Dedicated to these beloved reviewers:

Ptoras, Sakura Moon, Sorakun4ever, Steel Heart, hittocerebattosai, Cloudlessly (I hope this chapter makes it up for you), Crazy bout Remmy, Metal Chocobo, Nanneh, atomic-smile, Anjo, XxTypoMasterxX, herzeleidx, katgirlofthenight, Darkspider, weirdette (U kno wat? I actually lupa si Sora punya cookies last chappie!), Black-Dranzer-1119, DahlingKu suika-chan, The O.C. Addict and Chibi-chibi-kun.

Sashiburi da na, it's been a while since last update and it's most likely that you lovely readers have forgotten what this story's about. Well, I apologise for the long, long delay. Unfortunately, time has made my passion for Cloud/Sora fade so getting back to writing this story has been pretty hard for me. In the end though, I pushed myself to finish. After all, I've only two chapters left (now a finale coming up). So here it is and read it carefully please. I wrote this chapter and the previous ones with deliberate precision. I hope you enjoy reading it and if you have the time, please drop a review, telling me what you think.

Disclaimer: This is Halloween from The Nightmare before Christmas belongs to Touchstone Pictures, Now or Never to CHEMISTRY and Vincent Valentine to Squaresoft.

(Interlude)

Sora's foot was unconsciously tapping to the rhythm of Track 7 playing in his ear. His hand crawled into a packet of strawberry Pocky sticks to extract the last of its contents. The stick was then hastily shoved into his mouth and he kept it there, his taste buds taking their time to enjoy the taste of sweet goodness.

"Hey."

Just over the musical tune of tambourines and the vocalist's nasal voice, he could just make out someone calling him. In a few seconds, a hand appeared out of nowhere to pull the headphones off his head.

"Don't pretend that you're unconscious of your surroundings, Sora."

Sora looked up at Riku, who was gazing down at him with raised eyebrows. They were in the kitchen of their apartment room, having just finished their dinner. A pair of chopsticks (Sora's) and a fork and spoon (Riku's) had been carelessly tossed onto the pile of dirty plates in the middle of the table. An empty rice bowl sat next to it, followed by another dish stained with black pepper sauce to indicate the last remains of their meal. Two tall glasses, also stacked, joined the rest of this clutter.

At Sora's end of the table, there was a bright yellow Discman covered in photo stickers with its wires looping across the table, connected to the headphones resting around the brunet's neck. A large textbook was placed just next to the Discman and it was this item that the brunet had been occupied with in all those minutes.

Riku frowned at seeing this before he reached over and picked up the textbook with an air of expectancy. Just as he had guessed, there was a Japanese manga comic underneath, its pages open and shamefully exposed for all to see.

The silver-haired youth turned and gave his roommate a questioning look.

Sora, having finished eating his Pocky stick, grinned sheepishly back at him, "I… couldn't help myself."

Riku sighed and placed Sora's textbook back on the table. "Whatever. Let's go and clean up, okay? You send the pla– hey, are you even listening?" He sent a glare at the brunet who was at the moment reading his illustrated article instead of paying any attention to his instructions.

"Uh? Yeah, yeah, I know," Sora murmured distractedly, his blue eyes travelling across the page of the manga, oblivious to the fact that his reply had caused Riku to fume at his dismissive demeanour. "Just give me a sec – I'm almost done–"

But he didn't get the chance to finish his words because Riku had already reached over and snatched the manga away from his sight.

Sora sent the other an annoyed look. "Riku!"

The silver-haired youth snapped the book shut and waved it from side to side in emphasis. The front cover of Dragonball Z glossed under the golden glow of the kitchen lights.

"I should really tell Tidus off for lending you this," he said with an exasperated sigh.

Sora extended an open hand and gave his roommate a grand pout. "Give it back, Ri! I mean it! Do you know how hard it is to find DBZ manga these days? I was lucky enough to get this from Tidus before Wakka could lay his hands on it! Come on, I'm serious! Ri–! Ehhh! Ri-kuuu!"

Riku had just deposited the manga on top of the refrigerator without another word. He shot the brunet a look that challenged the boy's pout and then proceeded to cross his arms in final decision.

"Okay then, you go and wash the dishes. I'll clean up the table. You can have your manga back after we finish clearing up… and dammit, Sora. Stop giving me that stupid look of yours."

With a surrendered sigh because his efforts were fruitless, the brunet stood up from his chair, unintentionally wiping off the invisible debris that clung onto his pants. Passing Riku and taking care to purposely jostle their shoulders in the process, he went over to the sink, folded up his sleeves and picked up one of the dirty dishes.

"Hey…" came Riku's voice from behind him and Sora looked over his shoulder to see his companion holding up the CD he had taken out of the Discman with two fingers, "…What were you listening to anyway?"

