-August 20th, 2060

Regiment Leader Genesis has called all Hunters down to the main courtyard for the annual assessing battles. Make sure your swords are sharp! Assessing begins at 6 in the evening, assessment order will be posted at exactly 6, so make sure you are on time!

-Signed, Newsmaster of North Terrace

It had been a good week since the mysterious demon had appeared and even since he couldn't get that smirk out of his mind. It was cat-like and he could have sworn everytime he saw a cat move past him he saw the hooded face of that man again. Which pissed him off a lot since there were a lot of stray cats around the palace and the fact that he'd befriended one against the law against Hunters having pets. It wasn't that the Hunter Regiment hated dogs and cats, it was always the possibility that if a Hunter died in a battle or sickness or something, they would have to figure out who would take care of the pet. Some did not have family that could take care of it and others who were friends possibly couldn't either what with their Hunter duties and whatnot.

Roxas had once again been at his schoolwork, it was required, Hunter or not, to get a decent education even if it was a pain in the ass to finish it along with Hunter duties. As he was scribbling down the answer for an algebra question someone knocked at his door and Roxas groaned hoping it wasn't Riku. It wasn't that he hated the silver haired boy, it was that he annoyed the crap out of the blonde when it came to getting him for things.

"Dang..." Breathed Roxas as he got up from his position on the floor to the door. As he unlocked it and creaked it open the first thing that he saw was a hooded face. Immediately he snapped into action quickly backtracking grabbing the closest keyblade near him, which was Oathkeeper and pointed it at the door.

The hooded face dropped whatever it was holding putting its hands up. "R-roxas! Its just me!" Now that Roxas looked he saw that this wasn't the demon from a week ago, it was just Sora. Tiredly he moved Oathkeeper away from Sora and next to Oblivion again.

"Sorry..." Roxas apologized feeling very stupid for mistaking his cousin and best friend for a demon. 'I'm just tired, that's all. I just need to go to sleep earlier, that's all.'he thought to himself in a convincing manner. Strangely enough it worked and he opened the door for Sora wider as he picked up what he had dropped. Strangely enough it was his keyblade and Roxas had to wonder why he had it with him. "Sora, what's up with bringing your keyblade here?"

"What? Oh, you didn't get the message yet?" Sora said looking at Kingdom Key in his hand and twisting his wrist once or twice. "The assessments are today silly! 6 o'clock sharp. Was wondering if you'd like to get some practice in beforehand." Sora smiled a bit shyly before asking, "So what do you think?"

"Sure. Love to!" Roxas said with a huge smile. He loved to practice fighting and Sora was about the same skill level as him so it was an even match, perfect for practice besides it beat doing boring old homework any day. Checking the clocktower outside his room it read 4:47 in the evening, good they still had about an hour. "Where do you wanna practice?"

Sora shrugged. "I was hoping near the back woods where no one would disturb us. We'll still be in good view of the clock tower too so we can check the time there.

"Alright, lets go then." Roxas nodded retrieving Oathkeeper and Oblivion from their spot by his bedside. He grabbed his room key and locked the door shutting it behind him as Sora suddenly took off.

"Race you!" Sora shouted behind him laughter visible on his face.

"You'll lose!" Roxas called as he took after his friend at rapid speed. How he'd missed this, ever since he and Sora had become apprentice level Hunters things had changed and they couldn't do many things together that they had when they were just trainees. In all the regiments there is a system of which Hunters and others alike are moved up in rank. At assessments, which happen annually, a Hunter can go up in rank if they beat someone of higher rank than they are. In the rankings it goes trainee, apprentice, Hunter, Senior Hunter, Regiment Commander, Regiment Leader.

The Regiment Leaders were the strongest and fastest of all the Hunters. Cloud was a Senior Hunter while Zack was a Regiment Commander. Roxas doubted he'd be going against Genesis in combat though, even though there would be a lot who'd love to see it.

As the scenery started to change into the broken down wall crevice that opened the way to the back woods he had almost caught up to Sora. "I'm catching up!" he called to the brunette who tried to run faster, but was almost at his limit. With a last burst of speed he made it out of the crevice wall first and cheered throwing both hands into the air before flopping over onto the grass on his back.

"Dang...it..." Sora panted flopping down on his stomach next to his cousin out of breath.

"You always lose." Roxas laughed as he caught his breath first getting up into a sitting position and set his blades down stretching his arms. Sora could only reply with a nod as he took longer to catch his own breath. He coughed a bit and Roxas looked over at him. "You alright? You pushed yourself pretty hard." Roxas thought it was his breathing again. He was the only one in the regiment, besides Cloud that is, that knew about Sora's problems with his breathing. He was sure they called it asthma or something, but then again he wasn't sure.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Sora said becoming able to breathe better now. "I can take care of myself."

