All the King's Horses
Chapter 3: A Case in Point

------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean, you don't know where Sora is?!" Riku demanded desperately, his hand clutching Kairi's tightly. He hadn't let go of the redhead's hand since they had left their Gummy ships upon their arrival at Disney Castle.

"I didn't say that…it's just hard to tell exactly where he is at the moment…these things aren't easy, you know." The small mouse-like being stated sadly, pacing before the two childhood friends, his large yellow shoes making barely a sound on the shiny tile floor of the throne room.

Riku was visibly becoming more irritated, his brows scrunching together in desperation. "Make it easy, find a way! There has to be something we can do, something to get Sora back-"

"Riku, you need to calm down-"

"I am calm!"

"No, you're not. Don't you think I would know, after being stuck with you behind 'that' door for so long?"

The silver haired teen flinched, letting his shoulders slump, defeated. "You're right…"

Kairi looked back and forth between the two before letting her eyes slide over to Donald and Goofy, who somberly stood nearby.

'They haven't said anything since we've arrived…they must feel terrible,' Kairi thought sadly, squeezing Riku's hand comfortingly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smile weakly in response. '-Just like Riku and I. We couldn't do anything to save Sora…not one thing. And now we're separated yet again.'

There was a collective sigh through the sparsely occupied room.

"…Is there anything we can do?" Kairi asked quietly, brushing a piece of her shoulder length hair away from her face with her free hand.

"At this very moment…no. However," King Mickey raised a hand to silence Riku, who had looked dangerously close to another outburst. "-I think there are a few things you should know."

"Like what?" Both the childhood friend's seemed to speak at the exact same time.

The mousey King's face was grave as he answered solemnly."…the reason I summoned you three here in the first place. Because, although I hate to say it, these matters may be more pressing than Sora's disappearance."

'More pressing than Sora's safety, even?' Kairi thought, feeling surprisingly bitter. Kairi noticed that Riku scoffed but otherwise said nothing, so she motioned for the King to continue.

King Mickey was still pacing, his hands now held behind his back, his string-like tail swaying slowly behind him. "I sent for you three because the level of darkness is rising unnaturally fast in Twilight Town. So fast it might even break the seal on the Keyhole of the world."

Kairi bit her lip nervously, gripping Riku's hand tighter. "And if that happens…"

"…the Heartless will spill over into Twilight Town again." The mousy king finished for her.

'All of those people are in danger…and they don't even have a way to defend themselves!' Kairi's free hand now played absentmindedly with her pink skirt, she had stopped biting her lip when she tasted blood and needed something to distract her. "That's terrible!" she said finally, exchanging a worried glance with Riku, who looked like he almost knew what was happening, and whatever he thought it was made him queasy.

"King Mickey?" The silver haired teenager asked slowly, obviously trying put his complicated thoughts into the right words.

"Yes, Riku?"

"Do you know exactly where the darkness is rising?"

"Yes, actually; it's in the Haunted Mansion."

Riku sucked in his breath, eyes widening. "…that place?"

Mickey turned to the silver haired teenager, black button nose twitching. "Yes. …is there something wrong, Riku?"

Kairi was confused to say the least; as she still didn't know half of the things that had happened to Riku after he stayed behind the Door to Darkness. Most of the information she knew about 'that' time had come from Naminé during their short, but frequent talks. "What do you mean by 'that place'…?" she asked quietly, feeling--correction--knowing that she was missing something important.

"That place was where Sora slept for a year when his memories were being pieced back together by Naminé. Same with your guys' memories, too…-" he gestured towards Donald and Goofy, where they had stood silently, electing to let the others speak. "-…I don't know what it is, but for it to be happening there…it can't be good."

"Golly, Riku! You sure picked up on what I was thinking fast!" Mickey exclaimed, grinning up at the teenager, his seriousness disappearing if only for a moment before his face was sober again. "But that still doesn't give us the reason why it would be rising there of all places."

