Author's note: Glad to see people found the story! (: Thanks for reviews from Kate7950, BookGal26, Naivette, Luthien Eriol, Supa Supa Bad Truly Mad Moves, watev, and Redeeming Endeavor. And thanks to watev for pointing out that the story was previously labeled as being Spanish; I hadn't noticed that!

SSBTMM, I'm sorry I lost track of your story. :/ I had a hectic summer and could only focus on my writing for the most part, not other fics. If I ever have a lot of time on my hands, perhaps I'll catch up on it.

Back to my story, this chapter was LOADS of fun to write. I think later on, you Disney fans will see why. :3 So I won't keep you from it. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Two: Princess

The bed was as soft as a cloud—or rather, what people imagined a cloud to be, since clouds weren't really solid. Regardless, my bed felt like heaven to me, as it did every morning as I was just starting to wake up. I just wanted to stay here and feel weightless, safe. At peace. But if I was actually waking up on my own, then I at least needed to check on the time to see how much longer I could rest before class. I couldn't doze off again in Mr. Bottomsworth's class or else I would have been in serious trouble.

I sighed and rolled over to the side, peeking open my eyes and looking at the clock beside my bed. 8:39. It's only 8:39.

I closed my eyes again to sleep.

But after a few seconds, my eyes opened wide and I bolted up in bed. "Eight thirty-nine. I'm forty minutes late for class!" Mr. Bottomsworth was going to kill me! I looked at the clock one more time to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, and unfortunately, I wasn't. Crap! I squealed and pushed myself out of bed. But the movement was too quick; I immediately got lightheaded and fell down to my knees. Get up. Get up!

I lifted a hand to my head and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing as I waited for the vision to come back. I didn't have time for this! I had to get to class!

"Steph? What's wrong?"

I opened my eyes, and eventually, the black faded away and I saw the person kneeling right in front of me and staring at me in concern. Riku.

"What's wrong is that you didn't wake me for class, Riku! Do you know how bad this is?"

"Hold on, I'll explain…"

"Mr. Bottomsworth was already ticked at me yesterday; he's gonna kill me for being late today-"

"…First tell me why you're holding your head."

"—He hates it when I'm one minute late, Riku! And today I'm going to be almost an hour late!"

"…Did you hit your head or something? Is that why you're holding it-?"

"Would you just shut up about my head already!" I exclaimed in frustration. "I only got lightheaded because I jumped out of bed, and now I'm panicking because of class, which is a bigger deal than anything!"

"You should have your alarm set for class," he piped, though his expression now showed amusement instead of concern. I only got lightheaded from jumping out of bed? He thought this was a joke!

"Shut up, Riku! Let's go, we've gotta get to class!" I started to get up, but Riku set his hands on my shoulders and kept me down. "What? Why aren't you letting me go?"

"Because, you're kinda cute when you're panicking," Riku said with a slight smirk.

"Riku!"

"And because Mr. Bottomsworth called and said that he was feeling sick. Class is cancelled."

That finally got me to shut up. I looked at him blankly as he kept his hands on my shoulders and stared at me in amusement. "You're kidding."

"Nope."

He's not kidding…I…I'm not in trouble with Mr. Bottomsworth… I sighed and lowered my head, closing my eyes. "You couldn't' have told me that two minutes ago?" I mumbled, slightly irked. I nearly had a heart attack!

"Well like I said, you're kinda cute when you're panicking."

"Jerk," I murmured halfheartedly. What he did was funny, and I'd surely laugh about it later, but it was too early for him to joke around like that. Not cool, dude…

Riku laughed softly and lifted a hand to tuck back my messy, dirty brown hair. The movement was so gentle, his fingertips running over the smooth skin of my face as he tucked the hair behind my ear. It was risky for us to ever be affectionate, but how could I be mad at him when he was so sweet, so…cute? It was a side of him that apparently hadn't existed before he met me.

