Sweey: I didn't make you guys wait long! haha This IS the sequel to Clashing Colors! So this would be BOOK THREE: The Southern Gate (originally planned as the Shadow Realm... but... I have my reasons for not calling it so) I hope everything made sense in this chapter. A lot of you said that the last chapter of Clashing Colors was difficult to follow, so I'll be rewriting that one. (Actually I'm rewriting ALL my stories in order to publish them! So The Past of the Masked Knight, it's sequel, The Master and His Shadow... if I ever get THAT one done...and all three of these stories and those that follow them in the series which WILL be called Wanderlust will be edited... I haven't decided about the Lightning Knight yet as far as literally sticking to that storyline. I think I'll actually WRITE the story of Jebediah. If you'd like to contribute to me with ideas of the changes as far as Nightmare's new name, Meta Knight's replacement, and the other Kirby elements of the story, please feel free to talk to me. :) ...but if you so much as THINK of stealing all my hard work... you've got another thing commin' for ya! I've already got an editor looking at this stuff, so... HA! ) Alright, one more thing before I ditch to go work on the next chap and let you all read! We've discarded the Kirby element of this story entirely. This will just make it SO much more simple to prep for publishing if I don't have to graze all the kirby stuff out. So the last you'll hear of MK, Fumu, and Bun, will be one of my OC's saying, "Hey, MK took the kids back on the Halberd to wait out at their home. It seems something is going wrong there." And Butterfly Kisses, if you wanna write a Fanfic about why they ditched Stranger and the gang at such a crucial moment, then feel free to! In fact, I'd appreciate it! XD As you can already see, I am keeping it is a Kirby Fanfic (hate me if you dare) because the series began as such and I really don't feel like transferring it ALL to because well... my computer blocked it and I don't feel like... well.. I'm lazy! I also don't wanna send my readers on a wild goose chase either... Alright, with that said, GO READ! haha

Chapter One:ABroken Heart of Stone

The sunlight kissed my face when I awoke. My eyelids slid open quickly, unflustered by the light of the red dawn. I knew not how long I had slumbered but I knew it was no short a time.

Slowly, I eased myself upright, trying to remember what had happened before all this. In grief I recalled all that I had done. Guild washed over me as the terrible memories struck me, causing my body to tremble. My own arrow had pierced the mercenary, Aygul, who I later found out was my love, Hena, in disguise. Then, the man who had turned me into a puppet, I killed him by my own hand and with his dying words, he told me that he was the same as me. His heart, like mine, was made of stone, the black jewel known as jade. He was as heartless as I had been but just as opposing to that unintended nature as I was. He was fighting it and he would have been able to help me if I would have only obeyed my lord. As the memory of his death echoed through my skull, I came to a realization.

That memory was veiled in green.

Could it be that someone else was influencing my actions at that time?

No, that couldn't be... I had no contact with the Hummingbird Blade, it had pierced my love, Hena. There was no poison present... But would that stop someone more powerful than Shadox Veroxin?

The sound of leaves rustling outside my tent pulled me out of my rapid thoughts. I hadn't noticed, but my breathing had grown rapid and my head was feeling light. I felt my aching muscles stiffen in preperation for whatever was coming, be it demon or death, as I lay there.

"Mountain crumbs, you're awake!" Rioku's laughter startled me as the shinobi appeared before me, swirling the shadows about him as he waved his missing hand in greeting.

I was distraught with shock, though I managed to compose myself, "You speak as though I have been asleep for days."

Rioku sat himself beside the futon he had fashioned for me, a sort of pallet of bedding that was custom in his country. His delighted grin vanished, replaced with a concerened frown, "But Stranger-san, you have."

"Nonsense, there's no way I could have slept that long," I snorted as I sat myself upright.

The shinobi's eye gave me a weary look, "Well then, might you explain how you became such a beast over night?"

My brow rose, "What are you talking about, Rioku?"

"Take a good, long look in the mirror Sleeping Beauty," Rioku snickered, dropping a pocket mirror on my lap. As small as it was it was worth a fortune in his country and when he saw the Mirror Castle that our lord lived in, he realized how poor his heart really was. Back then, Rioku had been a thief, a near legendary thief in fact, but that was a story for another time.

Scowling at my shinobi friend, I fingered for the mirror and lifted it to my gaze. I glared at myself intensely as I studied the thickness of my beard. What had been mere stubble on my face had grown to a small forest. Alright, so it wasn't that bad but it was far too long for me to be comfortable with. If anything determined the age and ability of a man, it was his grit, wit, and facial hair.