"And look at what a lot of good that's getting you so far," Roxas joked, but was hit in the shoulder roughly by Sora. "Sorry! We'll start when you're ready."

"I'mready now." Sora grumpily added. He hated people thinking they had to worry over him all the time. He'd grow out of it, they said he would, but they couldn't give him a whenand that was what ticked him off most of all. He had just grown used to it he guessed, but still hoped it'd go away and never come back. It wasn't comforting not being able to breathe properly, especially the tightening of his lungs in his chest, it hurt and sometimes he wondered if it would stay with him for the rest of his life. Shaking his head Sora turned his attention back to Roxas who had grabbed his keyblades and moved fluidly into his fighting stance.

"Then lets see if we've improved then. I'll break our tie and be on a winning streak, just you watch! See if you can stop me!" Roxas said dashing at Sora who smiled putting both hands on Kingdom Key waiting for his cousin to strike. When it came Sora blocked both keyblades with his own pushing him back. Both exchanged blows on one another, but were most likely blocked by the other person. Roxas had gotten a few hits in to Sora's shoulders and right leg. Sora had also gotten him as well on his left arm as well as his legs.

The two battled it out until they heard a struggling noise as well as some screaming. Both looked up from their practice fight to notice someone coming from the crevice wall and with it the noise of the screaming and struggling. Out of the crevice was a woman, tied up by the wrists and ankles yelling at her captor. "You're crazy! I've done nothing! Please let me go..." her yelling had turned into pleas.

Now the captor was now visible, it was Genesis! "R-regiment Leader!" Sora stammered moving to attention out of respect for the Leader as did Roxas though he said nothing.

"What are you doing here?" Genesis demanded taking in both apprentices with his eyes.

Feeling a little nervous under that hawk-eye gaze Roxas calmly answered, "Practice, sir."

"Practice? For the assessment you mean." Genesis said then looked up at the clock, "You'd better get to the courtyard, the fight referee does not like late Hunters nor do I. So get to it."

"Yes sir." Both answered and Sora took off for the courtyard, but Roxas lingered. He looked at the girl who was tied up who glared at them. She looked to be his age, give to take a few months perhaps, with ice blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes that were retracted in a fierce state.

"Is there a problem?" Genesis asked as he caught Roxas lingering. Roxas said nothing and he decided it was best he showed this apprentice what a full Hunter's duty was. "Come along." he ordered beckoning him with a finger and Roxas looked up surprised. Roxas glanced at the blonde, but she looked away with contempt for him.

'She's a demon,' he told himself, but couldn't help but feel a twinge in his heart for her. 'What does Genesis plan to do to her? I thought they killed them usually in the torture chambers...'A bad feeling swept through him, but again his pride caused him to ignore it as he followed Genesis deeper into the woods along with the blonde demon-girl.

'Where is he taking us?'Wondered Roxas as they finally came to a stop. Looking around he swore he almost retched at the sight of it. The ground had almost no grass on it and from the looks of it the ground was stained red. Why did Genesis have to take him here? He didn't even know that this place actually existed.

"I see you're confused." Genesis said before dropping the girl. Walking over to Roxas he laid a light hand on his shoulder. "You see Roxas, I thought it was time you saw one of the Hunter duties you may be asked to perform. I was issued to kill this girl in the back woods by Ansem himself. She's been through trial already and the law states that her punishment is execution."

The word "execution" made him a little uneasy as he glanced at the girl again. He'd been to some of the trials, even taken part in one or two of them. It was one of those 'go with the crowd' things he figured, but still the aftermath of one of those trials... he'd never thought of that before until now. Genesis removed his hand and drew his sword walking to the girl pointing his sword under her neck lifting her chin up to look at him. "You'll do this too one day." he said tensing his hands to get a better grip on the sword as he prepared to plunge it into the girl's throat.

"WAIT!"

Genesis stopped and looked over his shoulder. Roxas was panting from the yell. "Excuse me?" he said eyes narrowed. Roxas said nothing. "What did you say apprentice?" his hawk stare was firmly fixed on the blonde boy. Again Roxas said nothing, but stared at his feet appalled by what he'd done. "Answer me!" He demanded.

"I said wait...sir." Roxas answered softly cringing a bit.

"That's what I thought I heard. Keep a lock on that tongue of yours. I'll ignore your outburst for now, after all this would probably be the second time experiencing a death am I right?" Genesis said sticking his sword in the ground as both Hunters glanced at the blonde girl who's eyes were wide with shock at Roxas.

The words caught in his throat as he answered, "Yes s-sir." It had been at least three years since that had happened.

"It'll get some getting used to, I know it took me a little while to get used to it too. That was until I learned it was for the greater good of Midgar and now it has become North Terrace for me. You will learn too." Genesis said picking his sword out of the ground. Roxas said nothing, but looked up when the sound of metal on metal caught his attention and he whipped around to see the strange circluar weapon from a week ago! It was the hooded stranger again and he had attacked Genesis before he could get any closer to the blonde demon.

