"There you are. Turned half of the city upside down. Should have known you are here, buried under those books again."

Akira looked up from the book in front of her, to see Lea how he was ascending the stairs to the library of the castle.

"Did something happen?" she asked, but he shook his head right away.

"No, but I haven't seen you all day long."

At that Akira couldn't help but smirk at him. "Missed me?"

Lea mirrored that smirk and shrugged with one shoulder.

"Maybe. But I was more worried. You know that it's night by now, right?" he asked and pointed outside.

Akira looked to one of the big windows behind him and by her expression Lea could guess she really hadn't noticed it.

"You can be lucky that the lights go on by themselves," he sighed and leant against the table besides her. "You're looking cute with your glasses, but reading too much can be bad for the eyes, you know?" He poked her forehead, while chiding her in a playful tone.

As Lea expected, Akira's cheek immediately became red and she swatted his hand away.

"Well, thanks for the concern, but I know my limits very well," she said and then forced herself to look back into her book.

Lea just hummed amused. He never got tired of making and seeing Akira so flustered.

"Watch ya reading there?" he asked then, giving the chance of a topic change. Also he had noticed that it was a rather old book she had there.

She glanced up from the book to him, before she turned to next page.

"This black box the Organization is after...I'm trying to find some information about it."

"What for?"

"It's something that Xehanort wants and everything he wants is potentially dangerous. I would like to know what it is and maybe get a clue where to find it. Better it's in our hands than in the Organization's."

That sounded like a good plan. Even when Lea doubted that Akira would find something remotely useful in these books. As it sounded, not even the Organization had a real idea what the deal was with this box.

Besides he noticed the dark rings slowly forming under Akira's eyes and she just had to hold back a yawn. He assumed she was up here all day and wouldn't think of stopping with her research without some mild persuasion.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow. You better go home or your nose will meet those pages sooner or later."

"Are you my mother or what?" Akira asked slightly annoyed and frowned at him.

"If I have to be," Lea answered and crossed his arms. He looked at her with an expecting expression, but she didn't even think of listening to him and just continued reading.

Lea rolled his eyes. It was always the same, so he didn't even tried to convince her anymore and went straight away for the drastic measures.

"Hey, give that back!" Akira yelled at him, when Lea had taken the book away from her and put it on a higher shelf.

The moment she stood up from her chair to get the book back, Lea acted quickly and swept her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style.

"W-What are you doing?" Akira asked with a voice that was an octave higher than usual and a blush that now covered more than just her cheek.

Amused by this, Lea grinned at her.

"Don't complain, you forced my hand here," he said and started walking out of the library with her.

"Oh, as if. Put me down already!" Akira was trashing in Lea's arm, but he had a firm hold on her and wasn't faced by her movements.

"Sorry, can't do that. It's time for you to hit the sack, if you like it or not."

Akira wiggled a little bit more, before she stopped all together and relaxed in his arms.

"Urgh, fine. Whatever."

At her quick defeat, Lea looked surprised at her.

"Giving up already? You really must be tired."

Her only answer was a grumble.

When they stepped outside, Lea looked up into the night sky. It was deep night by now. And Akira's home was outside of the city, which would be a little march.

He looked back down at Akira, to suggest something, when he caught her finally yawning.

"There, told you it's past your bed time," he said with a fond smile.

Akira's only answer was a weak punch to his chest.

"Think it's better when we go to my place. Don't want to walk all the way to yours and my couch is really comfortable," he then proposed his plan.

For a moment Akira stood silent, before she nodded.

Having her okay, Lea then continued his way down from the castle into the city.

They didn't talk during the walk. Lea thought that Akira was sulking and kept quiet, not to upset her any more.

But when he entered the city, Akira suddenly mumbled something.

"What was that?" Lea asked, since he hadn't understood it.

Akira had made herself small in his arms and had crossed her own, looking down.

"I said, I'm sorry. That I'm such a handful," she repeated.

Blinking confused, Lea looked down at her, before he let out a quiet laugh.

