Omg, so many reviews when I came home! *Clears her throat* Here goes (Because I have a thought that reviewers should always be thanked for their comments, no matter how good or bad... or maybe that's just me XD)

For Tera LoveLess Uchiha: You'll find out this chapter who that person was! At least you won't have to wait long to find out =3

For il2swim57I I actually update so frequently because a lot of people enjoy this story for some reason, so I'm trying to make it so they can read more of it sooner. I guess I'm aiming to please (That, and up until now I had a writers block on both Fall Into Your Sunlight and a story I write in my free time.)

To the Poet's Raven: Two bets? Wise choice XD Being a reader, I would probably have thought something irrelevant like a cop or something like that (it's not like we know much about Sora's past - that's changing this chapter!) And you have a good perception of my use of the DUN DUN DUN XD In short version, your review made me laugh quite a bit XD

To Poseidon's-Princess: Ahah, I'm wondering what that reaction was for, exactly XD

To HeartlessRhapsody: I know, right? That song is so awesome that I wanna sing it at a talent show next year XD

To Moe10: Sushi is the best thing ever made by man XD And yes, milkshakes. I put it there before thinking of the sushi, so I didn't really wanna get rid of it, so I just twisted it around a bit to suit my needs (plus green tea rocks).

Thank you all for your amusing and wonderful reviews! I hope this chapter shall fill your hungry and cannibal-like desire for fanfics (kidding), but please do enjoy. =3

Give me suggestions if you want me to add something to the story, or if you want a one-shot/short story about a certain subject. I'm open to anything!

HAH! 3,248 words in the ENTIRE chapter! Hope that's long enough for y'all =3

Paper Moon

Chapter Nine

A Sun and A Moon

Roxas

He seemed so afraid of the woman sitting in that chair, his hand suddenly felt cold to me. Out of instinct I take a step closer to him, standing a little bit in front of him, almost protectively. I see her eyes flicker to me, a deep blue that almost look like Sora's eyes, and something flickers in them. I can't identify the emotion, but I don't like the woman.

"Hello, son." She says with a delicate smile. Sora, wide-eyed, takes a step away from her, as if she's a ghost come back from the dead to haunt him, something right out of his nightmares. He shoots me a quick and helpless look.

"No. You're not - I saw - who are you?" He half-shouts the last part, snapping his head up and glaring at her. She seems to have shaken him to his very core. She slowly rises from her chair, and seems to want to come closer to him. I step even closer to him, my back to him, he halfway hidden behind me.

"Tell him who you are, first." I tell her, a little coldly, but I don't care. She's frightening him. (A.N.: Roxas' changed so much since the first chapter *sniffs* he's growing up XD)

"I am glad you have a friend who is not afraid to protect you. I can tell you two have a delicate yet firm bond that will be able to withstand many beatings." She says, which catches me off guard. "I am guessing this was the wrong approach." She sits back down, slender hands in her lap.

She looks to be about thirty at the most, with a perfect face a model would kill for, blue eyes almost as astonishing as Sora's, and long brown hair up to her back, hanging loosely and without disturbance. I can see she has a gun belt around her waist, with a loaded gun sitting there. Her skin is about the same shade as Sora's.

"My name is Evelyn Hikari, young man." She bows her head to me, and straightens herself again. "May I know who you are?"

I stare at her defiantly, still not moving from my slightly protective stance in front of Sora.

"Roxas Strife, at your service." I tell her, clipping the words.

"I will not harm him." She says, hands up in the air to show her sincerity. "He is my son, and therefore, I have no right - nor does anyone have - to touch him in ways that would hurt him." She raises a perfect eyebrow at me, daring and challenging.

"Nor will I." I answer her unspoken question. "I owe him my life."

Sora

Roxas' words echo in my ears.

I owe him my life.

"Not only that," he continues, while I manage to tear my gaze from her and look at him. He looks powerful and strong, defiant, and protective. "I promised." Is all he adds to that.

I owe him my life.

The words hold little significance usually, but I find myself oddly attaching myself to them. So, to me, they're holding a lot of significance. It's hard for me to think of someone like Roxas is to me, and I've always been scared that he'd go away. But the way he said those words, I can tell that he means to do no such thing.

Probably surprising all to watch, I wrap my arms around his slim waist, smiling, laughing, even. He stiffens for a second, the smallest of seconds, before he relaxes after the shock.

"It's alright, Roxas." I laugh, chin resting on his chest as I look up at him, uncaring towards who stood and watched. "That's my mom."