'I wish I knew more about everything that happened when I was stuck at home. At least then I could help more, if even by a small amount!' Kairi sighed, shaking her head softly. '-No. even then, this matters seems to be out of all of our hands…unless…'

"Your Majesty, I can understand why you would be worried about all of that happening, but…where do we come into all of this? For what purpose were we summoned here?"

The King didn't seem fazed, in fact, he seemed pleased that Kairi had asked such a thing. "Well, Kairi, it just so happens that I can't be in two places at the same time…-" He paused for a moment. "-at least, no yet."

Everyone other than King Mickey shared the same response. "What?"

The mousey king raised both of his hands entreatingly. "Please, allow me to explain; I urgently need to journey to Twilight Town to see what's happening to make the darkness level fluctuate, and there's the possibility that I may need to reseal the Keyhole there. However, just recently a large portion of the darkness level…dropped. Granted, there's still enough there to possibly break the seal, but the fact that it just moved like that is troubling."

Donald chose this moment to finally speak. "Moved? Wait, does that mean you know where it went?"

"Of course!" Mickey seemed genuinely surprised at Donald's question.

This time it was Goofy who spoke. "Well garwsh, Your Majesty, how did you find out something like that?"

Again, Mickey seemed openly surprised. "Why, By using the DTD, of course!"

-Karakura Town-

Sora awoke feeling empty.

-And not the hungry kind of empty, either. Although, now that the Keybearer thought about it, he was sort of hungry…

'Eh? Voices?' He kept his eyes closed, trying to regulate his breathing so it would seem like he was still asleep. Sure, eavesdropping was wrong, but it should be okay if he didn't know where he was, right?

"…is that all, Kurosaki?" Came a slightly annoyed male voice from his left. Sora judged that from the height the voice had come from, the young sounding man was either sitting down…or really short.

"Yeah." Ichigo's voice sounded unnaturally weak, although he must have only been a few feet away from Sora himself. Was the other teenager feeling the same way he was right now?

"That's barely anything, right Captain?" This voice was deeper, and most definitely a woman's. The young-sounding man grumbled in response.

Sora heard something that sounded like a halfhearted smack from Ichigo's direction. "Fool! You allowed someone you didn't even know to sleep in your room?!" A rather haughty voice rang out near where Sora thought Ichigo was.

"Heh…like that mattered when you slept in my closet, Rukia." Was Ichigo's angry response to the woman who Sora assumed was this 'Rukia' Ichigo had previously spoken of.

The only noise the woman made after that was a quiet 'humph!'. Sora noticed that the whole room had slipped into a state of awkward silence until the young-sounding man spoke again, even more irritated than the last time. "Aside from that, Kurosaki, you said something about a 'Key-sword' thing?"

Sora spoke before he could stop himself. "It's a 'Keyblade, not a 'Key-sword'!"

"Okay, so it's a Keyblade…" The man corrected himself, his tone surprisingly childish. The young-sounding man quickly cleared his throat, his voice sounding much deeper when he spoke next. "So, you're awake, are you?"

The Keybearer opened his eyes and sat up slowly, glancing around him to confirm that he did indeed not recognize his surroundings. The room was sparsely decorated; there were only the two woven straw mats that him and Ichigo were laying on, and a small table which was low to the ground. 'I should have noticed earlier how hard my 'bed' was…' Sora thought groggily before scanning his more human-like surroundings.

There were four people other than Sora occupying the small room. Ichigo, who was rubbing his arm where a red mark was slowly showing up, followed a petite black-haired woman sitting next to the substitute Soul Reaper who Sora could only assume--from the way she was acting towards Ichigo--was Rukia . Then--on the brown haired teenager's right--there were two more people; a short, spiky white haired boy who must have been the other male Sora had heard --although he didn't look it. How could someone so small have such a mature voice? -And a strawberry-blonde haired woman who had positively the largest breasts Sora had ever seen in his entire life…not to say that he was looking. The woman's chuckle at Sora's now-red cheeks confirmed that she was the deep-voiced woman he had heard previously.

