Kairi paced back and forth near the market place of Radiant Gardens; she was waiting for Riku to come back. The older boy had yet to really explain to her what was going on. She knew that Sora had been kidnapped by the surviving members of Organization XIII. What she didn't know was why, and that was the question she wanted answered, second only to where Sora was being held captive and how they were going to get him back. 'What are we going to do?' she thought. Riku could handle Heartless and Nobodies with no problem, but she barely knew how to use her Keyblade. Kairi heaved a sigh as she looked around. "Come on, Riku…. Where are you…?" She was being impatient, she knew. He had said that it might take him a while to find what he needed to find, but she didn't like being on her own for long periods of time. Call her paranoid, but she had been kidnapped twice before this. It was enough to make any girl paranoid.
"Sorry it took me so long, Kairi."
The red-headed girl jumped and glared at Riku. "Don't do that!" Riku gave her an apologetic look. He hadn't meant to scare her, but he didn't know how to get her attention without startling her a bit. She had seemed so focused on her pacing. "Did you find anything out?" asked Kairi.
Riku shook his head. "I know just as much as I did when I found that Xemnas took Sora."
Kairi sighed, crossing her arms over her body protectively. 'This is starting to look hopeless….'
"Hey… did you just say 'Xemnas?'" a voice asked suddenly as a young woman with long white hair pulled back in a braid seemed to appear out of nowhere. "How do you two know about Xemnas?" she continued, rubbing her chin thoughtfully and starting to mutter. "And why does this 'Sora' kid sound so familiar…?" She paused for a moment, pursing her lips in thought as her eyes wandered. She was leaning on a large, triangular sword, which looked almost like something alive. A thin, jagged indentation down the middle gave the impression that the sword had a mouth that might have opened at any moment. The whole thing seemed to pulsate rhythmically, as though it had a heartbeat of its own. "Oh, I'm Caen, by the way," she added, finally remembering her manners and extending her hand in a sign of friendship. "What're your names?"
Of course, as Riku and Kairi did not know, Caen knew exactly what their names were, and why "that 'Sora' kid" sounded familiar. She knew that they had been talking about Xemnas and how they knew who he was. She knew an awful lot about them, despite the fact that this was their first meeting. They were Sora's best friends, they had grown up together on the Destiny Islands, along with three kids called Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. And then Xemnas's Heartless counterpart, the self-proclaimed Ansem, had caused the whole Kingdom Hearts fiasco. And then Xemnas went and did it all over again. Caen was quite familiar with the story, actually. But they didn't know she knew that.
Riku regarded this new girl with a reserved air. Unlike Sora, he wasn't quick to trust people. This was both a good and bad thing, depending on the situation. He was readily suspicious because she knew Xemnas. Those who knew the Nobody were never good. Not to mention she seemed to come out of nowhere almost like a Nobody would. Then again, he could just be reading too much into this and she was just a normal person that knew of the evil Xemnas had tried to spread. Sora's story seemed to be rather well known around Radiant Gardens after all.
Kairi, unlike Riku, gave Caen a smile. She shook the girl's hand happily, ready to make new friends. It was scary how similar to Sora she was at times. "My name is Kairi, and that's Riku. Don't let his bad mood scare you. We're in a bit of trouble." Caen continued to hold her hand out after the introduction until she realized that Riku wasn't going to take the bait and she just looked stupid. "It's nice to meet the both of you. Well, more so you than Mr. Grumpy-Pants over there," Caen said with a slight laugh, grinning and deciding to address Kairi specifically since she seemed the friendlier of the two. Caen remained calm and cheerful even in the face of Riku's aloofness. She'd expected him to react this way, so she really wasn't all that worried. It'd take a while to get him to trust her, but she could do it. That's why she was here, after all.
Kairi, meanwhile, didn't think too much into Caen's slight knowledge of Xemnas. Obviously she had heard of the whole "Kingdom Hearts" incident. "Sora is our friend, he's a Keyblade Master that saved the worlds twice, but he was captured by Xemnas." The red-head couldn't see any harm in telling this nearly perfect stranger this information. Reasoning that she might be able to help out. Caen snapped her fingers rather loudly at the mention of Sora's name again and the explanation of who he was. "I knew I'd heard that name before. I thought that was the guy who Xemnas kidnapped, but I just couldn't be sure until I'd asked. I really need to start writing this stuff down." She was really flirting with danger here, giving away the fact that she'd already known about Sora's confinement. But that was okay. It was all worked into her plans. She even had an excuse lined up already; hopefully one that would bring her closer to the two Keybearers in front of her.
Riku looked at Caen with a slight glare. He moved to place himself nearly between her and Kairi. "How did you know that he had been kidnapped?" he demanded. He severely doubted that Xemnas would announce that type of thing to the general public. It wasn't how the man worked at all. Kairi shot Riku a glare. He was so down on the general idea of society. He just assumed that everyone was an enemy. The female Keyblade Master was sorely tempted to whack Riku upside the head for being so rude to Caen when she seemed like a perfectly nice person.
