"Oh my god!" the girls squealed running at Raven. "She's so cute!"

Raven jumped back and drew out her metal fans ready to attack them, only for Ventus and Vanitas to take one away each. She looked at them confused for a moment. Then saw the calm look on their faces, and relaxed some.

"Sorry about that. She's not used to getting that much attention." Ven apologized with a nervous smile.

"Oh, that's fine." Aqua said putting her hand out. "I'm Aqua, if you ever need anything you can ask me."

Raven stared at her hand confused for a moment, then slowly reached out and took it. "Raven; I'm the Guardian of the Heartless. And this Heartless is Drags, my friend." she said as Aqua shook her hand.

Everyone introduced themselves carefully to Raven, to make sure she didn't get too nervous. After so long Raven got her fans back and everyone seemed to relax some. They started talking and joking around only to learn Raven didn't understand half of the things they were talking about. Kairi found it a nightmare that Raven didn't know what a mall was and was borrowing Ven's clothes.

"We have to take her shopping for clothes!" Kairi shouted hugging Raven.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Terra stated.

"Why not?" Sora asked confused.

"She's nervous around us, what will happen when she's in a crowded mall." Aqua said patting Raven's head.

"Aw, come on. Let's make her try on hot clothes that make her look hotter." Vanitas whined.

"NO!" everyone else yelled in his face, at Raven watched confused. Vanitas flinched and he rubbed his ears, from the shouting he got.

"I wanna try it." Raven said hugging Drags to her chest more, getting a strange sound out of him.

"WHAT!" they all yelled making her jump back some?

A nervous look filled her eyes because she felt like she may have angered them. "I... I thought I could give it a try." she replied softly.

Riku watched the girl carefully, because the moment she got scared Neo shadows started to appear around her. He quickly summoned his keyblade to slay them but Sora stopped him.

"Don't. I'm sure they're only here because she's freaked out. Killing them will only upset her and trust me, you don't want to fight her." he explained.

"They'll harm the people of the town if I don't." Riku snapped.

"No, let her calm down." Ven said watching Raven as she looked at the Neo Shadows.

"It's alright you guys. I'm fine." she said to them patting one's head. They made their strange sounds as she told them she was fine until they settled down and slipped out of sight. Riku looked at her amazed at how she handled them.

"She has that much control of them?" he asked looking at his friend.

"We don't know what she can do with them." Sora replied. "But maybe if we gain her trust, the heartless won't attack our home anymore."

Riku wasn't so sure. For all he knew Raven was just tricking them into trusting her, so she could take their hearts. He had to keep his eye on her when he could or else something might go wrong and it would be too late to stop anything. He refused to let that happen. This girl, they knew nothing about and they didn't know what she could do. It was best to sit back and learn something. He was gonna let that happen, let her show her true self.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They went to the mall and Raven was nervous but seemed fine as long as she hugged Drags and was near Ventus or Vanitas. She seemed to take the most comfort from the raven haired boy. She stayed close to him as they had a small chat about random little things but there wasn't much for Raven to talk about.

"VANITAS!" a group of girls shouted running over to the boy, scaring Raven away from him as the herd of girls surrounded him.

Vanitas smiled at the group of girls, as Raven took cover in Ventus's care. She looked really nervous, as Drags seemed to wiggle in her arms. A couple heartless started to show up, until Ventus noticed and started to pet her hair to calm her some. The heartless calmed down as well and left. Leaving the mall safe, but Drags still seemed to be nervous about something.

"Raven, look at this outfit." Kairi said with a smile pointing at a black lace dress in a window.

Raven and Ventus moved over to the redhead and looked at the dress. Raven studied it closely. Kairi and Ventus watched her quietly, only the sound of other people in the mall, talking to others around them. Raven looked at Kairi.

"It doesn't have the heartless symbol." she said finally.

"None of the clothes here are gonna have the symbol on it."

"Why not?" Raven asked looking confused.

"Because no one knows of the symbol." Terra stated poking her arm band.

Raven looked at her arm band then at Terra. "Then can we get it put on the clothes?" she questioned.

"We could, but that would be a lot of work, dear." Aqua explained with a gentle smile.

"If you teach me, I'll do it." the girl replied looking up at the blue haired woman.

"She really wants the symbol on her clothes doesn't she?" Namine said with a smile. She adjusted the small bag on her shoulder. "I would like to draw her with more emotions."