Sora's lips stretched into a sly smile. If there was something about Riku that Sora knew best (other than his obsessive nature of getting good grades and falling into depression whenever those grades dropped), it was the silver-haired youth's odd interest for his music CDs. Sora's own collection was filled with a range of different music genres in a variety of languages. Of course, he had obtained most of them from Tidus, whose compilation surpassed Sora's in size and selection… but that really wasn't the point anyway.

Turning on the tap and rinsing the plate in his hands, he replied to the other in a matter-of-factly tone, "A Korean band called DeliSpice. Just got the CD yesterday. It's not bad really. You can listen to it later if you want."

"Yeah, okay," said Riku, his expression looking a bit brighter after the humble offer and Sora almost smiled at the response because he knew how stressful Riku's life really was and felt glad that he was doing something to lighten the other up a little. After placing the disc back into the bright yellow device, Riku picked up the empty rice bowl and carried it over to the sink. "By the way, weren't you with Kairi yesterday?"

Sora turned off the tap, picked up a sponge and began rubbing the plate with some dishwashing liquid.

"Yep. Guess what she gave me then? A turtle suit that her grandma had sewn up for our campaign. I wasn't a bit surprised that it was finished so soon. I brought it to the meeting just this morning. The problem was that Kairi didn't tell me where it was held so I assumed it had to be in the Leisure centre, you remember, like last week and all. So I rushed there about an hour early because Kairi already warned me about coming late and ended up waiting for no one in particular for nearly two hours. It was only when this group of girls came in and started throwing their stuff at me and shouting about weirdoes wanting to join their private yoga class that I apologised and went all the way back into the office and found Zexion, who then told me that our meeting was actually held in the auditorium all along–"

As the brunet continued his chattering, the plate in his hand became engulfed in a thick coat of bubbles and white foam. However, this did nothing to attract Sora's attention away from telling his tale to Riku, who had already finished clearing up the table and was now wiping it spotless with a spray and a cloth.

"–Of course, Kairi was mad at me because I came late and told me off for not checking my phone for any new messages because she said she definitely sent me a text about it. But anyway, I never could have guessed it or anything but it turned out…" continued Sora, completely oblivious of the fact that both plate and his wrists were smothered with bubbles, "…that I wasn't going to be the one wearing that turtle suit after all!"

This was how Sora's and Riku's daily conversations went. It was basic fact that both boys possessed different schedules and because of this, they rarely came across one other on college grounds. It was only back in their shared apartment that they would then reunite after their busy days. Although Riku only met Sora's friends once or twice in the period of several months since arriving at the college, he knew them almost as well as the brunet. And this was because Sora always talked to him about his life, whether he intended to or not. Riku couldn't blame the brunet for carelessly sharing his social life with him. Besides, it sounded far more interesting than his long, tedious lectures.

"Really?" Riku replied, straightening up after finishing his cleaning and casting his eyes onto Sora, who still hadn't had much of his work done as there was a clutter of dirty plates and dishes still occupying the sink, waiting to be noticed.

"Yeah, really! I was so surprised myself!" exclaimed the brunet with a toothy grin. "Because I got there so late, I thought that Kairi was going to make the announcement and pick me as the mascot for the campaign because... well, you know Kairi, right? She can think up all sorts of punishments if you don't do what she says and all so–"

Seeing that Sora's animated story-telling was doing nothing to complete his work, Riku sighed wearily at this and walked over to the brunet, swiftly taking the foam-smothered plate out of the other's hands and rinsing it under the tap. Sora, taking no note that Riku was resuming the task he had failed to complete, washed the bubbles off his wrists and automatically moved aside in order to pick up a new dish cloth patterned with teddy bears and picnic baskets and begin drying one of the plates. And even throughout all this, he still carried on with his speaking, "–after she told me off and all, she got up and said that the decision about who was going to wear the suit on the big day has been made."

"So who is it then?"

The brunet snickered as he paused in his drying. "Demyx! Would you believe it? You do know Dem, right? He's that guitar-loving, whiny guy who acts like a teenager. You know, the one I told you about who joined our campaign because of Zexion and he's also in the same music school as Roxas is? Yeah, it was Kairi herself who picked him to be our mascot!"

"Kairi?" Riku echoed, washing off his third plate and stacking it on the drying rack next to the sink before picking up another. When he saw Sora nod enthusiastically in response, he then carelessly motioned the brunet to continue his drying. "That doesn't seem fair," he then continued. "Why don't you vote instead?"

Sora shrugged as he rubbed continuously on a spot on the plate he held in his hand: "Kairi said that it was punishment because Demyx dropped one of the turtles she brought to the meeting a week ago in our drinking jug. You couldn't imagine how furious Zexion was when he found this out. He's very protective over Demyx, Zexion is. Dem was close to tears when he heard the announcement so he whined to Zex about it. And then in just two seconds flat, Zexion burst into the auditorium and started shouting at Kairi and they ended up arguing on either sides of the hall. It was like a match on who could shout better over the other and me and everyone else became the spectators."