Instead, Kairi yanked on Riku's ear, forcing him to bend down so she could hiss in his ear, "Be civil, will you?!"
Riku escaped from Kairi's grip, rubbing his ear. That was painful! He looked at Kairi for a moment, then looked back at Caen. "It's a fair question and one I expect to be answered." Kairi sighed, giving Caen an apologetic look.
For the first time since greeting Riku and Kairi, Caen's smile faded. Her ruby red eyes became shifty, darting here and there before focusing back on Riku. She hesitated quite a while, seeming to wrestle with the answer. She was quite fidgety with thinking, and she seemed a bit relieved when Kairi reprimanded Riku and stalled the answer further. "Well, if the two of you are really Sora's friends, then I guess I can tell you this…," she admitted at a length, her eyes falling to one side again. "The reason I know is because I've been spying on Xemnas; watching his actions every chance I get." Caen smirked inwardly. Once she'd related a story of loss at Xemnas's hands, maybe even Riku would trust her a bit more.
Kairi looked at Caen, obviously surprised. "Spying? Why?" she was slightly concerned for the girl. Spying on Xemnas didn't sound like the safest thing to do.
Riku, however, was all the more suspicious. 'It shouldn't have taken her that long to answer,' he thought as Kairi studied his face. She could more or less tell what he was thinking. She gave a slight growl and shot another glare at the boy. Riku looked at her, taking a slight step back, for his own safety. He was incurring her wrath much too easily today. 'Why is she so upset that I'm being careful?' he asked himself in frustration. This annoyed Riku to no end.
Once again, Caen took her time with the answer, this time an expression of grief finding its way to her features. "Back before Sora first defeated Xemnas… someone very close to me took it upon himself to fight against the forces of darkness," she started, her grip on the handle of her sword growing ever tighter as her brow furrowed. "he was known throughout our world for being an amazing fighter, but it still wasn't enough. He died in battle, because of the chaos that Xemnas kicked up. So I swore revenge on Xemnas." She looked up at the two again, eyes full of faked emotion. Revenge was the most human of motivations. Surely this would inspire a bit more trust in the Keybladers. "And since the two of you are after Xemnas, too, why don't we team up?" she asked. "I'll share all my information on Xemnas with you, and you help me to gather more and eventually strike when we know enough." She extended her hand once more, the potential handshake this time a bond of mutual quests as opposed to a greeting. Maybe this time even Riku would take her hand, but she wasn't betting on it.
Kairi looked at Riku. He had to trust her a bit more now, or at least be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She'd lost someone to Xemnas. Kairi frowned when Riku looked like he hadn't changed his mind. 'Well fine,' she thought, 'if he's going to be that way.' She looked back at Caen and smiled kindly. She took her hand again, saying, "Of course you can come with us; we need all the help we can get. And I'm sorry for your loss, as well." She let go of Caen's hand and glared at Riku, daring him to say no. Riku sighed inwardly.
'Fine,' he thought, 'then I can keep an eye on this person.' He hesitantly took Caen's hand and shook it quickly. He took his hand back almost as if he had been burned by her touch. "Welcome to the group, I guess." Riku didn't seem very thrilled with this union.
Caen perked up a bit, managing a small smile despite Riku's less than friendly reception. At least he'd accepted her into the group, whatever his reasons might be. "Thank you. Both of you." She paused for a moment, her expression shifting to a more business-like one. "Since we're working together, I should probably warn you that Xemnas isn't the only member of the Organization that survived. I haven't been able to figure out how many there are still around, or which ones they are yet, though. For all I know, the entire Organization XIII could be back on its feet." Now was the time when Caen had to be very careful about exactly what information she gave out. Letting them know that Xemnas wasn't acting alone was fine. Perhaps, since she didn't tell them how many, they would assume that all of the Nobodies were out there. That would make it easier for the Organization later. Phantom warriors intimidated the opposition and couldn't be killed since they didn't exist.
Kairi looked at Riku worriedly. The entire Organization? That wasn't a good thing. She didn't think that they could take them all on again. Saving Sora felt more hopeless by the minute. She was worried about how Sora was faring as well. Who knew what the Organization could be doing to him? Riku saw how worried Kairi was and touched her shoulder. "Don't worry. The entire Organization isn't alive." He was confident and wasn't just saying that to help Kairi. He knew for sure that there was only five or six still alive depending on how you thought about it. He looked at Caen next. "The tops are Xemnas and Marluxia. They've come back to work together this time, but I doubt that they can get along with each other for very long."