I opened my light blue eyes and looked at him, seeing his aqua eyes lock onto mine as soon as they could. And just because of the look in those gorgeous eyes, I couldn't help but smile softly. Riku…I really cared for him. We met months ago and started as friends, but I knew we liked each other very early on. And those feelings had only grown since the day we met in Twilight Town.

"So…what does this mean for the rest of the day?" I asked as I looked to him.

"Well, the afternoon's free too. Your mom's having a meeting with your tutors and teachers to see how you're doing."

"No pressure on me or anything…" I mumbled sarcastically. If any teacher said I was doing badly, I'd probably be in trouble. At least, that was what I figured.

"You're right, no pressure," Riku said in seriousness. "She'll be on your side any day, even if a teacher says your doing bad. She'll blame the teacher."

"Hope you're right."

"I am right. But anyway, we have the day off. What do you wanna do?"

"I can guess what you wanna do," I said, giving him a knowing look. He brought something up almost every time we were alone, and while it was surprising at first, now I was used to it. We didn't have much time alone, and whenever we did, he just wanted to cuddle. Big, strong, stoic Riku wanted to cuddle! The first time he asked, I thought it was a joke. But then, he explained that he had never been as close to somebody like he was with me, and he wanted to hold me even if he appeared to be sissy.

That was unbelievably cute in my eyes. Riku may have been inexperienced with romance, but he was sincere enough to follow his heart.

"Aw, c'mon, don't act like you don't want to too…"

"Riku, I want to do something," I whined. "Something that I actually get to choose to do."

"Like cuddling?"

I lifted a hand and lightly whacked his arm, though it was an affectionate hit. "Shut it, you."

"Sorry. What do YOU want to do?"

A smirk appeared on my lips. "I wanna go take a walk around Cadia."

"…"

The silence wasn't encouraging at all, especially sicne I was serious. I hadn't actually been in the town right outside the kingdom before; I had been too busy training to be a princess. That was torture. "C'mon, Riku! I'm sick of seeing pictures of the kingdom in textbooks. I wanna go see it for myself…I wanna see the kingdom that I'm supposed to rule one day."

"…You know you shouldn't be out without a few escorts. Your presence could stir up a lot, whether that's good or bad."

"Nobody will know who I am, and you'll be there with me. Come on, Riku. Please…?" I batted my blue eyes at him, begging him to say yes. There was a change in his eyes then, softness appearing at my pleading. He would give in.

"…Fine. Let's go."

"That's a good Riku," I said, smiling as I leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"'A good Riku'?" What am I, a dog?"

"Well, you stick to my side like one," I smirked.

"Woof woof," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as I started laughing. He wasn't goofy too often, but I loved it when he was. Because even if he didn't smile twenty-four seven, his goofiness was a way of me seeing that he was happy. And that was all that I really wanted for him.

"C'mon, Rover, let's go get ready and head out. It's gonna be a fun day."

*…*…*…*…*…*

"Wow," I whispered in awe. This was…incredible. I looked around the calm, town-like area outside the castle. It was a cross between a town and a city, the area having tall buildings and being crowded, but having a gentle, non-rushed aura in the air. I liked it a lot, and we had just arrived here.

I stepped forward and immediately felt a hand grab my arm and tug me back.

"No leaving my side, remember?" Riku said lowly in my ear.

"Aye aye, chief," I said, rolling my eyes. It's not like anybody was going to recognize us. It was raining out, so we had the hoods of our sweatshirts covering our heads. And in our jeans and sneakers, we looked just like everyone else who was walking around. We fit right in.

"I'm serious, Steph. If people realize there's a princess here, there's no telling how they react."

"At least I'm smart enough not to say that sentence aloud," I hissed.

Riku gave me a look, still gripping my arm. "What's making you so grumpy?"

You are, I thought, faintly shaking my head. "Nothing," I lied. You're just being way too protective. In case you don't remember, I lived seventeen and a half years without a body guard. I survived just then, and I'll survive just fine now.

"Right," Riku said in disbelief. "Well, we'd better get moving, or we'll stand out."

"You're the one holding me in place."