"Hm. Too bad I wasn't there," Riku said, grinning.

"Yeah, and you could have been the guy who parades around our seats, selling hot dogs and peanuts, you know."

"You wish."

"Well you can get hungry when you watch those two bicker all the time! It's true!" Sora pointed out as he stopped his drying in order to brandish the cloth he held into the air for emphasis. "And this man came in and told us off afterwards, said that we were making too much noise and that we should go back to the zoo or something like that… Anyway, so Kairi soon calmed down and then continued the meeting as if nothing had happened but Zexion stayed behind to watch, much to Kairi's disgust and all–"

Riku rinsed his hands for a last time, having finished his washing-up in such an impossibly short time. Silently, he took the dish cloth from the still speaking Sora – only because the brunet was now absent-mindedly fingering a small hole that was torn in the middle of the cloth – and resumed the workload.

"–But then, needless to say…" continued Sora, unaware that he had failed again in completing his assigned tasks and was now much too engrossed in delivering his story to his roommate. "…In the end, Kairi forced Demyx into the suit anyway and ignored whatever Zexion said to her. And what do you know? It turned out to be a perfect fit! And I'm not trying to be evil or anything but I think that Demyx would make a better-looking turtle than I would have ever been."

"Hm. That so?"

"Yeah," said Sora, grinning at the memory. "And then what happened next was really–"

A haunting music beat suddenly interrupted them, very quiet at first but shortly, its volume grew louder and louder after each passing second. Soon after came the audible words:

"–with us and you will see…in our town of Halloween!"

Two pairs of eyes shifted and became fixed onto a silver mobile phone, one that was identical to Sora's but with the absence of photo stickers and with the addition of key chains, that vibrated on the kitchen counter just behind them.

"–This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!"

Riku tore his gaze away from the phone and settled onto his companion, "You changed my ring-tone again?"

Sora chuckled sheepishly, "Well, you never complain about it. Do you want me to put on something else? How about one of the songs from that CHEMISTRY CD you borrowed from Kairi a few nights ago? What was that song called … Now or Never …or something?"

Riku sighed and ignored the other's babbling, stopping his dish drying to reach over and snatch the silver phone from the counter. The key chains – an intricate-shaped heart and a silver crown –tinkled as they shook and with one click of a button, Riku brought the phone up to his ear, "Hello?"

Just as Sora was about to slink away and collect his textbook (and perhaps stand on tip-toe to reach his manga on top of the fridge as well), his eye caught the shifting expression on Riku's face. It changed from enquiring puzzlement to flushed fury and irritation as the latter listened to the voice on the other end of the line.

Then, without further ado, the silver-haired youth wrenched the phone away from his ear and held it out to Sora.

Sora stared, confused. "Who is it?"

Riku pulled a face and began waving the phone at Sora's direction, motioning for him to take it.

The brunet took the call, "Hello? Sora here."

"Hey," said the voice on the other end.

Sora sighed heavily, having recognised the voice on the other line. Afterwards, his eyebrows then furrowed just a tad bit and casting a glance at Riku, who was drying another plate rather furiously for his perspective, he continued speaking, "Oh, it's only you. Don't tell me you called Riku's phone on purpose?"

"Maybe," groused the other before the voice hardened into a low, deadpanned tone, "I feel like ticking him off for a bit. It's been a while."

Sora groaned, "Le–"

"What's he doing anyway?" came the interruption from the other line before the voice spoke again in a purposely loud volume that caused Sora to pull the device slightly away from his ear. "Don't tell me he's cleaning again? He should get a job as a part-time maid and wear the uniform while he's at it. Who knows? He might look quite nice in it!"

Sora shot a glance at Riku, who was still rubbing (well, strangling seemed like a better word for it) the plate with his dish cloth before trying vaguely to imagine him in a lacy French Maid's outfit, complete with feather duster. Almost instantly, he fought back a blush that was creeping up his cheeks when the image flashed in his mind.

"He's just–" Sora started but again his words were cut off.

"I was right, wasn't I? He is cleaning right now. It's either that or he's locked up in his room with his head buried in his textbooks or slopping all over the place because his grades have dropped again. It's not so hard to guess what that prissy little prima-donna is up to these days–"

CRASH!

Sora whipped his head around and found that the plate that Riku had been strangling– er, drying a second ago had fallen from the latter's grasp and shattered onto the floor in little pieces. The silver-haired youth looked furious at the insults that were directed at him and crouched down to pick up the broken pieces of porcelain, muttering heatedly under his breath with words far too incoherent for Sora to make sense of.

"Look, look," Sora said, fighting to gain authority over the conversation. "Why don't you leave Riku alone for once and call me directly–"

"Mm, no thanks," snorted the person on the other line. "Half of the time you don't even answer, you know that?"

"That's not–" the flustered brunet objected with a small pout on his lips but once again, his words were disrupted.