Rioku chuckled, "Looks like someone's gonna need a fresh start! I'm sure that Anduin-san has some kind of shaving spell you can use."

I rolled my eyes before returning my gaze to the mirror, "Rioku, how long have I been gone?"

"Eh, a little under six days," Rioku muttered softly.

I nearly lept out of the blankets, "Six days?"

Rioku pushed me back down, firmly and gently, "Hey relax! It's not as bad as it looks like!"

"And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?" I eyed my shinobi friend carefully as he set back down beside me where I lay.

"Well, you see, Anonymous stole Hena's shadow after you left and killed..." He gave me a fleeting glance and continued, "After her body vanished you pulled an arrow out of your own quiver and struck your heart of stone."

I sat up again, "What? I would never do-!"

"-That's what I said to our lord," Rioku cut my words off, "He agreed that it was definitely odd that you struck yourself, despite the fact that the wound would not be fatal to you. Your spiritual and emotional pain was evident even while you were unconcious. So our lord put you under a spell while he took out the arrow and inspected it. It should have not caused such a drastic calamity to your heart, especially with the tips of you arrows being made of emerald as your heart is."

I drew my gaze to one side, "Did he find any answers?"

Rioku nodded and hesitated before continueing, "He- he found something to be terribly off about it all and dreadful. As I told you, the two emeralds should have not reacted the way they had."

My brows rose, "And how did they react?"

"When he unveiled the place of impact, our lord found that the two stones had melted together. Stranger, if it is as I saw it, it would seem that the Emerald of Enmity, the stone that is your heart, is trying to..." the shinobi's voice trailed off. It was obvious that whatever he was about to say was causing pain in his own heart.

I laid a hand on his, "Rioku-san, you can tell me."

He looked at me and nodded. I was reminded of how young he really was.

"Stranger-san, it would seem that the Emerald of Enmity," he paused, clenching his fists to fight the urge to burst into tears, "Is trying to kill you."

I felt the color in my face flee as the news struck me. It made perfect sense. The Emerald of Enmity, like it's name, was a stone created by the hatred of a thousand demons and it had replaced my heart, turning my blood the shimmering color of life, but ironically a color that was common in liquid poison. It was both beautiful and ugly, both captivating and thieving, both good and evil. It is why I am this way, it is the reason my thoughts battle each other as they pound through my head. My heart had been stolen and where it was I did not know and I often dreamed that someday I would find it. Now that dream was to become a necessity for survival. If I was to save Hena, I would also have to save myself.

I cast away my many thoughts and brought my gaze upon Rioku. Tears were escaping his eye and his body was shaking as he held them back, bottled up inside. I knew how hard it had to be for him. He and I were the closest of friends, brothers by heart. I had found him when he had been abandoned by those he had tried to pretend were his friends, but it was not so. The two of us had gone through so many trials together and I was all the family that he had. He had been a fugative and I had taken him in and brought him to the shinobi who had allied and become a part of the Wanderers' Order. He had learned plenty and soon his superiority in his art was made known. It was just a matter of time that he became a high ranking shinobi. He became Shenkeye Rioku, captain of the elite ninja who made up the legendary team known as the Fifty.

"Rioku," as I spoke his name his body jerked as the urge to cry became greater. "Rioku, I'm not going to die. I refuse to. I will find a way to evade this attack, just like all the others that the Organization has thrown at me." I gave him a half-hearted smile, "Now, where's Lord Anduin, I need to shave!"

Rioku nodded, wiping away the tears with his hands and smiled, "I'll go get him for you."

I grabbed his wrist, "No wait. First I must ask you, who of our friends know of my condition?"

"No one but our lord and myself," Rioku told me and truth was in his eyes.

I nodded, "Let us keep it that way."

The shinobi nodded, "Understood sir." He took a moment and washed his face at the small bucket in the corner that was used as a water basin. He wiped his face dry with a towel and turned back at me and smiled his usual smile.

I smiled back at him, but inside I was sobbing.

...

Sweey:There you have it! The first chapter of this epic story! :D If you have any questions, please ask me in a review and I'll either answer them immediately or later in the story. :) And don't think I've run out of ideas... heh... no, you're in for one EPIC ride. I have a feeling that your imagination hasn't encountered anything quite like what's going to occur in this story... and trust me, I had to scrape ideas out of my skull to find them. So prepare to have your mind blown away and your imagination filled with the most amazing experiences!