"I haven't been awake that long…just a minute or so," The Keyblade Master shrugged, scratching the back of his head as he grinned sheepishly. "Are you guys…Soul Reapers?"

"So Ichigo told you about us too, huh?" Sora thought she sounded a little odd talking so casually, and he surmised that she was used to talking formally. "Rukia Kuchiki, of the 13th squad."

The white haired boy and the busty woman also stood, the former extending his hand to Sora, who excepted it and stood up. Said white haired man glared intently up at the Keybearer, crossing his arms. "Tôshirô Hitsugaya, Captain of the 10th squad."He then turned sharply and strode other side of the room, where his blonde companion was stretching.

'…was he trying to intimidate me?' Sora was mulling this over as he noticed the blonde woman staring at him from across the room.

"Rangiku Matsumoto, Vice-Captain of the 10th squad," Glancing to her side and seeing that Hitsugaya was facing away from her, her face broke into a broad smile, and she winked at Sora teasingly. "Nice to meet you."

The Keybearer hurriedly looked away, climbing up off of the straw mat he had been laying on. Ichigo had just gotten up as well, smoothing his black robes inattentively, his eyebrows scrunched together. His face was one of irritation as Sora approached him, opening his mouth to say something but was cut off by the lanky orange haired teenager. "You knew who they were, didn't you?"

Sora was surprised at how direct Ichigo was, but after a short pause, decided that it was better to just tell the truth than play stupid. "Yeah."

He could hear the Substitute Soul Reaper grinding his teeth together as he stepped closer to Sora. "Who the hell were they and why did they want me?!" He almost growled this, and the Keybearer felt like he had shrunk about a foot as he looked up at the older-looking teenager.

Sora was quiet for a moment, his mind rushing to reject the fact that he had actually seen the Organization XIII. Pushing all sense from his mental voice of reason away, he forced these thoughts out of his mind, staring up into the eyes of the angered teenager staring expectantly down at him. "They're the Organization XIII, and…I don't know why they want you. But the thing is, I already kil-"

Sora was cut off yet again as a new voice sounded from behind everyone.

"Goood morning, everybody!" The voice almost sang. All turned to see a tall man entering from a set of sliding doors at one side of the small squall room. He had dirty blonde hair, wooden sandals, and what had to be the oddest green-and-white striped hat Sora had even seen. The teenager could only see black leading up under the hat which hid the man's eyes from Sora, at least from where he was standing.

Ichigo grumbled something that sounded like 'you're the only one that's having a good one, Hat-'n-clogs…'.

The man ignored Ichigo and strode confidently over to Sora, whipping out a fan from who-knew-where and flapping it front of his grinning face. "So, is this the hobo friend 'Sora' you were talking about, Ichigo?"

Sora was startled at how…serious this man's eyes were as they examined the Keybearer's face. It seemed was like the man's entire personality was just a façade once you looked into his eyes.

'Why's he looking at me like that…wait..'

"I'm not a HOBO!" Sora exclaimed jumping away from the man, his cheeks heating up visibly as he glanced around the room at all the people staring at him rather judgingly. "I'm not!"

"Oi, Urahara. He--" -and Ichigo jabbed a thumb in Sora's general direction.- "--knows who those bastards that attacked me were."

"Really, now?" The man identified as Urahara snapped his fan closed, stepping back and motioning to someone beyond the sliding door he had first entered through. "You should come in and hear this too, Yoruichi." He added thoughtfully before advancing on Sora again.

As soon as he said this, a tall, slim woman with dark skin soundlessly glided through the door, her long purple hair waving behind her in an unseen gust of air. She stopped at Urahara's side, crossing her arms and staring broodingly at Sora.

"I believe introductions are in order," The blonde man pointed his fan dramatically at the purple haired woman. "Sora, this is Yoruichi," He pointed the fan at Sora, who almost stumbled backwards so that he wouldn't be struck by the fan. "-Yoruichi, this is Sora." Both 'introduced' people glared at the man, who in response, chose to ignore their reactions altogether.