Riku gave me yet another look, the same one as before. And it was asking the same question. What's up with you?

I sighed, shaking my head again as I looked to the ground. "Look," I said softly. "I just wanna be normal again for one day, but I can't do that when you're being so protective. "

At last, Riku seemed to understand what I was saying and accept it. "Okay, sorry. So for today, I'll be your overprotective boyfriend instead of your overprotective bodyguard, okay?"

Riku's words finally drew a smile out of me as I wrapped an arm around his lower back. "You already are my overprotective boyfriend; just lose the bodyguard thing. There's no danger here."

"You know I'll disagree with the last part, but okay. I'll tone it down."

"Thanks."

"Mm."

"Okay, now that I know you're going to behave…" I said with a smirk, excitement coming through in my voice. "Let's go check everything out!"

Riku laughed at my excitement, but I didn't care. I smiled like a child and moved my hand to hold onto his as I dragged him down the street. There was so much to see, so much to do! I gripped his hand and dragged him along the streets with me, ignoring the light rain that was falling from the sky. No rain could damper my spirits today, nor could Riku's over-protective nature.

There were people on the sidewalks and streets, all of them laughing and smiling and enjoying the town even if the weather wasn't the best. Everyone was so…happy. I hadn't imagined a place like this could exist, where everyone was so joyful.

"Don't look so excited, Steph," Riku mumbled to me as we passed a shop. I looked over at him and smiled sheepishly at his sarcasm. I was so clearly excited that I must have stood out amongst everyone else here, but how could I help it? This was just so incredible! My home…I never imagined it would be such a utopia.

"How can you not be excited, Riku? This place is amazing!"

Riku only chuckled.

"You know what? Fine. I'll be excited enough for the both of us."

"Did I say I wasn't excited?" Riku asked with an arched brow.

"No, but actions speak louder than words sometimes."

"You mean all the time," he corrected.

"Whatever."

Riku smiled, shaking his head as he squeezed my hand. "I'm excited, really. And…It makes me happy, to see you so happy again. I don't think I've ever seen you so joyful."

I smiled weakly, but a bit sadly at the same time. "Well, I haven't had much reason to be happy since we met," I stated softly. When Riku met me, my life started going downhill. The Darkness attacked my world and even though Riku was able to take me to safety, he eventually had to leave me alone. That was when I got kidnapped. And through that, I found out my true identity. And while I was glad for that, this was still a hard path to walk now. But…I was doing my best.

"I'm going to give you a lot more reasons to smile, I hope," Riku said softly, bringing me back to the current moment.

"You already have," I assured him quietly, smiling over at him and squeezing the hand I held. I owed him for more than him saving my life; he also gave me the courage to face the new day. If he could do it, even after all that he had been through and seen, then I could do it too. I was sure of it. "…But if you buy me a thingamabob today, that would be pretty sweet too," I said, grinning as I stopped at one of the stands on the sidewalk. There were so many things they were selling, but I had no idea what they were.

"Thingamabob?" Riku repeated as he stopped next to me, making fun of my word choice.

"Aw, c'mon Riku. Look at this stuff! There are who's-its and what's-its galore!"

"Looks more like gadgets and gizmos a plenty to me," Riku said with a smirk. "Don't you have enough treasures in your trove?"

"'Trove'?" I repeated. "You can make fun of my word choice, but then you say silly stuff like that and expect me not to say anything?"

"Alright, alright. You win this round," Riku said in submission, though his smirk remained.

"Victory is mine!"

"C'mon, weirdo, let's keep going. You've already got twenty thingamabobs."

"Fine," I sighed.

We started walking again, and I let my eyes wander all across the area. There were so many things to see here! A few months ago, I had never been on another world. Twilight Town was the only home that I remembered, and that world was honestly pretty boring. This one was anything but that. There were people everywhere, smiling and laughing. And the stores all over the streets!

I hummed in awe and suddenly stopped at one of the stands, forcing Riku to stop as well. What cute stuffed animals!

"Never knew you were one for stuffed animals," Riku murmured.

