Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the characters from it.

Summary: It's been seven months since Sora and Riku defeated the Organization. Now, a letter from King Mickey warns of a new threat, one that Sora and Riku never expected, and an old enemy they thought was defeated.

Rating: T-violence, language, some mild sexual stuff too

Warnings: There is yaoi in this fic ((boyxboy love)) it's not overly prominent, but if you're really bothered by it, don't read.

R&R please

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"Riku!"

…Just ignore it, it'll go away…

"Riku! Riku wake up!"

A foot nudged his side several times and Riku unwillingly opened his eyes, bringing up one hand to shield them from the bright sunlight overhead. He could see the blurry outline of a person bending over him; their spiky mess of hair made the identity obvious.

"Sora? What the-" he shoved the other's foot away from his side and sat up, blinking away the grogginess that lingered in his eyes.

"And you say I'm the lazy one," Sora put his hands behind his head and flashed a big grin. "So much for that theory."

Riku raised a brow, "theory? I've got ten years of proof behind me. You just happened to walk by at the right time on 'one' day." Still, Riku found himself returning the grin; Sora just seemed to have that affect on him, always happy and positive.

Sora's hands fell to his sides, the grin morphing into a pout. "Always gotta have the last word, don't you Riku."

"You know it," Riku smirked. "You're just too predictable Sora." In an instant, Riku had grabbed onto Sora's legs and pulled him down into the sand.

"Bleh! Riku!" Sora spat out a few hunks of sand. "What did you-"

Riku grabbed him around the waist, but Sora was ready this time. He rolled to the side, forcing Riku to relinquish his hold. He grabbed the older boy's shoulders and pinned him on his back, legs straddling Riku's thighs.

Riku looked slightly surprised for a moment, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Slowly, a grin spread across his face as he burst out laughing. Sora looked at him quizzically a moment before he too caught the humor and started laughing as well. It was times like these the friends could treasure, laughing simply for the sake of laughing and being in each other's company.

"Wow," Riku stopped for a breath, "I can honestly say I wasn't expecting that!"

"Ya?" Sora's smile widened, "guess seven months hasn't made me any less talented." He raised an arm and flexed non-existent muscles.

Riku smirked skeptically but was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Do you two even realize the position you're in?"

Both boys turned to see Kairi standing a few feet away, her hands propped on her knees as she leaned forward to study them. She grinned and laughed slightly, "let's try to keep it PG, shall we boys?" She smirked, "or is my suspicion correct and you two are really madly in love," she placed her hands over her heart dramatically.

Sora looked down at Riku; their eyes met and color rushed into their faces. Neither moved for a few moments.

Riku broke the silence, standing up quickly, dumping Sora unceremoniously headfirst in the sand. "Are you implying something Kairi?" He smirked, "we were wrestling," he held out an arm, showing the toned muscles beneath the skin. "You know, guy stuff."

"Guy stuff? Really?" Kairi's grin only grew as she pointed to Sora who was dusting himself off, brow knitted in concentration. His face was still a nice hue of pink. "Sora's blush says differently," she giggled.

"Huh?!" Sora looked up quickly, "I am 'not' blushing! I don't blush!"

"Then you must have a pretty prominent sunburn," Riku smirked. "Makes it even worse when someone mentions it, doesn't it Sora. Then you start thinking everyone notices." Riku laughed and Sora felt the heat rising in his cheeks again.

"You're looking a bit flushed yourself Riku," Kairi turned her attention to the older boy. "A…'prominent sunburn' did you call it? You two need to invest in some sunscreen."

Riku raised his hands, palm out, "give me a break Kairi. You're not exactly helping the situation."

"Am I not?" she smiled.

Sora ruffled his hair, the unruly brown spikes producing a shower of sand before settling back into place. He let out a breath and looked up at the darkening sky, changing the subject quickly. "It's getting late, maybe we should head home."

Kairi and Riku looked up as well, the sun had just touched the water in the distance and the sky had taken on a peach hue.

"Alright," Kairi straitened up, clasping her hands behind her back, still looking at the swirling colors on the horizon. "Since we have all the boats here," her gaze broke away and she turned to face the boys, "we can have a race! Waddya say? Last one back to shore buys lunch tomorrow?" Her smile widened, "that means you Sora."

"Actually…" Sora started hesitantly, his gaze falling. "Me and Riku left our stuff in the hut. We'll have to catch up to you later."

"Oh…" Kairi looked slightly taken aback, "okay…"

Sora nudged the sand with the toe of his shoe; "I'm really sorry Kairi."

Kairi shook her head, the smile returning to her face. "It's no big deal, we'll just have to do it next time! Don't worry about it."

Sora returned the smile, "you bet!"

"I'll see you guys later then!" Kairi backstepped, waving to the two before turning completely and jogging toward the dock.

"We didn't leave anything in the hut," Riku stated letting his hand fall when Kairi was out of sight.

Sora looked up at him, "why didn't you say anything?"