"Get on with it, Kisuke." Yoruichi uncrossed her arms, irritably brushing nonexistent dust off her odd orange shirt and tight black pants.

'Well, that looks like a habit…' Sora mentally commented as the woman crossed her arms again.

"…as you wish, Yoruichi." Kisuke was quiet for a moment, flipping open his fan and waving it absentmindedly. "Hmm…Sora, Ichigo, as much as I'd like to tell you what's wrong with you, I'm afraid you're going to have tell me more about what happened; starting with you, Sora."

'What am I going to tell them if they ask about the Organization? The truth? …that could lead to complications…but, then again, I can't very well lie; what if they found out? I'd be as good as the enemy, then…!' Sora probably would have continued his inner monologue had Kisuke not began to ask him some critical questions.

"Who are you, Sora, and why are you here?" The blonde man's voice was surprisingly serious, a complete turn around from the way he had been speaking only a moment before.

Taken back by how direct the man's question was, Sora didn't even think of thinking of an answer for the man until he saw the gazes of all of the occupants of the room staring straight at him.

'I have to say this right the first time; if I screw up, they may think I'm dangerous…and then things could get really bad for me'… The Keybearer opened and shut his mouth several times, trying to find a remotely articulate way of correctly phrasing what he wanted to say. He took a deep breath, focusing his gaze only on the tall man standing before him.

"I'm a Keybearer; a 'chosen one' who can wield this--" He summoned the Keyblade, making sure to hold it unthreatening manner, laxly holding it by one of the sides of the hilt, the key shaped tip pointing to the floor. "--The Keyblade."

Everyone but Urahara seemed surprised, in fact, most of them seemed downright shocked, while the blonde haired man seemed vaguely intrigued. Their expressions aside, no one in the room spoke a word, so Sora took his time to continue.

"There are these things…'Heartless'. 'We' call them that because…they feed on the darkness in someone's heart, corrupting it and tainting it until they--" Sora grimaced as he forced himself to admit this small piece of information which had been common-knowledge in his world, sparing him having to explain it. "--steal their heart completely. These 'Heartless'…only someone with a Keyblade can free the heart they stole. But if someone else kills a Heartless…I don't know what happens to the heart."

"Sounds like that damn 'Quincy'…" Ichigo grumbled disbelievingly from the back of the room where he was leaning against the wall, sulking for some unknown reason.

"I find what you're saying hard to believe." The white haired Captain of the 10th squad had begun pacing around the room.

Rangiku glanced at the young man, chuckling a few times. "Almost as hard to believe as a 'Soul Reaper', captain?"

The white haired man ignored his vice-captain, ceasing his pacing and silently going to join Ichigo in his sulking.

"Interesting," Kisuke glanced at Yoruichi, who, like the others, had stayed mostly silent since Sora had explained who he was. "But that still doesn't explain how and why you're here."

"That's right." Yoruichi agreed .

Sora's eyes darkened and he let his head fall as he recalled how he had been forced to part with his friends. "I'm here because I was traveling with my friends to another world to help another Keybearer…but on the way we were caught in a meteor shower, and we were…separated. That's how I got here…except," Sora looked up, his face now guilt-ridden. "I don't know if there's even a way to get back to them…" The brunette dismissed the Keyblade , shaking his head. "Even if there was a way, now that the Organization XIII is somehow back-" But yet again Sora was cut off. If this how it was all the time here, how did anyone ever get there point across on this world?

"-Yeah, Tell me about those guys already!" Ichigo interrupted, fed up with how his encounter with the Organization had been pretty much ignored.

"They were a bunch of these 'Nobodies'-" Sora started but was interrupted again by the orange haired substitute Soul Reaper.

"Nobodies? They sure as hell weren't nobodies when they were kickin' my ass!" The teenager stated sarcastically.