"Oi! Demyx, get in here!" The stranger called into the woods as he jumped back throwing the circular things at Genesis. Roxas looked around, but saw no one and grabbed Oathkeeper and Oblivion just in case preparing himself. When he looked over to where the blonde girl was he found she was gone and heard the sound of retreating footsteps farther into the woods.

"Apprentice. Give me a little hand over here, it'll be good experience." Genesis said and Roxas moved closer to where the both of them were fighting.

"Been a while hasn't it Sunshine?" Called the stranger the smirk on his lips again.

"Its not Sunshine!" Roxas yelled attacking the stranger. "Its Roxas!" Blocking the keyblades the hooded man looked over his shoulder to see Genesis coming at him. Quickly he tried to dodge and a tearing sound as well as a grunt of pain from the man came to Roxas' ears.

As Roxas jumped back Genesis noticed that the girl was gone now and traced a glare to the hooded man. "You again? I should have figured as much."

"You remember me then? I'm flattered." Came the voice again taking off his hood. What Roxas saw surprised him. He had the brightest red hair he'd ever seen, it was like it was on fire. His cat-like eyes were the color of emerald green and Roxas spotted the teardrop shaped tattoos underneath his cheekbones.

"Like a thorn that needs to be removed. Yet seems to avoid the tweezers that are used to remove such a thing." Genesis said his eyes narrowed in their hawk-like fashion. The Hawk versus the Cat.

"You need to relax. Take a load off." The redhead waved his hand with the circular weapon in it a bit before answering, "I'd love to settle our little skirmish, but I have other matters to attend to." He flashed his gaze Roxas's way and he felt a little intimidated under the green gaze, but then felt anger as he spoke. "I'll see you around then Sunshine?" he laughed a bit as Roxas attacked him again before taking off into the trees as Genesis went after him then calling back to Roxas.

"Go to the assessment. Tell them you are excused from being late and that I'll talk with them later on very important matters. No go!" Genesis's figure disappeared into the trees and Roxas felt a little uneasy and alone standing there on the blood-stained ground by himself. Shaking his head clear he made his way back to the courtyard at a sprint.

As he arrived he was bombarded with words of disappointment for him being late from Cloud. "I was with the Regiment Leader though!" Roxas explained to him and Cloud wasn't fazed even though it was the truth.

"Just go explain yourself to the assessment referee and other Senior Hunters." Cloud said with a sigh as Roxas moved away. It always happened this way, nobody ever paid attention to the stuff he did until he did something wrong. Sighing himself he made his way to the table where the assessment referee, a girl named Yuna, and the Senior Hunters were seated.

"You're late Roxas." Yuna replied a little shocked, he was never late for assessments. Out of all the Hunters Yuna was one of the few that actually did pay attention to him, even though she was a Regiment Commander along with Zack.

"I was with Regiment Leader Genesis. There was a demon, he told me to come back and tell you that he'll discuss some important matters with you later." he said and Yuna nodded.

"Very well, although your match has already gone by." At Yuna's words Roxas looked a bit depressed. "But don't worry," she added, "I'll work out something with Genesis for you since you have a good reason." Many others at the table protested this, but were quickly silenced by the glare she shot them. Turning back to Roxas she added, "I think you should get some rest, you look worse for wear. I think Sora was looking for you too. I'd stop by his room if I were you." she winked at him.

Roxas nodded. "I'll stop by tomorrow."

"Good, now off with you!" she smiled as he walked off with his keyblades. Yuna sighed as she watched him go. 'Such a good kid he is, but really is this life best for him? I wonder...'she thought before turning back to the rest of the Hunters. "Well? What are you all sitting around for? Lets get a move on!"

"Yes ma'am!"

As Roxas went back to his room he had a feeling he'd done something that he shouldn't have. When he opened the door to his room it suddenly dawned on him. "That demon knows my name! Dammit!" he shouted furious at himself. The worst part of it? He didn't even know the other's name.

A-N:

Yet another chapter finished. -sigh- Our devilish demon appears yet again to stir up trouble. Ah how I love writing about that. -cheers- My inspiriation is finally coming back to me! -cheers again- I'll be starting on the next chapter to this and Goal! soon. Thankyew to all who reviewed so far!

P.S. I was at my Grandmother's while typing and finishing this, but she doesn't have wi-fi so that is why its a bit late. Thank you for your patience! )

P.S.S. The plot will come in the next chapter after the next chapter! :3

-Kiesha/Breadstick

(( Doesn't want to go to hell like my friend commands me to so she'll have someone to talk to when she gets there. Its too hot and I hate places that are too hot. Murr. xD ))