Sweey: Why hello everyone! 'bout time I got this done! So, this is exactly what you think it is, that's right, Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger 's sequel: Clashing Colors! So enjoy because I have some awesome new characters to introduce. They won't make their appearance in this chapter and you will be reuniting with some familiar faces. ;D So enjoy this first chapter of a planned many!

Chapter One: Lingering Regrets

With quiet footsteps I walked, lengthening my silent strides as I moved through the forest that I had come to know so well. Every root, blade of grass, stone, and tree were mapped enduringly in my mind, enabling me the ability to pass through without stumbling.

My mind was filled today with troubled thoughts. It had been three months since the poison of the hummingbird blade ran through my blood for the last time. Often I found my veins throbbing in my left arm, reminding me without fail of the treachery of the Organization. Though there was truly only one thing that ever gnawed at my anxious mind.

The one I saw that last day when we were making our escape back to Popstar. That figure of shifting gray and his one, glowing, purple eye. It haunted me.

Emit and the others had returned home some days after the event and life in Dreamland had gone back to its blind, slumbering routine. Sir Meta Knight and his knaves once again set to patrolling Castle Dedede as though the past confrontation with the Organization had lost its severity. Fumu took to watching over Kirby and her brother Bun and her visits became less and less frequent as time passed on. That left me the only one still wary of the great problem that rested like cancer beneath the skin of Dreamland's ecstasy.

The Organization still lingered unchallenged throughout the galaxy. During Nightmare's tyranny, the Organization had worked as the intelligence force for his Dark Army as well as the producers of fleet assassins and new subjects to be turned into new recruits of Demon Beasts. With such influence and similarity to the Wanderers' Order they made the perfect rival. Regrettably, none of my fellow Wanderers knew I was both their enemy and their alley.

Day after day I patrolled the borders surrounding Pupuland and her quaint village without cease. For fear if I did, the Organization would creep in undetected and pull Dreamland out from under my feet.

I was nearing Kabuu's Canyon now and began to wonder if the great tree-like being knew how to stop the Organization despite how strong a hold they already had on the surrounding lands. The previous journey with Fumu to the Organization had taken us to another island, though its name was unknown. From what I could recall is that the day I'd been poisoned into submission, I had continued running until I came across foreign soil. I found it familiar from my past after a while, though the dirt there was a rich red-brown as opposed to Pupuland's dark, rich soil.

After the confrontation and the escape, the strange island slowly grew farther apart from Pupuland's island until it became nothing but a gloomy, misshaped figure on the horizon of the blue, ocean waters ever present to remind me of my past misfortune.

"Welcome Stranger the Wanderer. It seems you are still concerned with the strength of the Organization even after our previous conversation. You unknown hunter also brings anxiety upon your troubled soul." Kabuu's yawningly deep voice greeted me as I stepped lightly upon the ancient stone pathway that covered the grounds surrounding the great being.

In reply I merely nodded, knowing there was nothing to explain further to the Kabuu.

"It will not be easy Stranger. It will be impossible to perform the task alone. You must travel back to the shifting island of your past and dispose of Shadox Veroxin. Once that is done, you will find the one it is you seek," he told me.

It was a vague explanation, but I understood his words. "Thank you, great Kabuu." I muttered politely as I briefly bowed.

"Your appreciation is well spoken, Wanderer. Go to the castle, someone is waiting for you there," Kabuu told me, "But be wary of the shadows while you wander."

I nodded; digesting the information he spoke to me and then took my leave, making headway for Castle Dedede where it was perched upon the cliff that overshadowed the village of Pupuland in the valley below.

I slipped through the village silently, undetected by the inhabitants who went on with their daily routines. Though I perched myself upon a roof when I heard someone mention my name, well, my title.

I discovered two with names I could not recall talking with the fortune teller, Mable, and Honey, one of the village children. They were gathered around the well doing laundry, the typical Thursday chore.

"Have you ever seen him before up close?" The mayor's wife asked the other women. "I've only seen him from a distance when he's passing through the village and usually it's no more than a glimpse."

"I've seen Stranger before, isn't he something? So strong and mysterious it sends chills down my spine just thinking about him!" Honey blurted.

"I heard that no one has ever seen his face," the chief's wife pointed out.

"Fumu has!" Honey spat and my cheeks burned with fear and embarrassment. Had Fumu betrayed me?

