PrismRain13: Yay! Thanks for all the reviews, guys!

Sora: Prism here still owns nothing except the plot, you didn't expect that to change, did you?

PrismRain13: If I did, Kairi would have been kicking major butt in KH1...

Chapter 4: The Land of Dragons

He didn't understand why, but what he had just done was really bugging him. The young man was lying down on his bed, yet the softness didn't comfort him at all. Riku looked up at the ceiling, thinking about Alice; her kindness had reminded him so much of Kairi. Would she have wanted him to do this?

"This just sucks," Riku groaned as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Indeed, this does," a low, powerful and familiar voice spoke near him. Riku instantly perked up and looked anxiously around the room.

"Who's there?" Riku questioned as he raised Soul Eater, trying not to let the voice know how scared he was.

"Think of me as a guide, Riku," the voice spoke again as a figure walked out of the shadows. Riku recognized him immediately as the person from his earlier nightmare. However, before he could say anything, the figure spoke again, "Why are you laying here with guilt? Guilt is weakness, you cannot expect to get any stronger that way!" the islander lowered his weapon as the figure continued, "You left your islands to go to other worlds, so why don't you?"

"I don't know how," Riku said softly.

"Then I will show you how," The figure moved slowly and casually out of the door and into the hall. Riku stared at him for a moment before following him. After a few minutes, they had reached the library. Bookshelves pilled with a large number of books were on every wall in the room. The carpet was an emerald green and the walls were a pale yellow. The man ran his fingers along the many books and finally pulled out a black and dark purple tomb with the heartless symbol on the cover. But, when he opened it, Riku saw that it was really a hollow book and inside was a small dark purple crystal. The figure placed the crystal in Riku's hand. "Corridors of darkness are created when a being summons enough darkness from their hearts. However, you do not posses enough darkness just yet. Until your darkness has grown, this crystal will create the corridor for you."

"Thanks," Riku nodded as the figure disappeared. The young man turned the crystal a few times in his hand, then a dark corridor appeared in front of him. Riku took a deep breath, then walked in. What he didn't notice, was a shadow heartless watch curiously, then follow him through the corridor.

~*KH*~

Riku appeared moments later in the middle of a large Chinese family yard with a cherry blossom tree and small lake and bridge, with a small temple with small tombstones inside. The islander noticed a young black-haired woman dresses in a pink dress made of various fabrics sitting under the cherry blossom tree on a stone bench and crying softly. Riku walked up to her,

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No," the woman cried, "I ruined my interview with the matchmaker; now I'll never bring honour to my family." she continued to cry until Riku took a seat next to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You can't blame yourself," Riku said to her as the woman looked at him with sad brown eyes, "You were probably just nervous; it happens to all of us." Then, the island boy gazed at the flowers on the cherry blossom tree, "Take the blossoms for example; some have already bloomed, but one's late," he said as he pointed out the one blossom that hadn't bloomed yet, "I would bet you anything that when this on blooms, it'll be ready to show you what it's made of." the woman laughed softly and managed a small smile.

"Thank you," she smiled, "I feel much better now. I don't think I got your name."

"It's Riku," he told her, "And, don't worry about what the matchmaker said; you decide who you are not some lady."

"Thank you, Riku. My name's Mulan," she replied as she stood up from her seat, "I'd better tell my mother and father what happened, and what my plans are now," Mulan bowed in respect to the young man, and then walked with new confidence towards her house. Riku watched her, until she was gone, feeling good that he had made a positive impact on someone's life. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard from the small temple and small, skinny red lizard-like creature flew out and knocked Riku right off the bench.

"AND STAY OUT MUSHU!" a deep voice roared from within the temple. The lizard stood, looking dazed on top of Riku's head. Then, he shook his head and glared at the temple that had to be at least twenty feet away now.

"You just wait head-ancestor-guy! Mushu ain't gonna tolerate this kinda treatment from nobody! And when I do somethin' amazingly worth a gold medal; somethin' family guardian-material, you're gonna be sorry!" The lizard then stuck his toungue out in the direction of the temple. Riku doubted whoever had kicked him out could hear him anymore. It was then that the lizard realized that he was standing on Riku's head. "You just heard everything, didn't you?" The lizard asked nervously. Riku looked up at him and rolled his eyes.