Raven looked confused for a moment but shook it away as she looked at the other clothes. She did not seem to have much interest in any other color but black. The girls tried getting her into outfits that had all kinds of color to them, mostly bright ones. But Raven only likes black with red or white outfits. No one could sway her mind away from those three colors.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure these few outfits are enough?" Ventus asked looking at the two bags that were in his hands.

Raven nodded as they walked down the street. "I'm sure that's enough for now, I believe." she replied nibbling on some French fries.

"You seem to like those fries." Vanitas stated watching her some.

"At least she's eating something." Ven said looking at the dark haired boy. "Even though it's not the healthiest thing to eat."

"I don't care, it will not bother my health or body in anyway." Raven snapped before shoving a fistful into her mouth.

The two boys couldn't help but laugh at her as they headed back to their apartment. Raven watched the sky changed color as the sun began set. She ended up heading towards the beach. It took the boys a moment to realize where she went. They quickly caught up. Raven stood at the edge of the water, letting it run over her boots, soaking them. The gentle wind blew her long, curly hair around.

"I've never seen it like this before." she said softly not taking her eyes off the water.

"Yeah, it's very beautiful." Ventus replied looking at the waves crashing.

Vanitas watched them from the beach. He was surprised at Raven's reaction to the colors of the sunset. But then again she seemed to hide from the light for the longest time. The fact they managed to get her to come out was a miracle. Raven watched the waves some and then looked at Ventus.

"I feel like I've seen this before, but it feels like a different life." she stated before turning around walking away.

XXXXXXXXX

"She can't stay with us all the time." Ven pointed out the next day, as the group met up between classes.

"I could take her, but I don't really have a room for her to stay in." Kairi offered.

Everyone recalled that she lived with the Mayor and Namine had moved in with them, taking the only spare room in the house. So Raven would be stuck on the floor or couch, something they didn't want for her.

"What about Riku's place?" Sora asked looking at his best friend.

Riku tensed under everyone's gaze. So far he hasn't put in any input about what to do with Raven, mostly because he has shown not to trust the girl yet. But he did have the largest house out of the group.

Roxas and Sora stayed at Sora's place, though Sora was staying in a dorm at the College, which Riku stayed in a good amount of the time because it was easier to study there than at home. Home is where his parents asked him questions about his day and if he had gotten a girlfriend yet.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Riku replied trying to think of a way out of this.

"How?" Terra asked with a raised brow. "You do have more room than anyone else here."

Raven was already staying on the fold out at Ven and Vanitas' place, while Kairi's place didn't even have a fold out. Terra and Aqua had a single room apartment together, while Sora's place was also full because of Roxas and Sora's part time staying. Riku's really was the only place for her to stay long term.

"How do we know she won't turn on us?" Riku asked crossing his arms.

The girl's all glared at him, "she's had time to do something to us."

"If she was going to act out, she would have by now." Sora pointed out putting his hands behind his head.

Roxas nodded along with Namine.

"I guess, I'll go get her after my next class." Riku groaned.

Vanitas tossed his keys to the pale haired man, "you'll need these to get in. Raven doesn't take well to the buzzer going off."

"We learned that last night when we ordered pizza." Ventus explained with a scared looked passed over his blue eyes.

The girls gave a worried look, "what happened?" The asked in unison.

"We're not going to tell the gruesome details, but we had to give the Pizza guy a pretty big tip." Vanitas complained crossing his arms over his chest.

Everyone flinched at the sound of a large tip, because that meant Raven caused harm to the Pizza guy. Or did something to scare the poor guy to the point where he probably wet himself.

"Well, I have class." Namine stated getting up with all of her stuff.

"Have a good time." Kairi waved as her friend went off to her class.

Roxas and Sora got up not long after. "Speaking of classes."

"Take care of Raven, Riku." Aqua smiled patting his silver head.

"Be gentle with her too." Ventus threw in as he got up.

Soon Riku as left alone, because having to head off to his class.

From what he had been told by Ven and Vanitas, Raven was fearful yet a scary foe at the same time. This made him still believe that she could be up to something, only he wasn't sure what it was she could be planning.

He sighed to himself before going into his class. There was too much mystery to this girl and he didn't like it.

XXXXXXXXX

"Why are you here?" Where the first words out of Raven's mouth, when Riku entered the apartment.

He stared in shock, to see her sitting in the middle of the fold out which was covered in crumbs and bags of junk food. Her hair was going in several directions like she slept on her head all night long, and the shirt she was wearing was covered in stains. A horror movie played on the TV in front of her.

