At Last

by divinerosekeeper

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own any of the characters that are from either Kingdom Hearts or any of the Final Fantasy games, as they are owned by Square Enix (and in Kingdom Heart's case also by Disney/Buena Vista). I own any original characters in this story.

Chapter Two

Emiko Haruna

Thank you for registering with us! Your information is completely confidential, and will not be misused or redistributed elsewhere; our company values our clients' privacy.

You will soon get a confirmation message sent to your email account.

After confirming your registration with us, you will receive a phone call from one of our matchmakers to set up an appointment.

Thank you,

Harmonia Matching Services

August 30th

Bzz, bzz, bzz.

The vibration from his left pocket snapped Sora back to reality from staring off into space. It was Sora's lunch break and he was currently fourth in line for the food cart across the street from his office.

Sora fished his phone from his pocket and looked to see who was calling him.

UNKNOWN CALLER

He shrugged, slid the answer bar on his touch screen and answered, "Hello?"

"Hello!" boomed an enthusiastic voice on the other line. "Is this Sora Isamu?"

"Um, yes?"

"Oh hi, Isamu-san! This is Emiko Haruna; I'm a matchmaker from Harmonia Matching Services. How are you?"

This lady is talking a hundred miles a minute, Sora thought. I'm surprised to be getting a reply so soon.

He was now second in line. Sora cleared his throat, "Good, thank you. How are—"

"Fantastic!" the woman shrieked, not allowing him to finish, "I've been assigned to be your personal matchmaker and help you find your match. So, in order for us to start we do have to set up a consultation and meet up. I do have available times for an appointment next week, what are the days that can best work for you?"

Sora was now at the head of the line, the vendor glaring pointedly at his cell phone. Sora shot him a sheepish smile, cleared his throat, and quickly muttered into the phone, "Haruna-san, hold on for a sec." He hastily ordered his food and paid the gentleman, all the while still hearing faint jabberings of Emiko Haruna.

He got to a nearby bench to set his stuff down and put the phone back to his ear, "Sorry about that—"

She cut him off again. "Oh no worries! What day works best for you next week for the consultation?"

At the top of his head Sora told her next Wednesday, sometime in the late afternoon.

"Perrrrfect! Would you happen to be familiar with the restaurant called Midori?"

"Uh, yea, I think so. West side of the city, right?" Sora asked with a lazy stretch.

He could tell she flipping through some papers, "You've got it, would 6:00 work for you? I already have an appointment that evening with a lady at 5:30."

"Yea, that should work."

"Fantastic! Thank you so much, Isamu-san. If you need to contact me before hand you may contact me at this number. I've also sent you an email. Until then!" she sputtered out.

"Thank you…" Sora said, just totally confused by the whole situation. He slipped his phone back into his left pocket and grabbed his food and trekked across the street back to his office so he could eat his lunch.

September 5th

Kairi could hear the lady across from her talking, but she most definitely wasn't listening. But she made sure to say "mhm" and "uh-huh" at the right times. What she was really focusing on was the fact that 1) she was hungry (Emiko Haruna and her were only having coffee); and 2) all the work she had ahead of her when she got home. Kairi had left the office earlier than she usually did in order to make it to this consultation.

"Hikari-san? Are you listening?"

Kairi blinked out of her daze. "Hm," she hummed giving the woman her attention again.

"I asked if there were any questions you wanted to ask me before we wrap this meeting up?" the matchmaker asked.

Kairi shook her head no and gave a quick smile, "Oh, no. I think I'm good."

The matchmaker flashed her with a big smile, "Wonderful! I have everything I need from you. You should be hearing from me shortly about setting up your first date! It's going to be so exciting!"

"Well, thank you. I'll be looking forward to it," Kairi said politely. She got up from the table and bowed to Emiko Haruna.

She made her way to the door that led to the kitchen area. The reason Kairi had suggested this restaurant to meet up at was because it was the same restaurant her roommate Selphie worked at (that, and the fact that it was only two blocks from her apartment). She knocked on the door and poked her head in. "Selphie?" she called.