"A Nobody is the shell left behind of a strong-hearted person who has their heart stolen by a Heartless… the shell has no heart, and no soul; it exists with all the memories of the person before…but they can't feel." Sora paused, trying to pull together everything he had learned in his previous journey to explain exactly what the Organization was. "Organization XIII was a group of nobodies that kept their form because of how strong their hearts used to be. They banded together to try to conquer this thing called 'Kingdom Hearts', because they thought it would make them 'real' again…they were going to destroy everything…so I, and a few others…we destroyed them first. Then I locked the Heartless behind the Door to Darkness…and trust me on that one, it's pretty hard to explain."

"Then why the hell are they here? --Not to mention showing up and knowing who I am?! What the hell was that thing that that blonde stuck-up freak crushed on us? What do they want?" The orange haired teenager seemed to be getting more irritated by the second, not at Sora, but at his current situation.

Sora's answer was simple and he sounded slightly guilty as he said it. "I don't know."

"Wait--So, one moment they were dead, and the next, alive and kicking my ass?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Well, shit." Ichigo swore, immensely annoyed at this point in time.

Rukia cleared her throat loudly, and everyone turned to see her at the small table, a sketchbook in hand, pencil lying on the table. "During your bout of vulgarity, Ichigo, I drew a diagram depicting everything that Sora has told us thus far," She held up a piece of paper littered with deformed bear--or were those bunny--scribbles, some which looked like Sora and the Keyblade. "--I think these should help us understand better what the kid here has been telling us."

Everyone turned away from her.

"H-hey!" Came Rukia's annoyed voice from behind them, but all ignored her pleas and turned their attention back to Sora once again.

"I think we know enough for the moment, Sora." Kisuke glanced over at the door he had entered through to see it open, a tall man with glasses and a large mustache carrying a tray of tea.

"Thanks, Tessai. " Urahara beckoned to the small table which the man had set the tea tray on. "There is a small number of things we should discuss, but we should have refreshment first!"

Everyone--including Rukia-- sat down and drank some odd tasting tea. Sora couldn't help but gag as the odd liquid trickled down his throat. Tea hadn't been a staple drink on the islands he had grown up on, and this…green liquid was extremely foreign to him…not to mention it tasted terrible.

It was Yoruichi who spoke out first, putting her cup down onto the table slowly. "Kisuke, who brewed this? …it might as well be poison."

This was the moment where everyone realized that Urahara himself hadn't been drinking the tea. Noticing that everyone's gaze was on him, he flipped open is fan, waving it in front of him so that no one could see his face. "…Tessai brewed it."

Everyone at the table but Sora immediately set down their cups. Sora slowly put down his, trying to ignore the urge run to the nearest source of water and drink a gallon or two , just to clear his throat of the gross taste.

'I'm never eating or drinking--no--never touching anything this "Tessai" makes ever again.' Sora promised himself, coughing quietly.

Ichigo cleared his throat, looking expectantly at Kisuke. "You said there was still stuff to talk about, right?"

The man seemed pleased that the subject had been changed, and he grinned widely at the orange haired teenager, snapping his fan shut again. "Ichigo, Sora; both of you feel oddly weak, correct?"

"Yeah." Ichigo looked rather…miffed about Kisuke's manner of handling their situation, and his eyebrows--as always--were furrowed together angrily.

"Um, I guess." The brunette teenager shifted his nervously, hoping this also didn't have to do with the Keyblade or the Organization XIII.

"Anything else? Any other feelings?" The dirty blonde yawned loudly.

Ichigo shrugged, his brows drawn together thoughtfully. "I can't pinpoint it exactly, but…"

Sora hummed, trying to think of anything that had felt weird recently. Other than the whole, y'know, breaching the atmosphere thing. "Any other feelings? Like…'

"I feel…sort of empty…?" Both the orange, and brunette haired teenagers spoke this simultaneously.