"You peaked my curiosity," Riku grinned, "I figured you wanted me to play along, hopefully for a good reason. Though, I don't know of anything you'd want to keep from Kairi."

"I-I need to show you something." Sora walked down the beach to where a small hut was nestled against a cliff face between two palm trees. It was where they had stored the raft supplies all those years ago, and there were still several scraps littered about the floor. A small reminder of how simple life had been before the heartless had showed up.

Riku followed Sora through the doorway, still a bit unsure about all the secrecy. Sora just wasn't the type to keep things from his friends. He had always seen the keybearer as a bit of an open book, a blessing and curse it seemed, but Sora was always honest. At least, that's what Riku had thought.

"Here it is," Sora went to his knees and moved several pieces of driftwood aside, revealing a slightly sunken bowl shape in the sand where two glass bottles were nestled. Riku recognized the paper that was neatly rolled within each.

"Okay…" Riku muttered, "uh…I've seen those already Sora. One's from Kairi and the other's from King Mickey."

Sora shook his head, "No, they're both from the King."

Riku went to his knees and leaned forward, suddenly more interested.

"He sent this one right after we got back," Sora pointed to the smaller of the two bottles. "You remember, he was letting us know everything was going well after we left."

Riku nodded, still not sure where this was going or when Sora was going to make his point.

"I got this one yesterday," he grabbed the other bottle and offered it to the older boy.

Riku just looked at it, his hand showing no hint of moving. He locked eyes with Sora, "you hid it?"

Sora's face flushed and his gaze fell.

Riku took the bottle, a slight scowl forming on his face as he popped the cork out and dumped the scroll into the sand. He unrolled the paper, sure enough; the King's seal was stamped at the bottom along with his signature. Riku's scowl only deepened as his eyes scanned over the flawless cursive writing. "Sora…why would you want to hide this?"

"I wasn't hiding it from you!" Sora waved his hands, eyes going wide.

"Who then?"

Sora looked at his hands again, tracing the seams of his gloves with one finger.

"Kairi?"

"I don't want her to get hurt Riku!" Sora looked up again, "and I know if she saw the letter…"

"…She'd want to help fight," Riku finished.

There was another reason too, neither of them said it, but neither of them needed to. It was obvious in the unspoken words that passed between them only through gaze. She doesn't have the experience. She would get in the way, slow us down.

Riku looked down at the letter again.

Dear Sora and Riku,

I'm sending this letter with the utmost urgency. I can't say much, I believe this is something the two of you need to hear in person. Just know that something is very wrong and the Keybearers are needed once again. Come to Disney castle as soon as possible and I'll tell you all I know.

King Mickey

Riku's gaze lifted to Sora, his brow furrowed, "something's wrong? What do you think he means by that?"

Sora shook his head, "I don't know…If it was just a few stray heartless, I think they'd be able to handle it on their own…I can't imagine the King would let it get bad."

"Well," Riku rolled the letter up and put it back in the bottle before passing it to Sora. He stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees. "There's only one way to find out. When do we leave?"

"You want to leave now?!" Sora replaced the bottles and looked up, shocked by his friend's eagerness.

"Why not? He said as soon as possible right? I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a little excitement," Riku grinned.

Sora stood up quickly, stumbling slightly in the loose sand. "Don't you think it'd be weird if we just…left?"

"You weren't going to tell Kairi anyway," Riku pointed out. "Besides, we probably won't be gone that long. We defeated Xemnas and Organization XIII, remember. We're stronger than we used to be."

Sora ran a hand through his hair, "I guess so…"

"Great!" Riku held out his hand as a dark blue light began to form around it. He closed it in a fist just as Way to the Dawn materialized from the light. He turned to Sora, "I'm gunna need your help."

Sora smiled, "right," he summoned the Kingdom Key and it appeared in a flash of gold light.

"Together?"

"Together!"

The two friends stood shoulder to shoulder, holding their keyblades at arms length in front of them. Two beams of light shot from the weapons' tips, one dark blue, the other luminous gold. The beams twisted around each other, eventually parting to form a doorway.

Riku started forward immediately, not noticing that Sora had hesitated, taking the time for one last look at the island. But what Sora saw when he turned around was anything but what he expected. A flash of brilliant red hair, a black coat stirred by the slight breeze and two black marks below luminous green eyes.

"Axel?" Sora couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"Sora?" The brunette turned when he heard Riku's concerned call.

"Riku! Did you see-" he turned back quickly pointing at the spot, but there was nothing there.

"See what? Are you okay Sora?"

Sora looked around desperately, his eyes scanning the beach, rocky outcrops, even the tops of the palm trees. "It was…nothing," Sora turned back to his friend, the familiar smile plastered on his face. "Just the dark playing tricks I guess."

Riku looked skeptical, but nodded slowly anyway. "Right, let's go then!"

Standing side by side, the two Keybearers stepped through the doorway, leaving the peaceful life they had grown so fond of behind.

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A/N: I'll try to have the next chapter up asap. Can't make any promises though. Please R&R if you read the story and let me know what you think It does get better I swear