Selphie looked up from the vegetables she was chopping up and smiled; the other cooks and assembly crew didn't bother to look over at Kairi. "Oh hey, Kairi. How was your appointment?"

Kairi took a step into the kitchen and closed the door behind her. "Oh, it went well," she replied with a shrug.

Selphie eyebrow rose, "Something wrong?"

"Just hungry," Kairi pouted.

"Oh," Selphie rolled her eyes and smiled. She walked over to the fridge that was in the alley of the kitchen and grabbed a paper bag. She handed the bag to Kairi, "Here, made you this. Just heat it up for two minutes or so."

Kairi beamed and snatched the bag almost greedily, "Thanks! I'll see you when you get home!"

Sora was approaching the door to the restaurant, when it flew open. He had to back up a step to avoid getting hit by it. The women who opened the door didn't seem to care or even notice. Sora didn't get a good look at her either as she was walking in the opposite direction. He shrugged and walked in.

He approached the host. She was a pretty little thing, he mused. She was a petite, longhaired brunette, with big doe brown eyes. She smiled at the sight of him, "May I help you, sir?"

Sora gave her one of his toothy grins, "I'm actually here to meet up with a Emiko Haruna."

"Ah, yes. Follow me please, sir." The host said moving from behind the stand. She led him into the small dining room of the restaurant and motioned to the table that already sat by a bushy, redheaded woman.

When the woman noticed him she sprung up from her chair, her face taken over by her gloss rimmed smile. "You must be Isamu-san! It's nice to finally meet you in person."

"Yes, thank you," Sora said slowly. He looked her up and down. She was a tall woman, with big, long, wavy red hair (of the fake variety). She was well into her forties, as evidenced by the crow's feet and laugh lines on her face. She also seemed to have a love for the color maroon. A pink scarf accessorized her matching blazer and skirt set, along with a pair of cat-eye glasses that hung on a beaded chain around her neck. Her panty hose had a run on the left leg and she was wearing well-worn brown loafers. She's something else, he thought to himself with an inner chuckle.

"Please, please, sit down! We should get started," she said excitedly while motioning to the chair across from her. As Sora sat down she continued to jabber away, "You have such perfect timing my last appointment just left."

Emiko Haruna continued talking about the mission statement of Harmonia Matching Services as Sora ordered a glass of red wine for himself.

"I've been with this company matching people up just like you with their soul mates for twenty years now," she continued. "Waaaaaay back when this company used phone-ins and mail-ins for applications. I've helped over three hundred couples get together in my years of working here. And I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging when I say this, but I'm one of the best in this business and have a 98% success rate. So, I can assure you that you can have confidence in me finding you a match."

"Oh, wow," Sora said, actually impressed.

Without missing a beat, she continued, "So, how this works, after this consultation I'll be going through the candidates that are left from the computer program and find you a match from my own unique system. When I find you a suitable match I will contact you to set up your first date. Our services require that you go on three dates, as our studies have shown that it takes three dates to figure out if you really connect with someone. I'll help coordinate and escort on these three dates and will require feedback on each date from both of you. After which, if the dates are a success, I will do regular check ups every three months for the next year; unless you contact me before then. In any case, if were to not work out we would just restart the process all over again."

Sora nodded, taking a sip of his wine, "Sounds pretty good to me." It did sound like it was a pretty solid system to him.

"I should also state that if problems due arise, I am happy to help out in a counselor type of role," she added.

Sora's eyebrows rose in amusement, "Wow, you really do it all, don't you?"

Emiko Haruna giggled a bit, "I just feel that I should do my all to help people find their other half, that's all." He could tell that she wasn't even bullshitting him.

"Anyway," she transitioned as she was opening up the manila folder that Sora assumed held his information in. She slipped her cat-eye glasses over her nose and pulled out a paper. "Alright Isamu-san, what we're going to do next is do a little questionnaire, so I can get to get know you a little more and to see what exactly it is you're looking for. So, that brings me to my first question: what are you looking for? Why did you come to us?"