"Look, I need you to do a little favour for me. Can you drop by before seven? You've got spare keys to my house so you'll be able to let yourself in. I've got to be somewhere by then and my suits need to be sent to the dry cleaners tonight…"

"What?! Wait a second!" Sora protested with a frown that replaced his pout as he watched Riku dump the shattered pieces into the dustbin before he picked up a new plate from the drying rack. "That's not fair–"

"…Some idiot at the office spilt gravy all over my suit," continued the caller as if the other hadn't spoken at all. "You know Dobi's, right? Just round– hmm, course you do. Remember, alright? Before seven. I'll be waiting… oh, and tell Little Miss Silver Locks that princesses need their bedtimes too, you know. Don't study too late or he'll ruin that pretty face of his!"

Then the line went dead.

Behind him, Riku swore, having heard the insult being spoken so loudly out of the phone's speaker, and dropped his second plate, letting it shatter onto the floor with another small crash.

Cloud adjusted his tie for what seemed like the umpteenth time and grimaced when his finger became tangled in one of the knots. As he struggled to untangle his trapped finger, he heard Leon sigh beside him.

"I've already told you to leave that tie of yours alone," said the other man, who was dressed up in a light stripy business shirt with his own tie resting neatly over it in a rather attractive way.

Cloud, wearing attire that was similar to his companion's own, kept silent and continued his fumbling all before Leon reached over and began to loosen his tie for him. A tiny hint of a frown lingered somewhere within the blonde's features as the brunet expertly worked on disentangling his finger from the knot. Simultaneously, Cloud ignored the way the other's fingers were touching his own and pretended to study the creases that tainted his companion's shirt.

Afterwards, the brown-haired man began to readjust the silk article around the flustered blonde's neck, unaware that the latter was cringing slightly at his touch. The scene vaguely reminded Cloud of an occasion when his mother was fixing his tie up for him on the day of his first job interview.

"There," Leon stepped back to regard his work. "Now don't touch it anymore. And don't look so nervous… it's only a meeting. Right, I'm ringing the doorbell now."

Cloud pursed his lips.

Just like Mother, this one.

He let out a sigh to relieve his unease but couldn't help feeling that something about this so-called meeting was wrong. The two men were standing outside Yuffie's house – a rather large white house it was – that had been decorated with pots of flowering plants. The French windows were emitting warm, golden glows and behind those white, willowy curtains, Cloud was able to distinguish the shadowy silhouettes of bodies moving about.

Leon reached over and pressed the small button by the door and the sound of a woman screeching could be heard from inside the house. Both men blinked and tried to take in the fact that the aforementioned scream was actually the doorbell ringing.

The white doors of the house opened and a shaft of golden light washed over the two individuals outside. A man had answered their call – tall, with long dark hair that cascaded down his blood red garments like a black waterfall. His equally red eyes shone out of his white, expressionless face as he regarded them both on the porch. Even after all these years, Cloud couldn't help but shudder at the man's vampire-like appearance.

"Vincent," Leon greeted the other with a nod. "Looking the same as always."

The man called Vincent merely nodded back infinitesimally and answered in a way almost similar to Cloud's quiet, murmuring manner, "And you too."

They entered the warm-lit house, taking in the wonderful smells of prepared food, before making their way down a hallway lined with portraits of Yuffie's ancestors. When they passed through a large room full of trophies, old relics and ancient weaponry, Cloud managed to notice a pair of samurai swords resting on the wall above a glass display case that presented yellowing pieces of parchment scrawled with Japanese characters. Another display case next to this exhibited a collection of Naruto merchandise – from action figures to limited edition Instant Ramen cups.

After telling himself how filthy rich Yuffie's family must be to own a house that resembled much more like a museum than a home, Cloud followed Vincent and Leon through a set of double doors. It was then when the blonde suddenly felt his heart begin to pound with growing apprehension as the three men stepped into the room.

Then his eyes widened with horror at the sight.

There were around twelve or more people in the room, chattering and laughing and gossiping to each other as they mingled about in pairs and in small groups. He could spot Reno at the far corner boasting loudly to a band of three other people while slapping the back of another tall, suited man whose dark sunglasses (Cloud found it odd for this individual to wear shades at night) hid his eyes. A little distance away stood the two girls from the Le Blanc café, Rikku and Paine, who were both in deep conversation with Yuna, whom Cloud recognised as one of the employees from his workplace. Rikku was wearing that ridiculous puffy skirt again and was showing it to Yuna despite a disgusted Paine who scowled with arms crossed over her chest. Moving his eyes away again, he caught sight of Yuffie arguing hotly with one of the office's computer technicians, Cid, as she prodded a bowl of stew accusingly at his chest.

This was definitely not a business meeting that Yuffie had invited him to.

This was a party.

And Cloud – hated parties.

After that one look that perceived all there is to know and confirm that he had been foolishly tricked into coming, Cloud spun around and marched back out of the room, mentally cursing both Leon and Yuffie for this outrageous scam and especially Leon for taking advantage of his sleepy state and persuading him to come the afternoon before.