"Iiiinteresting," Urahara tapped his chin with the closed fan thoughtfully. "I've also been meaning to ask you guys this, but didn't think the timing was appropriate…" he looked first at Sora, and then back to Ichigo. "Have either of you noticed how low your spiritual pressure has become?"

For a moment, Sora was confused before he used his brain to figure out what he meant by 'spiritual pressure'. Ichigo was just gaping at Kisuke.

Yoruichi stared at Ichigo, thinking hard. After a few moments, she plopped her fist into her other open hand, giving a very-cat like exclamation. "Tell me, Ichigo; do you feel the Hollow inside of you still fighting for dominance?"

The said teenager's eyes widened considerably, his mouth falling open. "…no, I don't. Crap, crap, crap! What the hell happened?! Is he..."

The rest of the room was silent as they watched Ichigo try to contain himself, and Rukia scooted closer to him, laying a hand on his arm.

'What does she mean 'the Hollow inside of him'…? And…why do I feel so empty, like something's missing?' Sora's mind tumbled into turmoil as he tried to grab the answer that seemed to dance just out of is reach. 'Hey, Roxas, gimmie some help here..!'

And then it hit him.

'…Roxas?' Sora began to panic. '…Roxas, are you there?'

'Roxas?' He repeated again, his mental voice now desperate.

'ROXAS?!'

-Karakura Downtown-

'What am I doing?' Roxas ran haphazardly down the crowded street, panting as he ran out of breath. He shouted several apologies over his shoulder when he collided with people, but didn't stop running, didn't look back.

When the blonde had heard shouts and movement approaching his, at the two unconscious teens location, he had turned and ran. He didn't look back, and didn't stop running until he was completely out of breath; and even then he mustered enough energy to veer into a small, trash littered alleyway, away from the bustling afternoon crowd.

He slumped against the grimy wall, gasping for air as he tried to grasp what he had just run from.

'Why did I run? I didn't do anything wrong…did I? It's not like I killed them…' Roxas shuddered at this thought, remembering Sora's seemingly dead body. The brunette had been breathing, he recognized that now, but that didn't change how he felt.

"This is wrong," He looked at his hands, unable to stop a small surge of joy. "I shouldn't be this way. I was amalgamated with Sora before they destroyed Xemnas."

Shame.

Exultation at his newfound freedom.

…and a lightly tingling sensation in his nose from the stench of the trash.

Roxas felt all of these simultaneously as he stood in the dark alley, reduced to clinging to the slime-ridden wall. His mind helplessly buzzing with to many questions and feelings.

An amused voice sounded from behind the blonde, whose eyes widened in surprise.. "Wuss."

Spinning around, Roxas was surprised to see a man who seemed to be the exact replica of the unconscious orange haired teenager he had seen earlier that day; however, this person seemed to be completely bleached white-except for his eyes, which were so bizarre; the whites of his eyes were instead black, and his pupils a glowing gold.

"Who are you?" The ex-Organization XIII member glanced around him warily, cursing himself for putting himself in a situation such as this, in a narrow alleyway, where there was nowhere to run but to a dead end.

The man just laughed at him, and Roxas could see that the…thing had a blue tongue. Weird.

"Hey! Why do you look like him?" Roxas assumed that the bleached man would know who he was talking about.

"I could ask the same, midget." The man replied, sneering toothily.

Roxas was trying his hardest not to retort to the man's 'comments', but was getting fairly agitated. "…how do you know about Sora?"

"I was there, same as you. Tell me," the man took several steps closer to Roxas, who in response took several steps back. "What the hell happened back there?"

"I…don't know…" Roxas kept backing up until he found his back up against a dead end. 'crap…'

"Not good enough—" The man was suddenly in front of Roxas, choking him with one hand, his eyes narrowed, sneer now an insane grin. "-twerp."

"H-hey!" The blonde Keybearer struggled against the white haired man, trying to kick the man but failing, his legs swinging out uselessly. The man's reaction as to haul Roxas up against the wall, still choking him with only one hand.

