A/N: Hey everyone! The second chapter is here! Hope you enjoy!

Oh, and before I forget, I put a tag on the name Mrs. Rakshasi in the first chapter. The word rakshasi comes from Hindu mythology meaning female demon. So basically, Sora is calling his head nurse a demon.

Anyway, on to the story! And remember, flames are for roasting marshmellows

….

October 17, 2009

I scowl again at the rakshasi sitting in the corner of my room reading a paperback romance novel. Her thin lips are twisting up at the ends.

She's saying something about writing. No, wait, the sentence isn't done yet….

Yep, it was about my notebook. Mom had mentioned it the last time she visited. The demon had then told her I was using it to right down a story. I'm scowling harder and it's starting to hurt my face.

Mrs. Wilkins the demon is looking up at me now.

I try to evade the subject, rambling about my meds… or something along those lines. She's looking at the clock now and mutters something like 'it's just about that time'.

She pats my foot and I move it away from the touch.

Now I'm happy. The door is closed and she's headed for wherever they keep the pills.

I just opened the window and I shiver.

I really hate to admit it, but I feel kinda bad that the demon is ignoring her other duties to watch over me.

I heard her talking to doc Miya this morning. She's worried that I'll have another episode like yesterday.

I spent almost the entire day with my head in the toilet.

Wilkins had just given me my pills, when all of a sudden, I was vaulting over the bedrails and pushing past her, headed for the attached bathroom. She had sat on the rim of the tub as I purged, her knotted hand holding out a Dixie cup of water when I was done and a gentle 'rinse and spit'.

She paged doctor Miya and told her to come look me over. But not even five minutes later I was back hugging my good friend Mr. Toilet.

Anyway, back to the story I'm supposed to be writing.

…

My hand fell onto the fence as I paused. The head of the figure moved and I opened my mouth to call out, but only air escaped.

The shadow stood up and moved off the porch towards me. I took a step back and twisted my torso around, considering how long of a head start I could get. But just as the thought crossed my mind the figure took off in a sprint and vaulted over the fence.

In a fluid movement, it slowed down and picked me up to give me a bear hug and twirl me around; my face effectively squashed to a broad and musclely chest. All I could do was make a squeaky sound in the back of my throat.

…I'm still ashamed of that.

The jerk tickled my ear as he chuckled and held on tighter. I squirmed in his arms and pulled my face back a little so I could breathe.

He finally pulled back to look me in the eyes with a bright smile.

"Hey, Sor. What's up?"

I looked down at the pavement with a grimace and dangled my feet uselessly.

"I am."

Leon looked down as well and then back up to me.

"So you are. How's the weather?" He asked sincerely.

"I don't know," I replied sourly. "You're always up at this elevation, so you tell me."

Leon gave me a mock pout and tsked.

"That's no way to talk to your big brother, Sora. I deserve a little bit of respect, you know."

I laughed.

"Oh, you mean like the time you snuck into mom's room, took one of her dresses and did a little show for me?"

Leon scowled.

"Hey, I only did that because you had the flu and had been in bed for almost a week. I thought you could use a laugh."

I laughed again and shook my head. As much of a goof as he was, I missed my brother. I'd never admit it though. Oh, wait…

Still smiling, I looked pointedly at the ground, then back up to Leon. He took the hint and sat me down. Of course, I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

Leon stood almost three heads taller than me. I mean, I'm only five feet three inches, but both my parents are around six feet. How do things like this happen?

Leon ran a hand through his brown hair and looked back towards the house.

"Mom's making meatloaf," he informed me as he turned back. "We should probably head in."

I nodded as Leon wrapped an arm around my shoulders and lead me up to the house and into the foyer.

Dad popped his balding head around the corner as Leon closed the door.

"Hey, Sora! We were wondering when you would get back. How was your day?"

"Fine," I say, heat creeping up the collar of my shirt. I thought back to Riku and shook my head.

Leon moved around me and took a left into the kitchen, following the mouthwatering scent that was slowly filling up the house.

I followed Leon as Dad's head popped back into the sitting room.

Mom stood at the sink, washing green beans and pointing Leon towards a large bowel sitting on the island counter. I walked over to stand on my tiptoes to kiss her cheek and she smiled at me.

"Hi, sweetie. How was your day?"

"Fine," I say again, feeling the heat come back.

"That's nice. Would you mind helping your brother set the table? I'm scared he's going drop something. You know how clumsy he can be."

"Mom," came Leon indignant whine from the cupboards. "I'm right here."

Mom chuckled and pushed soft blonde waves away from her face.

"Don't worry Ma," I said, patting her back. "I'll help him out."