"Cloud! Wait!"

It was Leon. The blonde wholly ignored him and continued his journey towards the front door, reminding himself that from this point on, he was never going to talk to Leon – or anyone in the office – ever again.

"Please wait!"

A hand caught onto his arm and pulled him back. Just as Cloud was about to jerk his elbow away from the touch, he was then confronted by a pair of soft, green eyes and curling brown hair that was beautifully adorned by a pink, silk ribbon.

"Aerith?" Cloud blinked, surprised in seeing her presence here of all places. He thought she was coming home late from her evening tuition classes as she normally did on weeknights like this. When did she have the time to rush home, pick out a dress and show up at Yuffie's place without telling him about it?

"I know," the brunette replied with a sigh as she flicked away one of the brown strands with a finger. "I didn't expect you to come too. I know you don't like occasions like this so I didn't bother telling you about it. I heard the whole story from Leon…" her words trailed off just as Cloud turned his gaze away from hers to settle onto the front door, which was amazingly standing several more metres before him. If he pulled away from Aerith now, he'd still be able to leave–

"But you're here now," Aerith pointed out as she tugged onto his arm. "So please stay for a while. I don't want you walking home alone. It's going to rain soon by the looks of things…"

Cloud hesitated, his gaze still fixed determinedly on the door.

"Cloud… Cloud, please…?"

Cloud suddenly bristled at the words as if reacting to the way they had been spoken. To him, they just seemed so familiar somehow…

"So is it okay? I really won't be any trouble, I promise, promise, promise! Please?"

His heart suddenly sped up at the memory of syrup-covered waffles, multicoloured sticky notes and that voice … the voice that had asked him permission to sit at his table on that very late morning.

"Please?"

Finally snapping out of his reverie, he then gave a great sigh which expelled all his uncertainties, his irritation and the tension that had been placed upon his shoulders. Aerith, sensing the blonde's defeat, smiled gratefully and lead him back into the large dining room where the party awaited him.

Click.

"Yeah? I'm kind of busy at the moment."

Even when he could hear the sounds of other people chattering on the other end of the line, he didn't care. The fact that his whole face was still flushed red was more important at the moment.

"You!" Sora panted down his mobile phone as he sprinted down the street. He had just left the Dry Cleaners not a few seconds ago, feeling as if he had been infected with a fatal disease and was about to fall dead at any moment.

"Hm? What's the matter, Sora?"

"Damn you, Leon! Damn you and your laundry! Why didn't you tell me about that woman at the Dry Cleaners?"

"Huh, must've slipped my mind."

"Don't give me that! You asked me to take your washing not because I'm your brother – but because you don't want to get groped by that–that woman!"

There was a sigh at the other end before the speaker replied in an apologetic tone, "Hey, I didn't know she'd be on duty tonigh– what? Hang on, hang on. You're going now…?" Leon's voice was fainter now and Sora knew that the other had pulled the phone away and was talking to someone else. Sora patiently waited for the other to finish: "You'll be okay?… Yeah, yeah – take Aerith's umbrella… I'll see you at the office… Sorry… about all this…"

There was a pause before Leon came back on, "Sorry about that. Anyway, I really am too busy to go down there myself."

"Well, she… she…" Sora wanted to argue about this but Leon's reasons seemed far too convincing to deny. He couldn't recall a day in their childhood when Leon purposely landed him in bad situations like this. Because of this, Sora began to feel a little guilty for yelling down the phone at him for no reason.

"What did she do to you then?" asked Leon in a curious tone of wonder at what strange things the counter-woman at the Dry Cleaners would do to his younger sibling.

Sora's face reddened again. "Sh-she … she kinda grabbed and … uh, said … I … I had curves."

He heard Leon snort in laughter on the other line.

"Don't worry about it. Think about what she does to me everytime I go down there with my laundry."

"Yeah… she kind of mentioned you."

"Yeah?"

"She said I reminded her of one of her favourite customers."

"Really? I'm classified as a favourite now? Don't I feel honoured."

Sora finally slowed down in his tracks, stopping near a kerb. It was then when he felt a cold raindrop land on the tip of his nose. He nearly jumped at the sudden contact.

"It's starting to rain here," Sora informed the other as he looked up at the dark cloudy sky. "I'd better get back. Listen, I have to go."

"Okay then, take care. Come over anytime. It's been a while since we last saw each other, you know?"

"Yeah… bye, Leon."

"See you, Sora."

As Sora slipped the phone into his pocket, the skies wholly broke down, letting the rain pelt onto his form. Sora cursed, tugged the hood of his top over his brown hair and ran towards the bus stop just down the road.

The only thing that floated in Cloud's mind at the moment as he sat there at the long table were the words: This is hell.