"Wait, what?" His eyes bulge wide. "But you said-"

"I know." I look to mother, who is still standing where she once sat, but she's smiling approvingly. "I think an explanation will be in order."

"I believe it is." She gestures with her chin to the two of us, and our closeness. "But I believe explanations can await until after we have satisfied our hunger."

Roxas shrugs in defeat and glances at me.

"Food sounds good." I smile up at him, disentangling myself from him and sitting in front of her. Roxas sits down beside me, obviously a little wary of her.

But we both bite our tongues and wait out the explanations.

~~(.w.)~~

"I believe, to lighten the mood before my explanation," she starts, folding her hands in her lap delicately, just how I remember her doing. "I ask that you explain... your arrival here, Roxas. And just what you and my son have done thus far. And let me tell you," she continues as he opens his mouth. "Lying will do you no good."

He closes his mouth, licking his lips a little, as if he's nervous. He's looking at her with an unfazing look, strong - he's changed a little, and the change suits him. Like what he'd act like if his parents hadn't been that way - but I can see a subtle look in his eyes that suggest that my theory about he being nervous right.

"Can I?" I ask him. He looks at me, the slight fear in his eyes obvious. I put my hand on his in reassurance, which seems to help.

He nods, probably not wanting to speak, which may be for the best.

I look to her, my hand still comforting him, my fingers brushing from side to side over his own.

"I met Roxas some few blocks from his house in an alleyway." I start. "I dragged him here, maybe a little bit against his will, I don't know... but he was bruised and scared, and I was worried about him." And I continue on, telling her everything from that point on. Neither I or Roxas look at her once I get to the part about the Library and pause slightly, unsure whether not to tell her about that. But with both our faces red, I stumble through the words as I recount it all.

That was only yesterday. I think to myself. Feels like forever already.

"And... that's it." I finish, not looking at her. I can feel Roxas' irratic heartbeat in his hand.

She starts to laugh.

We both look at her incredulously.

"I'm sorry. You've just grown up so much in the long days I've been away, Sora. You're not the shy little boy I remember you as, but your just as easily flustered." She says through her laughing. We both relax at the same time, letting out a breath. "Don't think I would be angry. As I said, you two have such a bond. I am no one to intefere in that."

"Th-thank you, ma'am." Roxas manages to say, still a little red in the face.

"Call me Evelyn, sweetheart." She smiles. "Now... I will tell you my part. I ask that you do not interrupt the entire way, for it will be difficult for me to say."

And like that, I'm swept into the past again.

~~(o.o)~~

I was fifteen again, sitting at the piano in the Library, fingers brushing over them delicately. My cat sat beside me, meowing to the tune every now and then. I knew the song as Shattered, the one Roxas enjoyed the most, and also the one I enjoy the most.

The Library is eerily calm, save for the sweet and graceful sound of the piano's melody. The doors are opened harshly, which cause me to miss a note and for the song to end abruptly as I see the blazing eye of my father, the other one hidden by anger. The memory of him is blurry, and I am very glad. He always frightened me.

"How many times must I tell you?" He shouts, grabbing my wrist and pulling on it hard, holding it up in the air and making my arm hurt. It makes me stand up.

"Father, please!" I cry. "It hurts!"

"You are a useless excuse for a son!" He continues, not listening to me. Fluff hisses at him, back arched. "You're nothing but a disgrace."

I'd heard that many times from my father before. It didn't hurt me anymore.

"Father, it hurts!" I repeated, louder this time. Tears well up at my eyes, mostly because I know he doesn't care squat.

"I never want to hear you play that intrument again, or you will be walking on the streets in poor boy's clothes!"

"Okay! I promise!" I cry out in a desperate attempt to get him to let go. He holds on just as tightly.

"Let go of my son this instant!" Mother walks in, in a beautiful flowing white dress like what the Egyptians used to wear. Father lets go of my wrist, and I run to her, hiding behind her.

"He is the most pathetic and most useless excuse for the heir to the throne I have ever seen! A poor boy would be better than this ungrateful brat!"

"You are the most pathetic man I have ever seen!" Mother shouts. "And the most stubborn! You expect your son to do as you desire when it is not what he wants! He doesn't want to live your useless dream, he wants his! His talent is thousands of times more special than you believe, and you are one blind fool to think otherwise."

"Enough!" He bellows, and the force of the shout makes the younger me run out of the Library with tears in my eyes, clutching Fluff.