"Don't worry about it. Yeah, it might be very annoying and it's really not good for your health to always push yourself like that,-" He could see how she became even smaller. "But in the end you just wanna help. You're dedicated and everyone can count you. That's admirable."

"You really think so?" she asked, looking up at him with uncertainty.

"Yep, 100%" he assured her with a wide grin. "Know why I can be so relaxed when problems come up? Because I know, you'll come up with some smart plan that always safes the day."

While he knew that he was exaggerating it a bit with it, Lea didn't care much about it as long as it was lifting up Akira's mood. And it had success.

She chuckled and smiled thankfully at him.

"That's nice from you to say. Thanks Lea."

"My Pleasure. And besides, I get the chance to carry you around like a princess." he added with a cheeky grin, which caused Akira to groan and let her head fall backwards, so it hung over his arm.

"Man, you are so the worst!"

"And still you like me."

"God knows why."

Akira lifted her head again to look at Lea. They starred at each other, before they couldn't hold back and started laughing at their own silliness.

When they finally arrived at Lea's home, Akira had fallen asleep. Lea just shook his head with a smile and managed it to open the door with not much troubles.

But there was a problem, when he wanted to lay her down on the couch: She had his shirt in a death grip and there was no way to take his cloths of without waking her up. And that he wanted to avoid. So there was only one other option.

"How high is the chance I'll get a slap as morning greeting?" he thought while going upstairs, still having Akira in his arms. He doubted that she would actually be angry at him. Mostly embarrassed, even tho they had slept together before. Just not in his bed.

Lea didn't worry about it long, he was also too tired to care for his safety and just wanted to get some shut-eye.

In his room he carefully sat himself and Akira down on his bed and even managed to get both their shoes off.

But when he took off her glasses, he paused.

It was rare for Lea to see Akira's face so calm and peaceful. Most of the time she was thinking and worrying about something, rarely giving herself the chance just to relax.

Absently he brushed a strand of her out of her face, when he suddenly heard a distorted voice coming from the floor.

"Ohhh, isn't that sweet? I think I'm gonna puke."

With a glare Lea looked to the upper of darkness-being, who came out of Akira's shadow that was cast by the moon.

"What do you want Yuzai?" Lea asked in a snarky tone.

"Hey, no need to be so unfriendly. It's just time to get to work for me," they explained while looking at the nonexistent on their wrist. "You know, keeping the girl up all night and telling her how much of a looser she is."

"You still doing that shit?" he growled at them, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

"You still doing that breathing thing?" Yuzai just retorted with a very smug grin.

Lea sighed in frustration. There was no sense in talking with Yuzai, they were far worse in that regard than Akira.

So, to get his point across, he summoned his Keyblade and held it Yuzai under the nose. They instantly tensed up frightened, not only in prospect of the weapon aimed at them, but also because of Lea's cold glare.

"Well, sorry to tell ya, but tonight you have to take the night off. You won't bother her, unless you wanna learn how a burn feels like."

"Man, calm down. No need to overplay it like that," Yuzai said, holding up their hands defensively. But Lea continued to glare at them. "Alright, alright, I'm outta here. You're such a killjoy, you know?"

But before they vanished, Yuzai's eyes went to Akira, who Lea had put his other arm around protectively. They seemed to be delighted by that sight and smirked.

"Well, at least I will have something to tease her with."

With those words they vanished back into the shadows.

Lea watched the shadow for a few seconds, before he let his keyblade disappear and relaxed again.

He had actually hoped that Yuzai would have stopped to haunt Akira like they used to, after all that had happened. However, as they had indicated, it was in their nature and there was not much he could do about it.

Movement from Akira caught his attention. For a second he worried that she would wake up, but it turned out that she only tried to make it herself more comfortable in his lap. Looking down at her Lea could see that she was smiling in her sleep, causing him to smile, too.

Now that everything was okay, the tiredness overcame Lea again. Yawning a last time, he laid down on his bed, carefully taking Akira with him and let her head lay on his arm. She moved again, to cuddle closer to him.

Still smiling, Lea stroked through her hair a few times, before he closed his eyes and joined her in the dream land.