"How did you get so dirty?" He asked trying not to freak out.

There was no way he could take her to his parents place looking like that, they'll think he's taking in a homeless person.

Then he remembered that Raven was homeless.

"You didn't answer my question." Raven stated before shoving more BB-Q chips into her mouth.

"You're coming to live with me, since I actually have a room for you to stay in." He answered cleaning off her bed.

He didn't care at the moment, he threw all the junk food in the trash bin before he pulled Raven off the bed and removed the sheet to shake off the crumbs. "How can you stand to be so dirty?" He questioned again as Drags latched onto the sheet he shook. "Damn Heartless, I'm trying to clean not play!"

The dark haired girl scooped up the creature in her arms, and held him in a protective manner. "You don't have to yell at him!" She snapped.

"I'm trying to clean up the mess you created." Riku retorted showing her how messy the living room was. "And don't get me started on how you look."

Raven flinched before looking down at herself. "What's wrong with how I look?" Her hands went through her hair without getting caught in tangles.

"Did you even brush your hair?" He asked going to Ventus' bathroom and grabbing the brush from in there.

"Yes." Raven answered.

Only cried out in pain when Riku started to brush her hair, finding all kinds of knots and tangles in the curly mess she called hair. He also took note at how long her hair was, falling well past her hips. It was much longer when he realized that her hair was mostly curls and waves. It was also stringy and riddled with split ends.

He pulled her hair into a pony tail, "this will have to do for now until we can get you haircut." He muttered as Raven looked in the mirror.

Her bangs and some hair remained to frame her face, but the rest of the thick mess was contained in a single rubber band. Riku was impressed with himself for getting all of her hair into one band, without it breaking.

SNAP!

Raven cried out and grabbed her head where the band snapped her, while Riku watched in horror as his hard work went down the drain. But he shook it off.

"Let's just get you to my place." Riku ordered grabbing the clothes bags she had from shopping the other day. "Is there anything we should pick up for you on the way there? Toothbrush? Socks? Underwear? Anything you can think of that you will need?"

Raven shrugged. "I have no idea, Ven and Vanitas were trying to teach me everything at once."

This was going to harder than he had thought. This girl was so clueless on what she needed for hygiene care and he was supposed to somehow to teach her this stuff.

"Okay, we'll get you the basics and see from there." He answered himself dragging her out of the door.

"Pants!" Raven screamed in shock when they got to the front door of the building.

"What?!" Riku snapped before looking down at Raven's bare legs.

She was only wearing one of the guy's shirts at the moment. He hadn't noticed until now and he tried to take her outside looking like she was doing some walk of shame.

Letting out a puff of air, they went back to the apartment so she could a pair of pants on. Raven didn't seem too upset about not having pants on but Riku didn't need anyone thinking bad things about her when they didn't know her.

XXXXXXXXXXX

They stopped at the drug store for the basics for her stay at his place. Getting her a toothbrush, hair brush and shower stuff as well. Everyone in the store stared at Raven, since she stuck out like a sore thumb on an island where everyone knew everyone.

"Who is she?"

"Did she come from the mainland?"

"I didn't know he had a girlfriend."

Riku tried to ignore the questioned but Raven didn't stop asking him about them. This dug into his nerve more and more by the minute.

The checkout counter was probably the worst because the high schooler working started to hit on Raven, who didn't understand what was going on.

"She's too old for you, man." Riku growled handing the teen his card.

"I find that hard to believe, she only looks sixteen." The teen argued back. "What are you? Her older brother?"

"No, he is not." Raven jumped in suddenly. "He's taking me in."

"Be quiet." Riku hissed looking down at her with sharp, pale eyes.

"It's the truth!" She quipped back, clueless about everything.

"Taking in mainland strays?" The teen asked handing Riku back his card.

Without saying another word, Riku took the new bags and pulled Raven out of the store. She started to complain that he was hurting her wrist, when several Large Bodies appeared around them. Cutting off all exits for them.

"Call them off!" Riku shouted at her, trying to stay calm enough so they wouldn't attack.

"They won't leave until I'm not hurt." Raven replied trying to free herself from his grip.

He released her wrist but grabbed her arms. "You have to understand that the Heartless will hurt the innocent people around us! You have to understand that people are you going to hurt you in many ways but that's part of life."

He gave her several small shakes trying to get through to her, only to find a small knife at his throat.

Fear and tears were in Raven's eyes as she bit her lower lip some. "Ven told me, I could trust you not to hurt me. He was wrong."