"Definitely not something I needed to hear," the islander said as he got up from his position on the ground and the lizard moved to Riku's shoulder, "What could a little lizard like you have done to get that guy so mad at you anyway?"

"Woah! Dragon!" he exclaimed, "Dragon not lizard! I don't do that tongue thing!" Riku shrugged, the two were silent for a moment, until the dragon spoke up again, "Say, maybe you can help me out? Tough guy like you should be able to teach that tubby ghost jerk a thing or two!"

"Look, I'd like to help, but I'm a little busy trying to find my friends..." Riku started to say, but the dragon interrupted him.

"No problem! That's perfect! Once the head ancestor sees how great of a guardian I am with you; he's sure to make me a family guardian again!" Riku stared uneasily at the small creature, and then he grabbed onto his shirt with his tiny claws and leaned in uncomfortably close to Riku's face, "Please! I'm beggin' ya here!"

"Okay, okay," Riku said as he carefully pulled the little dragon off him, "You can come with me, but I'm warning you; you need to stay hidden when Maleficent and her group are watching." the dragon then caught Riku's face in a tight hug with his entire body.

"Thank you! Thank you man! You've just made this dragon's day!" Riku winced from how tight the dragon was holding on, then pried him off his face, "By the way, in case you didn't hear the head ancestor's angry voice; the name's Mushu."

"I'm Riku," Riku replied as Mushu climbed on to Riku's shoulder.

"Alright, Riku my man. So where're we going?" Mushu asked with enthusiasm. But, before Riku could reply, he heard a female voice growl in frustration, followed by the sound of a battle progressing. Riku began walking quietly towards the sounds and looked behind a stone wall and saw three people; all wearing long, black cloaks and carrying different weapons battling a large dragon-like heartless. The first was a woman with short blonde hair that had two strands sticking out, she had a cruel look in her green eyes and was carrying eight yellow and blue knives between her fingers, which she was using to fire bolts of lightning and slash deep wounds. The second had steel blue bangs that completely covered half of his face, he was carrying a dark book and firing blasts of dark magic at the heartless. The third was a man with firey-red hair, green eyes and two strange tattoos under his eyes, he was wielding two large circular silver and red weapons and throwing fire at the heartless. Riku and Mushu watched the battle progress until the heartless disappeared. The three warriors stretched and the woman groaned as she dismissed her knives.

"I still don't get why we have to do this; it's not like us fighting the heartless is going to help Kingdom Hearts' progress," She growled.

"If you paid attention at the last meeting, Larxene, we are supposed to be looking for the keybearer who is believed to be defeating the heartless," the man with the book replied while Larxene huffed.

"Oh, come on Zexion, you know hardly any of us pays attention to what the boss man has to say," The red-head stepped in, "I mean everything he has to say is so boring and he always says the same stuff," He then made his voice go deeper, Riku assumed that he was mocking their boss, "We must complete Kingdom Hearts! We must find a keyblade wielder so we can complete Kingdom Hearts! We must..."

"That's enough Axel," Zexion snapped, "You know full well what Lord Xemnas says goes."

"Yeah, if you don't fall asleep in the middle of a meeting," Larxene smirked, "Which, if I remember correctly, Demyx did the other day."

"Man, who are those guys?" Mushu whispered in Riku's ear.

"I don't know," Riku admitted, "I've never seen them before," then, the woman looked in their direction and smirked again.

"Well, boys it looks like we're not alone," but before Riku realized she was talking about them, she grabbed Riku's arm, pulled him out of his hiding place and threw him onto the ground in front of the two men. Mushu cringed in fear.

"Well, this is awkward," the dragon winced. Axel stepped in front of Riku and crossed his arms.

"Any particular reason you were spying on us?" he questioned. When Riku only glared and didn't awnser Axel laughed in amusement, "I thought so," Larxene then came up behind Riku and pulled him up by the collar of his shirt and grabbed Mushu's thin torso in her other hand.

"So, what do you think we should do with them?" Larxene asked as she gained another evil smirk. Zexion crossed his arms and looked down at Riku.

"Perhaps we should take them to the castle, Lord Xemnas should know the proper punishment for these scum." Zexion smirked as both Riku and Mushu quivered in fear.

Sora: ohh... intense.

PrismRain13: Yay! Remember to review guys! Be awesome!