'How did he know about that?' Caen thought, not allowing her surprise to show on her face. She didn't want to give anything away now, especially since the situation had just become a little more difficult. "How'd you figure that out?" she asked, figuring there was no harm in doing so. It might just seem like she was asking for any possibly reliable sources to run her own information by or to go back to for more. "If there's going to be some kind of dispute between Xemnas and Marluxia, then that would be our time to attack," she suggested as well. The timing of the attack was really no big deal. If Caen knew it, she could tell the Organization, and they could be prepared for it whenever it was to come. Even if Xemnas and Marluxia were fighting for power, surely they'd realize that if they were about to be attacked, they should work together long enough to defend themselves and their base.
Riku gave a small smirk. "I have my sources…." He wasn't going to tell her who he got the information from. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't even sure if this person was trustworthy. He had said that he had tried to help Sora to escape, but it was unsuccessful. Of course, that could have been a ploy, but he had named off five Organization members, including himself, and Riku was sure that he would have no reason to lie about that.
Kairi looked at Riku; she didn't like not knowing who Riku was talking to. He had been in the darkness for a long time and she didn't want him to go back by any means. "What are your sources?" Riku glanced at Kairi. The girl was almost annoyingly overprotective.
"Don't worry, Kairi, I'm not doing anything dangerous." 'I think….' Kairi frowned; she didn't like it. Not one bit. Why wouldn't he just say who he had gotten the information from? People only kept that secret when they didn't trust the person they got information from! It was so obvious!
'Calm down, Kairi, Riku knows what he's doing,' reprimanded a soothing voice.
'But Naminé, I'm worried!' She could almost see her Nobody smile at her.
'Just trust him. Everything will be alright.'
Kairi took a deep breath. 'Okay….' She would let this one go, for now.
Caen forbade any of her surprise to show on her face, instead adopting a wide-eyed grin of wonder. "What other information do you have? Who are the other surviving members of the Organization? Exactly how many of them are left? Are they all healthy, or are they still recovering from being dead? How did they come back?" she asked eagerly, in quick succession. It was doubtful whether she'd taken more than a single breath the entire time. She calmed herself after a moment, inhaling and exhaling to tone down her fake excitement. "Sorry, it's just that it's been a while since I've gotten any new information. The whole reason I'm here in Radiant Garden is because I needed a safe place to heal - away from the Organization," she explained. The story had already been planned in advance.
Kairi looked at Caen, visibly concerned. "You're hurt? Have you been looked at? You're okay now, right?" She didn't think it was a good idea to travel if Caen was hurt. Kairi looked over the girl; she didn't look hurt, so maybe she had taken care of it already. Still, it didn't hurt to ask.
"I'm fine now," Caen assured Kairi with a smile, "thanks for the concern, but I'm all healed up. I'm lucky I ran into you when I did; I was just about to leave to spy on my own again," she admitted falsely. For once, Riku was grateful for Kairi's over protectiveness. Her questions about Caen's injuries gave him a perfect excuse not to say what else he knew. If he gave her too much information then she would be able to tell that there was a leak in the Organization. That wouldn't be a problem for someone who didn't like the Organization, but he still didn't trust her, no matter what she said. She had appeared to conveniently and had too much of the right information. If she was truly on the Organization's side, then he would be endangering his informant, and he didn't want to do that. Even if he didn't fully trust him, he had better reason to trust the Nobody than the girl.
But Caen wasn't about to be stopped that easily. "So, you gonna answer those questions?" she asked, turning her red-eyed gaze on Riku. "I shared my information with you. Even if you did already know it, how was I supposed to know you did? I was willing to trust you, and if we're going to work together, I would hope you can trust me. With information pertaining to our mission, at the very least." She frowned a bit, growing more serious. "I don't know if I can work with someone who's going to be keeping secrets from me every step of the way; even if Kairi does vouch for you." Her eyes narrowed a bit, how playing the part of the cautious one, a role that perhaps Riku would identify with more, since he was living it himself.
Kairi looked at Riku, too; she was just as curious as Caen. This time she decided not to say anything, letting Riku handle this girl in his own way. She didn't think that he could dodge the question this time.
Riku thought a moment, considering his options. 'Alright, I'll tell her. Perhaps I can get a reading off of her reaction,' he told himself as he crossed his arms. "There are a total of six original Organization members still alive. Xemnas is running the whole operation with Marluxia as his second. Zexion, Demyx, and Axel are the other three; however, I don't know the particulars of what they're doing other than that they're following Xemnas's and Marluxia's orders." Sure, he was leaving a few things out, but he didn't need to spill it all. "They're all in perfect health; they seem to have come out of the entire 'sent back to the darkness thing' unscathed." 'But Xemnas seems to have a way of controlling them against their will.' He was definitely going to leave that out; it would all be too obvious that there was a leak. Riku uncrossed his arms, letting them rest at his sides. "And that's it… that's all I know…."