Sure enough, it did perhaps resemble 'hell'. Everyone was seated down the long table, their plates full of hot food and their glasses filled with juice yet on and on they chattered, ranted, hooted, babbled, roared with laughter. The cacophonous noise was enough to deafen your hearing permanently yet Cloud wondered why on earth everyone seemed to not notice the raucous they were making. Why hadn't the neighbours complained yet? Whatever happened to keeping the noise level down in peaceful neighbourhoods like this? What the hell was he doing here in the first place?!

And why was Vincent the only person who seemed to be happy having his seconds?

Cloud shot a baffled glance at the silent man who sat just opposite him. Sure enough, Vincent was manoeuvring a spoonful of curry rice into his mouth, his red eyes half-closed with quiet enjoyment as he slowly chewed on his food. He seemed unnaturally relaxed for someone who was sitting smack in the middle of a zoo full of jarring animals. Cloud wondered what the man had been smoking to be in such an unperturbed mood like this.

Beside him, Leon had just finished exchanging words with Yuna and was at the moment fishing out his mobile phone from his pocket. Cloud heard Leon answer the phone almost lazily, "Yeah? I'm kind of busy at the moment."

Cloud looked down at his plate – a mixture of meat and rice and a helping of vegetables and tofu cubes. The food looked appetizing but Cloud had no appetite with all this noise around him. It was not as if anyone would notice that he was not eating. In fact, almost everyone at the table hadn't touched their plates. Apart from Vincent.

Leon was just saying, "Hm? What's the matter, So–" when Reno let out a hoot of laughter and slapped his hand onto the long table, sending shock waves down to the other end. Cloud felt his eye beginning to twitch terribly. He did not like his situation at all. He wanted to go.

His eyes landed onto the dark-haired man sitting opposite him and they widened with absolute astonishment. Vincent had already finished his second helping of curry rice and was just in the process of spooning a third onto his plate.

That's it. I'm leaving.

Cloud stood up from his seat, his lips set in a firm line. Strangely, no one seemed to notice his abrupt leave.

"…Hang on. You're going now…?" Cloud felt Leon's attention on him. The brown-haired man still held the mobile phone in his other hand and was looking up at Cloud with concerned grey eyes. On the opposite side of the table, Aerith roused from her discussion with the woman sitting beside her and turned her gaze on him. Her eyes were large and hopeful. Cloud looked away and nodded a response to Leon.

"Oh, Cloud," he thought he heard Aerith's voice from behind him but he chose to ignore her and continued gathering up his jacket from the back of his chair. He was about to head out of the room when he heard Leon's voice over the noise again: "You'll be okay?"

Without looking back, Cloud nodded again.

"Cloud, please take my umbrella," Aerith called to him. "It might rain on the way."

"Yeah, yeah – take Aerith's umbrella…" Leon echoed the woman's words, his mobile phone still dangling by the base of his ear. "I'll see you at the office…"

Cloud took a step forward, recalling the vow that he had made when he first discovered that Leon had tricked him into coming to the so-called 'business meeting' and planned to faithfully accomplish that vow. But on the last minute, he felt Leon's strong fingers encircle his bare wrist in a gentle grip and Cloud, surprised at the tenderness of Leon's touch, couldn't help but look back at the man.

"Sorry… about all this…"

Something about that apology triggered a small crack to surface on Cloud's retained mask of impassivity. For once, he knew that Leon could see his genuine, explicit surprise. It wasn't his fault really. Leon had never apologised to him so sincerely before. So yes it was naturally unexpected.

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Aerith's lips curl up into a satisfied smile. At this, he snapped out of his trance and settled his features back to its original blank state. He nodded to Leon again and finally set off.

Behind him, he heard Leon returning back to his call, his voice lapsing to a nonchalant tone as if the latter hadn't apologised to him earlier on: "Sorry about that. Anyway, I really am too busy to go down there myself…"

Sora glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time before looking up and down the rain-slicked street for any sign of a red bus in the distance. All he could see stretched out before him was a row of red and white lights, their colours blurred by the sleet of light rain. This long line of wet cars waited for each other impatiently as they crawled down the street like tentative snails.

He had been shivering under the bus shelter for nearly seven minutes now and he doubted that his bus was going to get here so soon. Two minutes passed and the queue hadn't so much moved. Another five minutes later, Sora had had enough of waiting because the icy wind was biting his cheeks, his nose was frozen and he couldn't feel his fingers anymore. He stood up from the narrow bench under that bus shelter and set his sight on the road ahead. The route back to the familiar area of Radiant Garden Park should be just up ahead. All he had to do was walk under the rain to get there. It was much better than staying put and freezing to death out here.

Sora pulled the hood of his top over his brown locks and prayed that it was enough to shelter him from the drizzle. Hoisting his bag over one shoulder, he took a deep breath – here goes nothing – and ducked out of the bus shelter and into the rainy street.