Riku backed off some, letting her go.

That was a mistake because once he let go of the shaken girl. She sunk into the shadows created by the Large Bodies and they followed her.

He cursed when he realized how much he had messed up. He had one job and he failed at it because he let his judgement get in the way. Though no one would blame him completely for being the one on guard. He had pulled something just like this back in high school, he knew how easily someone could turn on their friends in a second.

"Raven!" He shouted setting out to find her.

Everyone would understand that he was upset but they'd be mad if he didn't try to look for her.

How hard could it be to find her?

He looked down dark alley ways, and through broken broads in closed up houses and buildings.

What did he know about her?

Nothing.

Everyone knew nothing about Raven. Finding her was going to be hard because if she wasn't anywhere on the island she was probably hiding in the Darkness, a place none of them would be able to reach her.

"Dammit, I messed up big time." He cursed himself out some more before calling Vanitas.

XXXXXXXX

"How could you do that to her?" Ven yelled at his friend once the whole gang was together.

"I was stressed out, okay!" Riku snapped. "You don't do well under certain pressure too!"

Aqua put herself between the guys. "Guys, fighting isn't going to find her."

Terra nodded in agreement, "we should all split up and look around for her. Talk to the Heartless that we do see and see if that draws her out. Do not attack them because we don't want to upset her more."

Everyone agreed with that before breaking off into groups of two. Though it was Vanitas that went off on his own, in hopes that the fact that he brought her home would be the key to brining her out of hiding again.

"Raven!" The dark haired male called.

Once he knew for sure that he was alone and away from his friends, he summoned up a few of his Unversed. Ordering them to search the area for him, while he went to actually look in the void of darkness for her.

"She has to be there." He muttered to himself while sinking into a shadow.

It made him nervous to try this since it has been a while since the last time he did this, but it was going to worth it.

XXXXXXXXXX

Pain throbbed through her wrist as she sat in the darkness, hugging the injured limp against her chest. She didn't like Riku, he had hurt her when Ven had promised he wouldn't do such a thing.

Had her trust been in the wrong hands or was Ven's? Her head spun as the questions went around in circles in her head. It made her stomach turn and her throat feel tight. It made the air feel thin, something she had never experienced before.

Purring grabbed her attention. Drags was standing in front of her, begging for her attention.

"Drags." She choked out pulling the critter against her chest.

He made all kinds of cooing and clicking sounds as she buried her nose into the side of his big head.

"Thank you for always being here for me." She sniffled softly.

"I can be there for you too, all you had to do was ask."

Her head shot up. Red met amber.

"Vanitas." She whispered getting to her feet. "You found me."

"I'll always find you if you hide out here." He replied holding his hand out to her.

An odd warmth spread through her chest as she took his hand. He had known where to find her, even though Riku had scared her so bad.

"Riku has some expression issues, so don't take too much he says to heart."

Raven started to pout. "He didn't hurt my feelings, I have no feelings." She showed him her bruised wrist. "He hurt my arm."

He reached over and wiped a tear from her cheek. "These tell me you have a heart and he hurt it. So let's go back so he can tell you how sorry he is, and you can stay with Ven and me one more night."

She nodded as the darkness faded into a nighttime shade. A few streetlights were off in the distance but they could see.

Vanitas pulled out his cell and called everyone to let them know he found Raven and they waited where they were at for everyone to show up.

"Raven!" Kairi shouted wrapping her arms around the recovered girl. "We were worried about you!"

Raven was shocked by the hug but simply gave one back to Kairi. Trying to show her that she was alright.

"Vanitas knew where to find me." She replied softly.

"Are you alright?" Namine asked coming over to the other two.

Raven showed them her bruised wrist.

"RIKU!" They turned into witches and started cursing out Riku along with him hitting a few times.

There was no way for him to stop them. It took Roxas and Sora to pull them away from the silver haired man as they tried to take their wrath out on him. They quickly turned it to the two that pulled them away.

"Girls, I think Riku has learned his lesson here!" Aqua cut in.

The two stopped and looked at the older woman with guilty smiles. "Sorry."

"No, they had the right. They were worried about Raven and I hurt her." Riku explained.

Raven came up to Riku. "I'm sorry for putting you under so much stress."

His eyes widen to hear her say that. "I'm sorry for hurting you and scaring you like that." He replied patting her shoulder. "My house is open for you to come and stay when you're ready."

"One more night with Ven and Vanitas and I'll take your offer." She stated with a shy smile.

"Works for me."