"Some things you never outgrow," I confessed sheepishly, eyeing the tiger doll. Reaching forward gently, I pulled at the tag on its ear and read its name. "'Rajah'?" I said with an arched brow. What kind of a name was that?

"Well, this one is weirder still," Riku said, looking at the small red dragon doll. "'Mushu'?"

Such a weird name, I thought, laughing softly. Rajah and Mushu at the same shop? They're a dragon and a tiger; they're worlds apart! But this was a street shop, so they could sell whatever they wanted to. I wasn't here to buy anything anyway; it wasn't like I had any money on me.

Riku must have been thinking the same thing, because he grasped my hand more tightly and started leading me down the path again. But things didn't quite going according to plan. "Oh!"

I stepped out of my shoe and held out my hands to catch myself since I was falling, but Riku was suddenly right in front of me to catch me. That's embarrassing…I thought, blushing as I looked up at him. Why was I so uncoordinated?

"Klutz," Riku smirked, letting me go as soon as he saw that I was balanced.

"You're the one who forced me to lose my shoe, Romeo."

"Who needs shoes anyway?"

I raised my hand. I do.

"You better just be glad you don't have to wear a glass slipper or anything," Riku stated. "You'd break it somehow, with your luck."

"Glass slipper?" Where'd you come up with a weird idea like that? Wearing glass shoes would be stupid…

"You're making fun of my word choice again? Ouch."

"You're the one saying crazy things," I reminded him.

"To humor you, and make you stop blushing out of embarrassment."

And, of course, I started blushing at that. Not cool, Riku. I can't help it if I'm not smooth on my feet like you are!

Riku kindly let the topic go, and we kept our eyes out on the other shops that we passed. I was tempted to stop at the book store, but I had no time to read books anyway. And no money; I couldn't forget that. I sadly let the book store fade into the distance as I looked around, staring through a glass window to a sewing shop. Just as we passed by, a girl pricked herself on the spinning wheel's spindle.

I turned my head to look at the other side of the street to avoid seeing any blood, and I had to do a double take. A girl over there had such long blonde hair that girls were jump-roping with it to braid it! "Wow," I whispered.

The leaves blew in the wind past my face, blowing my brunette hair as I turned my head to follow the movement with my eyes. However, I was distracted when I saw something hopping down the path. A little frog.

"What's this?" I asked, laughing. A frog, in the middle of the city? He was just staring at me, too, almost as if he expected me to pick him up and kiss him. Sorry, but you're no Prince Charming.

Riku and I walked away from the frog, and it was then that I noticed it was only drizzling rain. I took off the hood on my sweatshirt and looked over at my boyfriend, who was looking elsewhere.

"I'm gonna go buy an apple, okay? Be right back." He squeezed my hand and started over towards the shop, where there was a pretty long line of people waiting to buy things. And of course, I didn't want to just stand where I was and look like an idiot waiting for him. I looked around the area and saw another path, and that instantly sparked my curiosity. Where did it lead? I glanced at Riku before I started towards it, turning left to walk down the alleyway.

Well, this is boring, I thought, looking at the tan brick walls on either side of me as I walked. There was nothing here…Nothing at all.

I sighed and turned around to head back the way that I came, but I stopped short when I heard a voice.

"Pretty girls like you shouldn't travel down dark alleys like this alone."

I turned my head and saw two boys coming the way that I came—they were just teenagers, but their body language told me that they meant trouble.

"The alley isn't that dark," I said smartly, standing my ground. "It's the middle of the day, in case you didn't notice.

"Sassy." This voice came from my opposite side, and I turned my head to see another boy coming from the opposite side of the alley. If I chose to leave, then both directions would be blocked. Terrific.

"I have the right to walk wherever I want to," I continued, curling my hands into fists as I looked at the boys that kept getting closer to me on both sides. No way was I going to be a coward. I'd never had a boy threaten me before, but I knew how to defend myself whether that came through verbal comments or fighting. I just hoped that I wouldn't have to resort to the latter, since I still hated violence. I always would.