As I turned to grab the bowel of mashed potatoes, Leon karate chopped my hand onto the counter and grabbed the bowel. I made to reach for the gravy boat, but he did the same thing again.

I rubbed my hand and looked up at his narrowed, challenging blue eyes. I scowled and reached for the forks and knives. Again, although he had a hard time of it, my hand was karate chopped and Leon picked up the utensils.

"How am I supposed help you when you do stuff like that?" I asked his back as he walked over to the table and sat everything down.

"Your not," was his deadpanned reply.

I sighed and moved back to Mom.

"Be prepared for broken dishes," I warned her in a low voice as Leon grabbed a stack plates.

She sighed and shook her head.

"I love that boy to death, but sometimes…" she turned her head in time to see Leon stumble and right himself quickly. She shook her head again.

A few minutes, and a few stumbles later, we all were sitting at the table.

Mom cleared her mouth and looked over at me, her blue eyes sparkling.

"So, how's Kairi?"

"She's okay," I replied, spearing a few green beans.

Mom paused a moment before charging in.

"She's a nice girl, Kairi. And you've known her for quite some time now."

"Um, yeah." My gut was telling me to evacuate now but it was have raised a few eyebrows if I suddenly jumped up and ran for the door.

She kept pressing.

"Maybe you two could go to a movie sometime. Or maybe out to dinner."

I squirmed uncomfortably and shoveled mashed potatoes into my mouth to keep from having to answer.

"I'm thinking of staying here for a few weeks." Leon suddenly cut in.

I looked over at Leon as Mom and Dad commented on how nice that will be. He smiled slightly and peeked at me through his peripheral vision.

I smiled at him and dug back into my food.

"By the way," Dad said, pointing his fork at Leon. "How's Cloud doing? Haven't seen that boy in a while."

"Pissed," Leon chuckled. "He got roped into going on this road trip type thing with his family. He'd be here if it wasn't for that."

Mom laughed and waved a hand.

"I remember all of my family road trips. They were horrendous!"

And with that, conversation took off. I didn't join in, just looked around the table at my family; Mom, with her soft blonde hair and bright smile, holding hands with the man she still loved, even though he was slowly losing his brown hair and his blue eyes crinkled at the corners with age.

I smiled and sat back, completely content.

…..

Mom sat back on her heels and wiped her forehead, sending water from her cleaning rag flying.

Earlier that morning, Mom had cornered Leon and I and asked if we wouldn't mind helping her with a few things. Like the idiots we were, we said we'd help out.

She had dispatched Leon through out the house to vacuum and dust. I hadn't seen much of him. Mom had me helping clean the bathrooms.

With a groan, I stood up from my crouch and stretched my back, banging my elbow on the shampoo rack in the tub. I scowled at it and looked over at Mom.

"Bathtub's clean," I said, stepping out and nearly falling over when my knee cracked.

Mom gave the sink faucet and good scrub before turning with a smile to thank me.

"While I get the mirrors, would you scrub the toilet?"

My face fell and gave a whiney sigh. Mom shook her head and grabbed my arms, slowly leading me over to the toilet and patting my arms.

I leaned down to grab the toilet brush and cleaner. After a good squirt of the nose tickling cleaner, I started to scrub, the water and foam sloshing against the sides and onto the rim. I quickly moved out of the way as some water landed on the floor where my foot had been.

There was a knock on the door, cutting off Mom's laughter. I looked up and my brows scrunched involuntarily.

Leon stood in the doorway, a bright yellow bandana on his head to keep his bangs off his face. Even though he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, he had rolled them up onto his shoulders, revealing toned biceps. He had even rolled up his pant legs.

"All the rooms are vacuumed and dusted," he said, scratching a cheek. "Except Sora's."

I looked at him carefully and he shuddered.

"It… was just so messy! There were… papers and socks and underwear everywhere! I swear I saw something moving around in his closet. My roommate is a messy pig, but this," he shook his head and shuddered again.

I scowled at him as leaned against the doorjamb.

"You're on your own with that one little bro."

I gave him a disgusted look as Mom turned to me.

"Sora, how many times do I have to tell you to clean your room?"

I glared at Leon over Mom's head.

"Oh well, you and Leon will have to clean it sometime this week."

It's Leon's turn to glare at me. I smiled and stuck my tongue out at him.

I started to walk out but Mom called out.

"Will you boys go and put a load of laundry in the machine?"

"Sure thing Ma!" Leon replied, tugging my shirt and dragging me down the hall.

"Hey! What-"

"We have just about five minutes to get the fuck out of here before Mom realizes we left," Leon explained in a whisper as he manhandled me down the stairs.

When we reached the landing he set me down but grabbed my wrist.

"What about the laundry?" I asked as we reached the kitchen.