"What did he look like?" The mayor's wife begged to know.

"Fumu won't say. She says she made a promise not to," Honey sighed.

"I wonder what color his eyes are," the chief's wife muttered absentmindedly.

"I predict that they are beautiful, deep, and insightful, full of wisdom and passion for this world and his friends," Mable sighed blissfully.

The other three looked at her in delighted shock. One of them then commented, "Sounds like someone's got a crush!"

Mable shrugged the assumption off, "Can't blame a girl for dreaming!"

They all laughed and Honey caught sight of me where I sat upon the roof of a building.

"Speaking of the Wanderer, look up there!" she laughed, pointing up to where I was balanced.

I bowed to them as they gathered in the shadow of the building I sat upon.

"How much of our conversation did you hear, Stranger?" Mable asked nervously of me.

I shrugged, "I'm afraid, my lady, that I wasn't really paying much attention to it, merely that you all were having a grand time in one another's company." It wasn't entirely false. I found no reason to further embarrass her.

"Oh well, what are you doing in the village today?" the mayor's wife asked.

With a brief lift of my shoulders I answered plainly, "Simply wandering through, my lady." I found no convincing reason as to why I should reveal my motive for my sudden appearance in the village.

They murmured in delight amongst themselves a moment before I decided it was time I left.

"Ladies," I said as I bowed graciously to them before disappearing from sight.

As I made my way over the roofs I found myself in the village square and looking at the great tree that stood in its center. It was then when I stood that I sensed someone was watching me.

The feeling grew with each passing step until I found myself running towards the setting sun in the distance which began to hide itself behind Dedede's castle.

Soon, the emerald that was my heart began to beat rapidly as it pumped my blood through the branches of veins in my body and my lungs heaved in ragged gasps of air as I desperately tried to escape whatever it was that was pursuing me.

Suddenly I stopped, I've no clue why, but something did. I pulled out my double bow and instinctively knocked an arrow into the bowstring. My eyes danced from beneath the hood I always wore as I searched the failing light for the one who was after me.

I waited, nothing came.

Then something tapped my shoulder briefly and I whirled around, pulling the string of my double bow to a full draw and let it fly to its target.

THUNK!

I could feel my face stretch with shock as I stood gawking at the emerald-tipped arrow as it quivered from the force of full draw after meeting the shingles of the roof instead of the unseen target. Had there been one, I'd no clue. I could only rely on the sensation of fear I had that someone, or some thing, was watching me like an all-seeing eye. As I pondered these things, I approached the arrow and worked it out of the roof. It had gone halfway down the shaft of the arrow.

Again I felt something tap my shoulder and without fail I released another arrow within seconds between knocking it and letting it fly.

Th-THUNK!

Once more it met the air and collided into the roof of the building. Now my fear of whatever this was escalated until every noise, every movement made my body quiver into action, readying to spring to life with an entire volley of arrows to take down whatever it was that was haunting my footsteps.

Then I recalled Kabuu's warning, which shattered what little peace I had and scattered it in salty water like broken glass.

"Be wary of the shadows while you wander."

My breath, I quieted, forcing my pulse to slow down. My emerald heart began to coincide with my lungs and retreated to a more regular rate, resulting in my mind's composure.

It all exploded into the erratic rate of fear as the distinct feeling of someone's finger tapping my shoulder repeated yet again. Strangely, it felt familiar, like a friend's. This time, however, I did not shoot my bow. I whirled around and took whoever it was by their clothing and held them up to meet my gaze. What I discovered was a very shocked and confused ninja. A ninja I knew well.

"R-Rioku?" I managed to stutter.

"Stranger, what in blazes are you doing?" He demanded heatedly.

I frowned and put the round figure down and winced as his left I glared at me. He was blind in his right, which he'd yet to tell me the reason why. His cloths were of a typical ninja, netting on his arms, armored feet, and of course, he wore dark cloths. Rioku's hair was shaggy, untidy, graying, and streaked with the streaked remnants of blonde and fading red. A treacherous kunai, or a thick, fat-bladed knife, sat were his hand once was, resting over a bowl-like structure made of the black iron of Ironcladd which could hold many other tools when Rioku needed something other than his kunai. Like know, I watched as he twisted out the knife from the bowl and replaced it with a pipe fashioned from a snail's shell. He puffed a few times and grinned ruefully at me, splitting the scars that slit across his mouth.