The thin, sharp raindrops assaulted his form at once and Sora hunched up his shoulders in an attempt to secure the last of the warmth he had left. He buried his hands deeply into his pockets and tried to think of his nice warm bed, Riku's scowls for Sora interrupting his work and maybe some nice hot chocolate…

He stopped at a kerb at the end of the street where a set of traffic lights stood. Distracted in his thoughts, his eyes fixed themselves onto the glowing red colour of the traffic light, also blurred by the wet and grey surroundings, and almost absent-mindedly, he was humming out a tune all too familiar. Of course, he didn't know the lyrics. He didn't know how to sing or speak Korean but the tune and the music and everything about it was magical. He still couldn't place his finger on the song's significance to him. All that he could relate with it was that it was weird and strangely addicting and it made him think about waffles and earpieces and strawberries and deep, deep blue eyes…

Cloud…

Something was wrong. The rain seemed to have stopped yet he could still see the droplets contrasting against the street's dark colours. Sora blinked a moment and lifted his head up to look at the sky – but found himself staring at the inside of a small pink tent.

This is–

He realised it was not a tent but an umbrella.

Sora whipped around and knocked into the person who was holding the pink umbrella over his head. The abrupt collision startled them both – the umbrella dropped to the pavement and at the same time, Sora's hood fell back from his head, exposing the brown spikes of his hair to the watery surroundings. The two individuals blinked at each other through the curtain of falling raindrops, their hair becoming soaked before their eyes lit up with mutual familiarity.

"Hi," Sora finally said, his mouth strangely dry.

Way to go, Sora. The first thing that comes out of your mouth is an awkward 'Hi'. Yeah, right.

"I… uh, I was just thinking about you–" he then blurted out but stopped when he realised what he had just said. And judging from Cloud's slightly amused expression, it was obvious that he had taken note of the words too. Instantly, Sora cringed and slapped a hand onto his flushed cheek.

"I-I mean…" the brunet fumbled for a better response as he tried his best not to look at Cloud and instead settled his gaze on the pink umbrella lying on its side on the wet pavement. "I was thinking about how you liked strawberries and how I liked strawberries and um… oh gosh, I'm really sorry about crashing into you because I didn't see you there and I'd been so surprised when I noticed the umbrella that I sorta stepped back and … well, you know what happened."

A horrible silence descended upon them and they continued to stand there in the rain, unmoving. Cars swept past, oblivious of their situation. The traffic light changed from a blurry red to green.

By now, Sora was close to fidgeting visibly. His gaze was still fixed on the umbrella, his front teeth digging into his lower lip and his face probably red enough to resemble the brightness of a traffic light.

At the corner of his eye, Cloud was shaking.

Huh?

Sora glanced up sharply to look at Cloud.

Who was shaking with laughter.

The blonde man was looking elsewhere but at him, the knuckles of his fingers pressed onto his smiling lips and his shoulders shaking slightly. The sight was so unnatural that Sora couldn't help but gawk at him.

Seriously, Cloud was laughing.

All their meetings together had given Sora an outline look at what Cloud's personality was like. He could guess that Cloud wasn't much of a person who could laugh at a random joke. To be honest, the blonde was perhaps the only person – apart from Riku, of course – who maintained an almost serious façade. Now here was Cloud laughing at some sort of joke that Sora had failed to see and it was … it was… Sora didn't know what to make of it really. It was weird though, he knew that. Weird… but nice.

"I'm sorry," Cloud finally gasped out, his blue eyes shifting back on him. "It's just that – this would sound quite stupid – I was also thinking about you. Imagine my surprise when you showed up here." Cloud's eyes were sparkling after his silent little laughing fit and he bent down to pick up his umbrella. "Enough with the apologies. I should be the one to apologise. I shouldn't have crept up on you like that."

Sora was so stunned at this that when he opened his mouth, he couldn't get a word out. Instead, he swallowed and feeling another blush climb up his cheeks, scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He was beginning to see the amusing side of the situation. Of course it was funny, how they seemed to bump into each other like this, almost coincidental, almost as if they were pushed together by fate…

If Leon heard about this, he'd probably laugh too.

"Are you heading home?" Sora began, intending to keep their conversation going. He found that he couldn't stop staring at Cloud at this point. There were still traces of laughter in the blonde's face and his eyes… the blueness in them was still sparkling.

"Yes, I am," Cloud said and for a second, he looked uncertain at something and then he took a step forward, as if he was compelling himself to act, and closed the distance between them. Sora's heart leapt and he felt the other's warmth wash over him as the blonde held up the umbrella above their heads.

"Th-Thanks," Sora said as he looked up at Cloud with gratitude and realised how close they stood together on that kerb. Sora then spotted something else about Cloud. The square bandage on his temple was gone and the bruise was no longer there.

Without needing to say anything else, both Cloud and Sora stepped off the curb and crossed the street, walking side by side. Their close proximity caused their shoulders to brush lightly against each other's. Despite knowing this, they made no effort to move away.