He took a moment to stop and stare at me, his wide eyes incredulous.

"You really want to keep doing housework for that psycho?"

"Well, no," I replied, rubbing the back of my head and feeling guilty.

He tugged my wrist and we fast walked into the back room.

"We'll have to run to my car. It's just outside the garage."

We moved past the washing machine and Leon opened the back door, waving me through. My bare feet hit the wet grass and I shivered.

Leon quickly closed the door behind us and took off in a run towards the garage.

"Leon!" I hissed before sprinting to catching up to him.

He was already in the car and started the engine when I caught up.

"Hurry, Sora!"

I wrenched open the door and jumped in as Leon hit the gas and we were propelled backward. I closed the door and buckled my seat belt as we hit the road, Leon shifted gears and we went flying forward.

We were a good two blocks away before Leon slowed down and stopped at an intersection.

There's silence in the car until Leon turned to me and smiles.

"I don't know about you, Sor, but I'm starving."

I look down at my feet then back to Leon.

"I don't have any shoes on."

He gave me a disgusted look as he pushed off his bandana.

"It's called drive through for a reason."

…

Leon took a large bite of his burger, his cheeks pushed out from the food. I couldn't help but feel disgusted as I looked at him. I put my French fries down and sighed.

"So why don't you want to date Kairi?" He finally asked around his burger.

I shrug and hold up one fry.

"Just… doesn't seem right," I said, twirling the fry. "If I did, it would feel contrived."

Leon shook his head and ruffled my hair.

"You and your big words," he said affectionately.

I waved off his hand and sat back.

"You do have a point, though," he continued. "But can you really blame them? Hell, if I had a say I would hogtie to a chair and force you to date."

I laughed and shook my head.

"When did you become such a sentimentalist?"

"That day at the hospital. The one when Dad picked me up and pointed to my little brother." He's smiling at the end and my own smile is threatening to break out.

I waved my hand in his face and changed the subject.

"Is Cloud really on a road trip, or did you just say that for the parentals?"

Leon laughed loudly and set his burger down.

"Yeah. You should have seen his face when he found out. Priceless! But he really had been planning on coming up."

I smiled and thought back. Leon had left for college two years ago and the first friend he made had been Cloud, a fiercely proactive bad boy blonde who was very fond of piercings and swearing. For the longest time, all we heard about were the shenanigans the two got into.

Last Christmas, Leon had brought Cloud to the house and the entire family had fallen in love with him. I really should have noticed the way that they looked at each other. But I didn't, not until I opened the bathroom door to find them shirtless and making out against the sink.

I promised them I wouldn't until they were ready to come out.

It was a month later that Leon sat down with Mom and Dad and told them he was gay. He had given them a moment to absorb that, and then said he was dating Cloud. They had taken better then we had thought they would. Certainly better than they had that day…

I shook my head and looked over to Leon. He took another bite of his burger and chewed slowly.

"He says hi, by the way."

I raised an eyebrow and Leon shrugged.

"He's worried about you, hopes your doing okay and wants to give you a big hug."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

"He really is like a second brother."

"He will be soon enough."

I paused before going on.

"What do you mean?"

Leon looks down at the burger on his lap.

"When we graduate, we're going down to the courthouse to get a partnership license. We're thinking of moving somewhere around here, somewhere close."

"Huh," I said after a moment. "Wasn't expecting that."

Leon laughed.

"Sor, we've been together for two years. I love the man…. Not to mention the great sex."

I really had though it was safe to eat, I really did, but as soon as he said that potato went flying.

He quickly patted my back and asked if I was okay. I was going to tell him off, but my phone vibrated. I fished it out, cringing. It was probably Mom.

But no, it was a text from an unknown number. My eyebrows scrunched as I hit the READ NOW option.

This is Riku. Can u talk?

My face flared and I hid my phone in my lap. Leon poked my face and asked why I was blushing, but I just shook my head. He tried a few more times in vain until I squeaked out that I wanted to go home.

He sighed dramatically, but complied and drove home. He left the empty food bag in the car and I ran straight towards my room, phone clutched tightly in my fist.

I ran past Dad on the way upstairs, but ignored his greeting.

I slammed the door behind me when I got to my room and fell onto my bed. I quickly pulled up my inbox and retrieved his message. I saved the number in my phone book and saved it as Silver.

I replied to the message and waited.

Hey riku, wats up

A moment passed.

Not much, just wondering about the festival coming up.

I blinked and cursed. I had completely forgotten that the Gummi festival was in two days.

Wat r u wondering bout

If you wanted to show me around then?

My heart stutters then slams into my ribcage.