~~(o.o)~~

"Upon leaving the land." I am zapped out of my moment of remeniscing. "A sleek black vehicle pulls up to my left. Now, Ansem knew that I am an ex-FBI agent, and I knew he was planning to murder me, mostly because he thought I was to blame for our son." She murmurs something like that vile man underneath her breath.

Roxas

Sora's quiet, fingers still brushing my hand gently, but he's not speaking, and his eyes are haunted. I look back to Evelyn.

"The men in the car were there to kill me, I knew. I ran, I did, but they did not pursue me. They knew very well that I would not return. So they came back here and said I was dead to your father, just wanting their pay, and he told you that I was randomly shot. I had gathered evidence against him over the years in the form of a file on the crimes he'd been commiting, in the name of the king. I was ready to put him away, but I left that file here, so I had to use this past year to rebuild that file and gather new evidence as well. I have just now finished." She takes a breath, and looks to Sora.

I look at him, but he's looking down at his legs.

"Why don't you help him to bed?" She suggests. "It must be a lot to take in. I will be here in the morning, so both of you get some sleep."

I nod silently, getting to my feet and taking his hand. It feels small, fragile, but maybe that's because he looks so... breakable right now.

He follows me into his bedroom, silently thinking to himself. Just as I'm about to let go of his hand he grips it tighter, making me look at him.

Tears are running down his cheeks. Worried I cup my free right hand over his cheek. The salty water runs over my fingers, but I wipe the ones on his cheek gently with my right hand.

I remain silent as he looks up at me, beautiful blue orbs rimmed red and so sad looking it makes my heart come up my throat.

So breakable... his hand, having let go of his death grip on my own, falls to his side. I bring my free'd hand to his other cheek, and I hold his gaze.

He reaches a little - he's just an inch shorter than me - and gently places his lips on mine. I can taste his salty tears as they flow, my hands loosening their hold on his face, but not letting go. I always restrain myself when I kiss him, I'm scared to... I don't know... taint him, I guess. Taint his light. Whatever you want to call it. I've had nothing but darkness in my life, he doesn't deserve that.

But want and deservation are two different things.

Because clearly his kiss is asking for a little more. Like if he's taking matters into his own hands, his lips move a little on mine, and I do so in response, enjoying it.

And then he decides to break in.

At first I'm not sure just what happened, but I realize it's that he pried my lips open and is now dutifully exploring my mouth. But the feeling is like fierce, subtle sparks wherever we touch; hands, lips, tongues as we wind them in a heated battle. I move my head slightly to have more levrage, making a sound that I can't describe in the back of my throat.

His hands hold my back so softly, but also so close, it's like if we're going to merge. Parting moments for air, but coming back, just to feel those little sparks and the fire we can feel. MY face is ten shades of crimson, but his own face feels hot to the touch too.

And then he pulls back completely, shattering the moment, but it still hangs in the air. His tears continue, but slower this time.

"I hate my father." He says so softly I think I misheard him. I kiss his upper lip a fraction of a second, always mere inches apart.

"Look on the bright side: you have a mother again."

He shakes his head subtly.

"She's not how I remember her."

"You've grown a little. It's normal." He sighs at that, but nods.

"Sorry." He whispers, looking down, but forehead still plastered to mine. "I don't know why I..."

"Don't." I smile. "It's fine. It was nice." He looks at me.

"I'm glad you're here." He tells me, sincerity ringing in his voice. "You're the awesomest friend I've ever had."

I laugh a little, humoring his little joke.

"I think I am entitled to a slightly different title." I grin, making him smile.

"Very well." He sighs in mock annoyance, lips still smiling. "You're the best boyfriend I've ever had."

"Hopefully to be your first kiss and your last goodbye." It makes him laugh.

"That you are." His eyes lower a little. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

"Oh, but before we go to sleep, can I tell you something?" He asks. I raise an inquisitive eyebrow.

He gives me both the shortest of kisses, and the sweetest of them.

"Read my lips." He says, an inch from mine, and then he mouths his words, making me smile.

"Read mine." I mimmick his words. Now he smiles.

And hesitantly we pull apart, but our hands stay linked together.

Maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay.

Unknown

And the last place is the one place no one would dream of.

I am so proud of myself! (that, or I am the worlds biggest nerd) *Ahem* moving on.

I like this chappy =3 It's a little wordy but we learn a lot more about Sora. Roxas we kinda know his whole life, since it's been nothing but pain after pain after pain.

Stay tuned and DON'T FLIP THE CHANNEL! XD