"You're going to tell what happened, or I'm going to kill you. Pick one."

"Sc-screw you…!" Roxas managed to choke out, trying to flail once again, but he was starting to lost energy from the effort against the other man with so little air in his lungs.

Laughing again, the man squeezed Roxas neck so hard the teenager saw stars. "Stupid."

The blonde summoned the Kingdom Key, swinging out at the man's face. The man dropped him in alarm, dodging the odd weapon before reaching behind himself and pulling a large white sword off his back.

''Better than a freak with a bad eye infection!" Roxas stalled, his voice cracking as he slowly regained control over his bruised vocal cords.

'The sword is almost as long as his body…!' He thought nervously, now taking in the man's full appearanceHis assailant was clothed in the same garments Roxas had seen the orange haired teenager wearing, only this man's attire was a completely inverted version.

Then Roxas soon realized that he was still trapped at the dead-end, and thrust the Keyblade out in front of him defensively, haggardly gasping for air in his now sore throat.

"What's wrong, kid, 'fraid of me?" The man began to walk towards Roxas, leering manically.

'I can't run; he'll kill me in a second with that…'thing' if I try to get past him…' Roxas' eyes scanned the alleyway for any possible escape routes, and after a moment of frantic searching, he finally found something with some sort of prospect.

'That should work…'

"How could I be afraid of someone so freakin' colour blind?" Spat the blonde Keybearer as he made a dash towards the bleached man, swerving at the last second to plant a foot high on the brick wall, swinging his weight forward so that he could run for a short distance on the side of thewall. As Roxas felt gravity begin to pull him down, he kicked off the wall, grabbing the overhang of the building and using it to swing himself in the opposite direction of the bleached man. As Roxas flew forward off the building, he twisted mid-air, chucking the Keyblade at the man's head as hard as he could.

The man on the receiving end of the weapon grinned, easily using his over-sized sword to deflect the Keyblade, grabbing Roxas' weapon by the hilt before it could shoot back towards where the Keybearer had landed.

The man looked like he was about to say something particularly crude about Roxas, that was, until he noticed that the blonde teenager had turned tail and ran out of the alley, not looking back.

"You'd leave your own weapon behind?!" Roxas heard the man shout after him, and soon he could hear loud footsteps behind him, signaling that the man was indeed following him.

The Keybearer didn't know what to do; he was being chased by someone who could probably kill him and then go eat a sundae without a second thought, not to mention he was in a place completely foreign to him. On the other hand, however, this man seemed to be in the same situation as he was; and there was even a small chance the man knew remotely what had happened to the both of them.

By this time though, Roxas had ran back into the largely populated square, where what seemed to be a small sea of people were constantly moving, shouting friendly greetings at the people they recognized over the crowd.

This was about the time when Roxas decided to stop running. Turning around, he found himself face to face with his pursuer. Well, face to chest, really, because the man was several heads taller than him. The Keyblade was nowhere to be seen, and the teenager assumed it had disappeared on it's own after the Keybearer had bolted.

"Finally decided to stop being such a pansy, huh?" The man remarked, leering angrily at Roxas, who glared defiantly up at the man.

"Finally decided to stop trying to kill me long enough for us to find out what happened back there?" Was Roxas' hurried reply, as he glanced around to make sure no one had heard him. 'All we need is for somebody to think that this guy's sword is real…' Most of the crowd offered the bleached man odd looks, but none seemed too alarmed. 'Maybe a lot of people wear costumes around here?'

"…I was getting tired of playing with a whelp like you, anyway. 'Specially after that stupid weapon of yours disappeared." The man sneered at Roxas, who was glaring even harder at him now. The tall man laughed openly at the blonde's fierce look, but the two had seemed to make a silent truce to stop trying to kill each other. For now.

"Yeah, whatever. Can't you change or something? …people are staring."

"Are you sure they aren't staring at you?"