Sure I don't mind

Cool ;)

As cliché as it felt, I hugged the phone to my chest and giggled, kicking my feet out and smiling widely.

Meet me at Sonny's round 3. we'll go then.

Sounds good see you then

I bit my lip and closed my phone as someone knocked on my door, but I just rolled over and buried my face into my pillow, thinking about the festival.

….

At two-thirty, I sat on a bus bench, waiting for Riku's shift to be over. For most of yesterday, as Mom had put it, I had been 'floating' around with a dazed smile on my face. Leon had made a crack about flower petals and clouds swirling around my feet.

I shook my head and stuffed my hands deeper into my pockets. I felt slightly guilty. Kairi had called and asked if I wanted to go to the festival with her. But when I said I had a date she quickly made a flimsy excuse about her dog. I doubted that there would ever be easy footing with us now.

A hand on my shoulder made me jump and I tilted my head to see who it was.

"The boss let me off early, let's go."

I blinked like an idiot for a moment before jumping up and heading in the direction of the flashing lights.

"Thanks for doing this," Riku said after a minute of silence.

"N-not a problem," I replied, rubbing the back of my head.

Riku chuckled and brought his shoulders up in a shrug.

"It's nice, none-the-less."

His shrug had brought my attention to his appearance. A loose fitting white t-shirt and slightly snug jeans covered his tall, lithe frame. He had even tied back his long hair.

I looked away quickly as heat crawled around my face.

We reached the festival and made quick work of visiting all the important (food) stands and played a few games. I was surprised that we hadn't run into any of my friends.

"Wow, there are a lot of people here. I've never seen town so crowded," Riku said, suddenly right behind me.

I turned to answer and nearly fainted when my lips almost brushed his, he was that close to me.

"Um, yeah," I replied, trying to sound nonchalant; but on the inside, my heart had completely stopped and my stomach was doing summersaults. "Gets like this every year."

I turned away quickly and motioned for him to follow. We moved through the dense crowd and stopped at the outskirts. I sighed and looked down the main road.

Riku was looking back the way we cam when I grabbed his arm.

"Hey, how about I show you my favorite spot on the island, 'kay?"

I didn't wait for an answer, but just dragged him away. Of course I wouldn't see my friends in the thick crowd, they were always just outside the hubbub.

I lead Riku through the maze of trails that opened up to the beach. But I didn't stop there. I took him up the stairs to the lifeguard tower and walked across the bridge to the small plateau just beside the beach.

I took a deep breath and sat on the curved palm tree that leaned over the water.

I heard a chuckle and turned to see Riku look at the trees.

"Why can't you get up here from the beach?"

I smiled then and gave a small laugh.

"Probably because too many people were hurting themselves to get a paopu fruit."

"A what?" Riku asked, sitting beside me.

I smiled and shook my head.

"As the island legend goes, there was an old couple that lived on the beach," I started, pointing back towards the sand. "They loved each other very much, but the wife suddenly died and left her husband with nothing. Well, one day, the old man woke up and found a note on his wife's pillow."

"And what did this note say?" Riku asked slyly.

"It said that if he planted the seeds his wife had been saving, her love would come back to him."

"And did it?"

"I'm getting there," I said before clearing my throat. "Anyway, the man planted the seeds like the note said, but his wife never came back. But, as the trees grew, young couples would come and eat the star shaped fruit together… and that's when he realized what the note meant."

Riku's eyebrows formed a line as he looked at me.

"The note never said his wife would come back, but for every couple that ate the fruit, he saw the same devotion and unconditional love he had shared with his wife. So her love really did come back to him."

Riku tilted his head and look out at the greenish-blue waves.

"That's a sweet story."

"Yeah, and as the story goes, if you share a paopu with the person you love, you'll be together forever."

"Forever?"

I nodded.

"Forever."

Riku suddenly looked up at the treetops.

"That girl you were with the other day. Is she your girlfriend?"

I groan and shake my head.

"Why does every think that?"

"You just seemed close," Riku said in a thoughtful tone.

I looked over at him and he shrugged. I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

…..

Riku dropped me off at home a few hours later.

"This was fun," he said with a smile. "And thank you for the story. It was… interesting."

"You're welcome," I replied.

We stood there for a moment in awkward silence.

"Would it be alright if we did something tomorrow?" Riku asked quietly.

"Sure," I said in a soft voice. "I'd like that."

I looked up to see him nod, and suddenly, I was enveloped in long arms. I blinked a few times before wrapping my arms around him as well.

When we pulled back I waved and headed inside.

When the door closed behind me, I slumped against it and giggled. Mom choose that moment to walk past. She paused and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you have a good time?"

…..

A/N: Chapter two! Yes! It's finally done! Hope you all liked!