, the great goddess of--"

"Praying? My dear Grandma, you were not praying to X'hal, you were torturing her!" Whispers and snickers broke out amongst the crowd, and Koma gasped softly. Her grandma looked stricken. She'd never been spoken to that way before.

"Excuse me?"

"Grandma, look at these poor, poor children," he cooed, grabbing the nearest twenty-year-old, muscled, and altogether rather threatening-looking basketball player. "Poor, deprived children who have lost their taste in the wonderful art of music, having to listen to you every morning! They all believe there is nothing but depressed screeches and moans to be heard, and look--look at how sad...sad they are." He twisted the 'child's' face until it resembled something like a pout crossed with a snarl. "All they ask is that you keep your window closed in the morning!" He shook the man's head from side to side, making the frown deeper and deeper.

"Don't push it, man," the guy growled softly, and Leon stopped. The grandmother had never been so shocked in her life. How dare some...insolent youth come up to her and demand that she stop praying? Suddenly, a woman of about Louanne's age ran up their driveway.

"Excuse me! I apologize, has my son been bothering you? He's a bit touched in the head, please do not take it personally," the woman begged, grabbing Leon's ear and tugging him away. "I apologize most sincerely, and I hope he hasn't gotten carried away this time!"

"Mother!" Leon cried in pain. She pinched his ear harder.

"You are in no place to respond," she hissed. "Why can't you let go of childish habits?"

Touched in the head, that would explain it, Grandma Anders reasoned. He is General Raskov's nephew, too. I will let it go. "It is fine! He has done nothing! But I believe a little discipline would do him well!" Leon's mother gave a small smile.

"What's all the racket?" an angry voice asked. Leon looked over and gasped. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes on. Or, she would be, if she hadn't been glaring at him so coldly. It was...Kory. "Well? It's only nine o'clock!"

He stepped out from his mom's now loosened grasp to get a better look. Slowly, he pointed to the bridge of his nose, mimicking glasses. "Take them off," he mouthed. She pushed them up higher, still glaring, and he grinned. Cute. Huffing once, Kory closed her window. Only then did Leon notice how quiet the neighborhood had gotten. "...Party's over...?" Almost immediately, everyone went back to what they were doing.

The door to the Anders's house opened. "Oh! You must be General Raskov's sister and nephew. I'm Louanne Anders." She held out her hand for each of them to shake. "These two are Ryan and Koma, and..." She went back inside the house for a moment, and then came and dragged out a reluctant looking Kory. "...This is my eldest, Kory. If we can do anything for you, let us know."

"It's fine, we're sorry for bothering you--" Leon's mother started, but Leon cut in.

"Louanne! Such a wonderful family you have! You know, my mother brought me to America to get married. I was wondering if I could have your permission to marry your daughter?"

"What?!" Kori exclaimed. Leon frowned at her.

"Oh, shut up, Four-eyes, I was talking to Koma." He continued, in a far more charming tone, "Koma, my darling, will you marry me?"

She giggled and hid her face in her mother's stomach. "No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please? No!" Kory mimicked cruelly at Leon.

"Is she always like this?" Leon asked Ryan in a loud whisper.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Shut up, Ryan," Kory hissed. Leon was about to retort, but his mother held him back.

"We really should be going," she told Louanne tiredly.

"Yes, I guess we should. See you at lunch!" chirruped Leon.

"Dinner?" Mrs. Anders asked confusedly.

"Oh yes. See, as your new neighbors, you just invited us to lunch. I'll bring desert, okay? Great!" He started walking down the driveway, but turned. "Oh, and, after I'm gone, Specsy here is going to get mad at you for inviting me. But don't worry about it, she's always like that."


"Why did you invite him?" Kory yelled at her mother.

"I didn't invite him, he invited himself, you saw it! I don't think there's any harm in mixing with one's neighbors, though, do you? He seems like a nice boy, though a bit eccentric," Louanne replied, distressed over having to cook lunch for more people.

"Whatever. I'm getting groceries, but that does NOT mean I accept this in any way. It just looks like you need help," Kori snapped, grabbing her keys and walking out. Louanne rolled her eyes tiredly.

"Thanks, Kory."


"You're late," muttered Leon as Kory stepped into the house. He took her groceries from her, calling, "Louanne! Kory's home!" Kory stopped in her tracks, trying to figure out what was going on. Wait a second...

"What are you doing here?" she asked. He'd already gone to the kitchen.

"Oh Leon, you really didn't have to do this," Louanne simpered.

"It's no problem, Louanne, all for my lovely Koma." Koma giggled, clutching her doll to her chest.

"Hahaha, so funny, Mom, I need to talk to you," Kory interrupted, grabbing Louanne's arm and dragging her to the next room. "What is this with Leon? He's so--"

"Kory, these are Leon's parents," Louanne cut in, pointing to the two people sitting on the couch in the same room.