"Seems you're awful skittish today, Wanderer." He pointed out.

I shrugged, a motion I seemed to favor a lot today, and smiled briefly, "So I am. That doesn't seem to explain what you're reasons for being here are." I already knew he wasn't the one who'd been tapping my shoulder earlier. No, his reaction was not one of a prankster.

He frowned and rolled his eye briefly, since his other was immobile from being blind, "Drifter came to have a good chat with you and Sir Meta Knight. He certainly has an earful to say this time, Stranger."

In realization I smiled at the mention of that name. Drifter was the title name given to every chief of the Wanderers. They were always the greatest of Wanderers and were elected to such a superior rank by his fellow wanderers as much as experience and time. This Drifter was no exception. He was probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Wanderers alive and had been since I could remember.

There were twelve of us in all aside from Drifter himself and all of us were skilled in our chosen craft. There were others who adopted our Order's ways in the Galaxy Soldier Army as there were also several Wanderers who went rogue or simply retired. Though, we Wanderers of the Order were allies with the Galaxy Soldier Army, our true loyalty remained with the Twin Planets from which we hailed, Ivo and Elibis. My heart is bonded to Ivo selectively.

Twelve we had been and twelve we will reside as. Unlike many subgroups in the Galaxy Soldier Army, the Wanderers had survived the two great wars between Nightmare and all those who opposed him. Perhaps it was due to our cunning wit and stealth or maybe our lives were spared on my role in the Organization as Faceless, the assassin. Whether it was a great stroke of luck or the mercy of our enemies that allowed it, we Wanderers stood triumphant. Though there was yet one more enemy to face, the Organization.

A hand gripped my forearm firmly and pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked down to Rioku who was frowning up at me with concern.

"Your thoughts are many these days Wanderer," he said to me. "What they are about I'm sure I could guess, though I won't as there is no reason for my lips to pry. Come; let us take our time getting to that so called castle of the fat, lumbering fool-of-a-king Dedede. We'll make our way leisurely, as Drifter ordered of me. You know, as much as I enjoy taking orders from the big boss himself, I do dearly long for the days we worked as a team, my wandering friend."

I grinned in agreement as we continued onward and upon the remaining roofs of the village. Rioku had worked for Ivo's royal family since before the War of Lost Wishes and again during the Great Everlasting War, which had recently been ended after Kirby of the Stars defeated the ever present gloom of Nightmare himself. Several times Rioku and I had been assigned on missions together, usually to infiltrate, sabotage, or assassinate the enemy, and despite his age superiority, I outranked him.

We took a seat on the top of Kawasaki's restaurant and he continued blowing out rings of blue smoke. He was smoking his favorite, a plant known as Borthic, which was rumored to increase one's lifespan to double the average. Which for our species, meant could live around 200,000 years plus. Course, they also say the first puff could kill you, so I discarded the temptation almost as instantly as it had arrived.

For a great length of time we sat in a comfortable silence as we enjoyed the warm, summer breeze and watched the moonrise that elaborated the distant scenery with silky silver from the moon's illuminating light while Rioku blew miniature clouds of blue smoke into the stream of wind.

Finally, after we allowed time to pass a little while longer, we regained our feet and made our way swiftly like shadows towards Castle Dedede.

As we drew closer with our silent, running feet, the warning of Kabuu once again crept into my mind.

"Be wary of the shadows while you wander."

Be wary, but why? It confused me utterly. What was there to be wary of? Nothing but my imagination, I decided grimly. I still could not think of a proper answer by the time we arrived to Meta Knight's apartment.

"Hello Stranger," Drifter's swift, deep voice greeted me as the shinobi and I slipped through the doorway. A broad grin swept across the chief Wanderer's forest of a thick, peppered beard as we moved further into the pale light that escaped inside from the large window on the opposite wall of the entrance. Perhaps there was nothing to worry about.

Then I saw it, a shadow in the rectangular glow of moonlight that blanketed the wooden floors of the knights' apartment. When my eyes snapped up to the window itself I saw a brief glimmer of purple as the shadow of gray and silk vanished from my sight.

My hunter had arrived.

…..

Sweey: Well, I really loved how this turned out….a cliffhanger, but yet still satisfying. I like it. Well, it's about time I got some decent reviews. SO PLEASE REVIEW! :D THANK YOU!