"That's right, they're staring at the normal looking--not to mention normal acting--teenager, instead of staring at the white freak with the huge sword and black eyes." Roxas snapped sarcastically, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"Better a freak than a wimp!" Came the man's reply before stalking off through the crowd, and into a nearby store. Roxas only had to wait a few moments before he heard some angry yelling coming from said store followed by a white and black blur.

The 'freak' was suddenly behind him, roughly grabbing the teenager's thin arm and hauling him away from the scene. Seconds later the man shoved him into a bathroom, thrusting him into a stall and slamming the stall door closed.

"I change, you change." He called, chucking a small bright red bag over the divider to land on the teens head. Roxas was staring at the stall door, mouth hanging open in surprise at how he had just been so…manhandled.

The teenager waited until he saw the man's sandaled feet move out of view and undressed, chucking his smelly clothes into the corner of the stall. 'Jeeze, that alley stunk…' He thought, disgusted he had even been wearing those stinky, sweaty clothes for so long. Opening the messenger bag, he pulled out several items of clothing and proceeded to redress himself, swearing when he bumped his forehead on the front of the stall door as he was trying to get a particularly tight shirt on. As soon as he was done dressing, he shoved all of his old clothes into the messenger bag, promising the bag would find a way to wash the clothes before the stink became too ingrained in the fabric.

A moment later, he stepped out of the stall, glancing at himself in the mirror. He was now only wearing one layer of clothing, compared to the several of his last outfit. Instead of his multiple jackets, he now wore only a very tight fitting white shirt, with black sleeves that stopped at his forearms. A small gold crown decorated the neckline of the shirt, which was also a little tight on the teenager. Instead of his grey and crème pants that he had been wearing a moment before, he now wore slim legged blue jeans, which he was currently winding a leather belt around. Trying not to fuss with the chain on the side, he glanced at himself again 'Wait…this looks a little like…' Roxas' eyes narrowed furiously at his own reflection as a wonderful realization dawned on him

"You gave me girl's clothes!" The teenager almost shouted, a dark blush rising to his cheeks as he tried to mentally kill his reflection for portraying him so…girlishly.

"What, you're not a girl?" An amused voice came from the side of the bathroom, and the blonde teenager spun around to see the bleached man standing strolling out of one of the bathroom stalls, shrugging on a white over shirt over an equally white tank top. He left the over shirt unbuttoned, but rolled the sleeves up to his elbows so that they wouldn't get in the way during a fight.

Instead of the white traditional hakama Roxas had met him in, he now wore normal white slacks, tight against his hips, as he was wearing a simple black leather belt. Roxas could see that under the trousers --surprise, surprise-- he was wearing white leather shoes.

"Does Roxas sound like a girl name to you?!" The blonde's reply was tart as he glared at the now modernly-dressed man.

"For someone with such a 'fair complexion' as you, it'll do just fine.'' The man jeered as he slid a pair of slim black sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, straightening them clumsily. He had obviously never wore eyeshades before.

"'Fair complexion', my ass. You're the one that's whiter than sour cream."

"Che, Whatever. Do I look 'normal' now?"

"You look like you're about to kill someone."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Perfect," He smirked, running a hand through his stark opal hair. "Let's go, Roxanne." The man turned, opening the bathroom door and striding out, a triumphant grin adorning his white face.

Roxas followed, shaking his head pessimistically as he heard the man cackle malevolently.

What had he gotten himself into?

-

-

-

Writer's Note:

Lizeth couldn't be here for this chapter, 'cause she fell into the black hole known as finals. Pray for her safe return...

Replies to reviewers without a account (note: people without accounts will not be able to comment after this

To xAkatsukiDeidara: For all that is clay, explosive and artful, NO. I simply refuse to write such a thing as cross-pairings in this fiction. Never-ever.

Why?

-because it would make something like Aizen x Mickey possible, that's why!

...gross.

To Ikena: Thank you so much :D I hope you enjoy what happens to the characters in the future chapters!

Happy Holidays!

Fayette