"Oh! Hi, how are you, nice to meet you."

"Hello. Tell me, is the elder Mrs. Anders here?" inquired the General politely.

"I don't think so, sometimes we get lucky," Louanne joked.

"Oh, Mom, you're too much," Kory fake-laughed. She dragged her mom into the next room. "Mom, get him out. He's acting like this is his own house, like we've known him for years, and you need to put your foot down! The guy is crazy!"

"He's not--"

"Kory, look!" Ryan said.

"...Crazy, just--"

"Kory!"

"...Overly friendly," Louanne finished. Ryan tugged on Kory's sleeve, trying to direct her attention to him.

"Kory, look at my new shirt!"

"Wonderful, Ryan, who gave it to you?"

"Leon!" Kory groaned.


"Actual Tamaranian dishes? Louanne couldn't have made it, then," the grandmother sniffed. Louanne glared.

"Leon was a lot of help. He cooks a lot from where he comes."

"Well then, congratulations on getting a new servant."

Louanne left, and the General came into the dining room. "Good morning, Mrs. Anders. I must say, pink looks very nice on you."

She smiled. "And blue is not half bad on yourself, General."

"Mr. Blue? Mrs. Pink? Lunch is ready," Leon interjected. 'Mrs. Pink' huffed at him, still not forgetting the earlier incident.

Lunch was bustly and loud and painful for Kory, what with Leon's dumb jokes about her looks. She steeled herself not to care, wondering how on Earth her family was growing so close to him. He was obviously not in his right mind, so far as Kory could see. And she had become a rather good judge.

"And then, the weasel goes--" Leon cut off, noticing Koma's attention was no longer engaged. She was still clutching her doll, staring forlornly ahead. He follwed her gaze and it rested on her grandmother and Ryan.

"All that bread has turned you near white! Come, my bumgorf, eat as much as you can while this lasts," said her grandma, pinching Ryan's cheeks.

"Grandma, stop it!"

Koma sighed, and it sounded like it was coming out of someone ten times her age's mouth. "Koma?" Leon asked gently. He hugged her, but Koma pulled away.

"Look! My dolly's name is Sally."


Leon was still chuckling from when his uncle had nearly dropped his dessert down his shirt after Kory, Koma, and Ryan's grandma had asked him if it was habit for him to wake up every day at nine o'clock and listen to her sing, and whether or not he could drill some appreciation into his nephew, when Kory came into the kitchen where he was doing the dishes. "What's your problem?" she snarled.

"What are you talking about, Specsy?"

She got even angrier. "That! What makes you think you can come into our house and act as if you live here? My family is not interested! So act like a neighbor and stay at your house, and get away from mine!"

He poked her in the nose. "Ding-dong! I'm your neighbor, now can I borrow half a loaf of bread?"

She frowned in disbelief. "What?"

"You said to act like a neighbor, right? So I'm asking you for a loaf of bread. Now, can I have it?"

She was about ready to throttle him. "Ah, so funny, you are. How about this: you go take your happy-go-lucky attitude and knock on somebody else's door!" Leon shook his head with a you-are-so-pathetic kind of look. Kory didn't think it was possible to become more infuriated.

"Kory, Kory, Kory. You need my happy-go-lucky attitude. I have enough for the both of us. I've never even seen you smile. Can you? It's a very simple, three step process. One...two...three...cheese!" Kory frowned again in disbelief. "Let's try that again. One...two...three...cheese!" He tried to turn up the corners of her mouth, but she slapped his hands away.

"Don't touch me!"

"Oh 'X'hal', she's forgotten how to smile! That's okay, though, you keep practicing. Bye now!"


All that day, I couldn't help thinking: Had I truly forgotten how to smile? I practiced while I was brushing my teeth. It made my jaws hurt, and it still seemed fake. Was I really that unhappy?
"Kory's smiled before," mumbled Richard. "She's smiled when...uh..."
"She smiles when I sing," Kory's grandmother said.
"Um..." Richard made wild motions with his hands, though what he was alluding to, no one will ever know.
"When she was with her father, Kory always smiled," Louanne recalled wistfully.
"Uh..."
"Such a beautiful smile," murmured Leon's mother.

"What?" asked Leon, pocketing his keys.

"Rachel. This was taken at the wedding. Isn't her smile beautiful? I've never seen her so happy. She told me you were going to see her today," his mother explained, looking up at him worriedly. Leon smiled, sitting beside her on his uncle's couch.

"Yeah. That's where I'm going right now."

"Aren't you scared?" she whispered. He chuckled, hugging his mom quickly.

"Of course not. Everything will be fine, mom. I promise."


Sorry about all that POV changing. THat's how it is in the movie, and I liked Richard's part. He's going to be the comic relief here, funnily enough.