He pondered for a moment, why did he sign up for a matchmaking service? "I don't know," he muttered kind of quietly. "I guess I'm just kind of tired of this game, I've been playing it for almost ten years now. I kind of just want to settle down really. I'm approaching my late twenties, and yea, I'm still considered young, but I don't want to keep pushing this feeling aside until I'm not young, and it is too late."

She nodded as she was hastily taking notes; Sora noticed that the pen's ink was purple. "So, I take it that you're looking for a long-term relationship, one that could have the potential to start a family maybe?" she further questioned.

Sora considered this for a second; he always knew that he wanted a family someday, but this was the first time someone asked him seriously (besides his mother, of course). "Yea, I think so," he replied with a faint smile playing on his lips. He took another sip of wine.

"Excellent," that matchmaker said, still jotting down her notes. "Before I forget, because this has been becoming so common in recent years… Would you be opposed to being matched with someone who already has a child from a previous relationship?"

"No, not at all. I love children."

"Alright, I see here that you're an architect for Garaku, can you tell me a bit about that, please? How'd you get started with that?" Emiko asked.

He shifted in his chair a bit, "When my father forced me to move back to Twilight Town with him when I was seventeen, I became interested in construction in order to pass the time and not be around him. But not long after I became more interested in actually designing these building rather than just building them. Eventually, I became acquainted with Garaku-sensei and now I'm his apprentice."

"Wow, how impressive!" she exclaimed, genuinely impressed. "You're pretty young for the position you're in, correct?"

Sora smiled and replied, "Well, Garaku-sensei took me under his wing at a young age. I've been solidly under his tutelage since I was almost eighteen. He even allowed me to work with him even during my schooling."

"That is so great. He must really see something in you," Emiko said delighted. She started shifting through her papers again and transitioned, "Well Isamu-san, we still have a lot to cover."

"Let's do this then," Sora said getting comfortable in his chair.

September 10th

All right, deodorant, check; teeth brushed, check... Kairi applied her mascara as she went over her mental checklist. She slipped the wand back into its tube and examined herself in the mirror. She smoothed out her dark crimson hair, her hair was now just past her chin in a layered bob. Up until recently, she had worn her hair longer, to the collarbone. With the ever-changing industry that she was in she knew she had to break out of her safe zone and add a little edge to her look. She eyed the rest of her outfit, a coral blouse tucked into a navy and cream chevron printed pencil skirt, through the loopholes of the skirt was a thin, tawny brown belt. The outfit was completed with nude heels and a simple twisted gold bangle on her left wrist. Satisfied with her appearance, Kairi grabbed her purse and left her bedroom.

Kairi walked out to find Selphie and Tidus in the living room. She paused and watched the couple for a moment; this was the first time since Selphie went all the way over to their hometown of Destiny Islands to tell him that she was pregnant two weeks ago. Tidus still lived back on the island, as he was a fisherman along with his father.

In a sense, this pregnancy complicated matters for Tidus and Selphie; although they were engaged, they weren't going to get married until they could work out a living situation that worked for them both. Currently, they had been getting by with Tidus staying with them for four days every two weeks or so. Destiny Islands was forty-five minute to an hour west of Radiant Garden and the new train that would cut that time in half wouldn't be ready for another two years or so.

Tidus lifted his head from Selphie; he smiled at Kairi, "Good morning."

Kairi smiled back and replied, "Good morning, just get it?"

"Yea, I got in about forty-five minutes ago," he said tiredly. Kairi could tell by his face just how exhausted he really was.

Kairi looked over to Selphie, her face was still buried into Tidus' chest. She felt guilty for interrupting their moment and took her cue to leave, she headed for the door, "I'll see you two tonight when I get off."

She closed the door behind her and for a moment she just leaned up against it. Even Kairi couldn't deny the twinge of jealousy in the pit of her stomach.