"The CD," Cloud murmured with curiosity in his voice, breaking their silence. Surprised that Cloud was the first to speak, Sora glanced at the blonde and saw a very faint shade of pink on Cloud's cheek. "Well, how was it?"

Sora knew exactly what Cloud was referring to.

"It's not as gloomy as Chow Chow," he answered. "Quite nice to listen to and Riku seems to like it as well… but then…"

"But?"

"Well…" Sora began and paused because he couldn't find the words. At the time when he sat down and listened to the songs of that album, he found that it didn't seem to satisfy him. Something – whatever it was – still remained unanswered.

Cloud was watching him all this time and whether he was reading his expression or perhaps waiting for his answer, Sora wasn't sure. But the blonde spoke in his usual quiet voice: "It's… it's not it, right? Not what you're looking for? You're still…" he stopped when he saw Sora's surprised expression and he became bewildered at his own accurateness.

Feeling suddenly embarrassed, they both looked away, lapsing into silence as they kept walking down the rain-slicked street. The downpour was beginning to intensify. Sora, realising that his sleeve was getting wet, had no choice but to move deeper under the umbrella, shift closer to Cloud and his elbow pressed against the blonde's side and then jerked away from the contact. Sora realised he was blushing much more wildly than he first thought.

A few moments later, the brunet suddenly spoke.

"There is … it's like something's missing," he started to explain. "Like… like a puzzle… no, a… a question more like. When I'm just alone and I'm thinking about everything that's happened to me that day, there's this… this… some sort of–"

"Feeling? Some nagging feeling?" Cloud finished for him but voice was strange, sounding as if he was surprised at his own words. "And you don't know… what it is… don't know what it wants with you."

"Yes," Sora stared because he was taken aback at Cloud's words, at the discovery that they shared the same views of Chow Chow. "Like it's asking you something… and-and telling you that… that…"

What? Telling you what?

I… I don't know.

He suddenly stopped in mid-step and Cloud brushed past him, realised what had happened then and stopped as well, turning to see the boy still staring at him but not really seeing him at all. He was lost in his own thoughts.

A few seconds later, Sora snapped out of his trance.

"Can we… go somewhere?" the boy said and Cloud, seeing that whatever thoughts in the boy's mind was distracting him from the fact that he was getting wet in the rain, walked over to him to hold the umbrella above their heads again. The blonde's expression was expectant, ready to hear more.

Their faces were only several inches away.

"I – I think…" Sora started, uncertain of telling him his planned destination. He found it harder to breathe with the warmth surrounding them, with Cloud's warmth pressing in on him.

"Okay," Cloud cut in before the other could say anything else. "Let's go."

Footnotes:

1.) Riku and Sora's scene is another taster of their close relationship and of course, a further insight into Riku's character. Because of Sora's talkative nature, Riku knows quite a bit about Sora's circle of friends, despite not being part of it. Also, if you have been reading carefully, you'd have noticed that Riku's mobile phone is identical to Sora's "but with the absence of photo stickers and with the addition of key chains". This glimpse of the phone is there for a reason because it symbolises the two boys' relationship. In another story of the Romansa series in which this story is part of (that I'm unsure whether to write or not), their phones are the entities which initiate their relationship in the first place. Sora has a habit of changing Riku's ring-tone and again this tendency will appear in another story of the series. So, Chow Chow has allusions to other works of the Romansa series.

Also, now that we know that the mysterious caller is Leon, you'd have also noticed that both Riku and Leon hold a mutual dislike for each other.

2.) Leon and Cloud. Reading over this story again, I'd realised my mistake. I have ruined Leon's character (arrggghh!!!) as he seems more Zack-like than I thought. I realised that Leon shouldn't be all flirty and teasing when with Cloud but I guess it's too late to change that. Again, if you've been following the chapters, you'd have noticed that there seems to be a potential something going on between Cloud and Leon (as is Riku and Sora in Chapter 2). It's kind of obvious from the descriptions I've put in: "Cloud ignored the way the other's fingers were touching his own" and of course, "But on the last minute, he felt Leon's strong fingers encircle his bare wrist in a gentle grip and Cloud, surprised at the tenderness of Leon's touch, couldn't help but look back at the man."

Also, we now know that Leon is Sora's brother so there's a clash of feelings here, don't you think? Why is this? Again, there is a reason: both Sora and Cloud lead very different lives and the people in their separate lives actually have a connection to each other (e.g. Leon is both Sora's brother and Cloud's colleague) but in Chow Chow, notice that their lives do not interfere (and will not interfere at all. I'm not planning for Leon to find out that his brother is after Cloud as well). Here, both Cloud and Sora are in their own world.

I'm sorry for the long footnotes. I would like to point out bits of this story that I'd like the reader to know just to show how much I've put in during the making of this story (and its companion stories of the Romansa series).

A huge thank you to all reviewers of this story, for all chapters. You've been very supportive with me. I love you all. Until next time.