"And we have the right to walk with you wherever we want," the leader-like boy said with a smirk. "Come with us."

"No thanks. I've got places to go, people to see. And some creeps to get away from."

"Funny…I don't remember giving you a choice."

"What's funny is that I don't remember giving you the authority to make decisions for me," I said smoothly.

"Why are you talking like that? Like you're above the rest of us?" the boy asked with an arched brow, him and his friends stopping just a few feet away from me on both sides of me. "That's really not polite, you know."

"I'm not talking like I'm above you!" I spat. I couldn't be…I mean, I was a princess, but I wasn't letting it get to my head, right? That was the last thing that I wanted. I liked me the way that I was and I wanted it to stay that way. But if I was bossy, rude, or arrogant, then I would seriously start hating myself. I never wanted to become that way.

"You are, but I'm willing to let it go if you hang out with us for the day. What's your name?"

I didn't respond.

"Now that's just plain rude," he said, stepping closer to me. This time, I backed up a few steps. But when I felt my back pressed against the wall, I nearly swore under my breath. If I wasn't in a bad enough position before, I was now. "C'mon, at least give me a name, beautiful," he said, stopping right in front of me and lifting a hand to my cheek.

"Buzz off."

"A name is all I want."

"Liar," I spat. He wanted much more than that.

The jerk laughed. "Maybe. I guess a name isn't that important, I guess. As long as you come with us." He reached down and grabbed my arm, and for the first time, I felt nervous. "Come on, let's-"

Somebody entered the alley while we were all distracted, and that person interrupted the creep before he could finish his sentence. The tall figure grabbed the back of his shirt and tore him away from me, the hand leaving my cheek and my arm. The punk hit the wall behind him roughly, but not roughly enough that he fell down to the ground.

The other person moved to stand by my side, and I looked up to see the angered expression on his face. "Riku…"

"Hey! What was that for?" the punk cried, standing by his buddies and glaring at Riku.

"She said to buzz off," Riku growled.

"We were just becoming friends; you're overreacting," the kid said.

Riku ignored him, flexing his jaw and his fists before he looked back to me. "C'mon, we're going back to the castle."

"Castle?" one of the kids blurted.

Riku…I thought in disbelief. He was the one who wanted to keep my identity a secret, but who else lived in the castle except…

"You're the princess!" the creep cried. "Crap, why didn't you say something?"

I saw Riku take a step forward to beat them all up for my sake, but I reached over and grabbed his arm to keep him back. I didn't have to hold him long, considering that the three punks all ran off so that they wouldn't get into trouble. They…were scared. They thought that I would send them to jail or something for harassing me, even if I didn't wear my identity on my sleeve.

What a mess…

Riku glared after the teens, but he didn't dare leave me alone. Instead, he forced me to release my arm as he grabbed mine instead. He started dragging me out of the alley in silence, and I knew what he was thinking. "Riku…wait…"

He kept walking, pulling me out of the alley as we started back the direction that we originally came from that day. He was going to let this ruin everything! Our whole day was ruined because of those punks…I was willing to overlook it, but clearly Riku wasn't. Now he was in "over-protective-body-guard" mode. "Riku."

"Don't bother. I knew coming out here was a bad idea."

"You're wrong!"

"The punk had his hand on your cheek!" he hissed, glaring over at me before he looked ahead again.

"I was about to push him off…"

"And what would have happened then, huh? That would have encouraged his buddies to move in and do the same thing. I know how guys think, Steph. That could have gotten really bad."

"But it didn't, so let's not let it ruin our whole day, okay?"

"No. I'm calling the shots now. And we're going home."

"Riku!"

I continued to protest his actions for the next few minutes, but then I realized that I wasn't going to get through to him. I zipped my lips shut and we both walked in silence the rest of the way to the castle. It was only an hour or two since we left, so we had the rest of the day to consider, but I knew Riku would be sour the whole day.

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked over at the ground. I didn't want to go back; I wanted to make today special. But it wasn't going to happen.

So much for today actually turning out to be a good day.