"Hey Toji, what do you think of this?" asked Sora, motioning to the drawing pad in front of him.

Toji walked over from the corner that he was at, he peered over Sora's shoulder, "It looks good..."

"But?" Sora finished for him, knowing where Toji was going with his tone.

" But it looks like it's already been done before."

Sora grimaced, but he knew what his friend has said was true. He sighed and admitted, "Ugh, I know, you're right; I'm just having a hell of a time on this project."

"I think you're over thinking it," said Toji, patting Sora on the shoulder. He went down the steps of the platform that Sora's drawing board was on and leaned against Sora's desk. He continued, "I know it's a big project, but you're letting that get in the way of-I don't know, your creativity or some shit."

Sora swiveled his chair to face his friend, "Yea, maybe you're right. It's kind of stressing me out. This time Garaku-sensei isn't just having me help him. I'm in charge. This has got to be perfect. It's got to be a masterpiece."

Toji crossed his arms and smirked, "Well, just look at the bright side, at least you have another two-and-a-half months to perfect your design."

"Thank god!" Sora laughed.

Toji shifted, "I'm going to head back now, chill out a bit, okay?"

Sora rolled his eyes, "I'll try." He ran his hands through his spiky mane as he gave out a loud sigh.

Bzz, bzz, bzz…

His phone was going off on his desk across the office. He grabbed the phone and looked at it.

EMIKO HARUNA CALLING

Sora slid the answer bar, "Hello?"

"Hello Isamu-san! Are you busy?" asked the energetic voice on the other line.

Sora leaned up against his desk, "Nope, not at all. What's up?"

"I have good news for you! I've found you a match!" Sora had to almost move the phone away from his ear because she was so excited.

"Wow, already?" Sora asked in almost disbelief.

"Mhm! I've already talked to her today, she gave me the time and place that would work for her; so I wanted to verify with you so things can get set into motion. I had suggested to her about having the first date be set at a restaurant. I feel that restaurants are the perfect opportunity for two people to get acquainted with one another. I usually recommend nothing too fancy, as I want both parties to be relaxed," Emiko explained.

"Uh-huh," Sora hummed listening.

"So, your match said that this Friday evening at seven o'clock would work well for her. And luckily, you know where the place is, because she wants to meet up at Midori. Would that work for you, Isamu-san?"

Without even thinking, he said, "Yea, that sounds great. I'll be there." Sora reached for a pen and whatever piece of paper he could find and jotted down, "Midori 7pm Fri."

"Perrrfect," she almost purred. "I will meet you both there that night for introductions. I'm so excited for you!"

"Yea, me too."

"See you at Friday at seven!"

Click

It wasn't until Sora put his phone down that he realized he hadn't even thought to ask Emiko Haruna what the name of the girl was.

Author's Corner

Well, there was the second part of the revamp double feature! I hope you've enjoyed it. So far this is so different from my original and definitely so much better. I know that this chapter in particular wasn't too exciting, but it was necessary. One thing the original lacked was how to enforce these two to go on their dates, so that is why I created the character of Emiko to help with that. I envision her looking like a lot like Haruna Sakurada from Sailor Moon (also where she gets her namesake from), but with the personality of Rikku from FFX.

As far as the Japanese suffixes go, I plan on only using them when necessary. I still want to use Japanese culture as an influence in my story in order to stay somewhat authentic. –san is usually used as an in general Mr./Mrs./Ms. –sensei is used for a teacher type of figure.

Anyway, I will hopefully get chapter three up shortly. I plan on starting on it right away.

Character profiles

Name: Emiko Haruna

DOB: May 1st

Hometown: Radiant Garden

Age: 43

Occupation: matchmaker for Harmonia Matching Services

Current Residence: Radiant Garden

Name: Tidus Takumi

DOB: July 3rd

Age: 26

Hometown: Destiny Islands

Occupation: fisherman with his father's company

Current residence: Destiny Islands

Love,

Tabitha