Okay~! I think I have something to go on for the story.

Sora: Curse DeviantArt! I can't believe you got ideas from a Doujinshi and its writer!

Yes tis' true my dear readers. You see yesterday whilst I was going through the motions of cleaning out inboxes and whatnot, I came across a Doujinshi in one of the many groups I participate in called Stained by Darkness by LovelessHyde. After telling her of this lovely fanfic she gave me some ideas in the form of rants because she was disappointed it's still in progress. So LovelessHyde, thank you so much!

Riku: Why do you do this to us? You and your band of fangirls are evil!

Axel: I personally don't care because the more ideas she gets the faster I get to be with my Roxie.

Roxas: Hey, behave yourself. You're lucky you were disproved of being a pedophile.

Too true, be grateful to CameoAmalthea. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, and if I did the nation of yaoi fans would all be in happy comas right now.

Riku was staring at his back through the bathroom mirror in shock. How could he have gone the entire week and not noticed them? On his back were words written in an intricate text, black, and standing out boldly against his pale skin. Three words, Alone on his right shoulder blade, Torn on his lower back, and Tainted on his left side. When had they appeared? What did they mean?

"It's scary huh?" Axel asked beside him.

"You knew about these? How?" Riku asked.

Axel rubbed the back of his head, avoiding eye contact, "Ever since the first one popped up. That night you got the phone call from Kairi about Sora. The second one popped up after you talked to your grandmother the next day. That one on your side popped up just this morning."

Riku looked at his back again seeing each word "Is there a way to get rid of them?" he asked.

"I dunno. Man it's times like this I wish Zexion or even Vexen (A/N: LOL! Who else finds that frickin' hilarious right now?) were still around. And I hate Vexen! But he would know about this stuff you know. They're written in darkness." Axel said.

"Darkness? But… It shouldn't be doing this, I have a balance." The silverette protested.

"Don't look at me man. I can't answer whatever questions you may have." Axel said grimly.

X_X_X_X_X

Sora looked over himself again in the bathroom mirror. He was wearing his now usual outfit, but it was colored that of his Wisdom Drive "I'm ditching the jacket." He declared taking the clothing article off.

"Do whatever the hell you want, it's your date." Roxas said indifferently.

"You could be a little more helpful here." Sora scowled.

"Nope. Never dated a girl so I don't know what they'd expect. You know this already Sor." Roxas noted.

"Well yeah you never had to worry about dates with Axel! You always wore your coats wherever you guys went!" Sora whined.

"Then you know I'm useless. Go talk to your mom. Hell you could have even asked Riku."

"My mom would spaz again and Riku's busy today. He's making up for the work he missed this week since I forced him to go home twice since he's been tired." Sora looked at himself again and sighed, "I guess I'll have to go as I am. Better get going before it gets too late in the day." He left the bathroom for his room throwing the jacket onto his bed and grabbing the money he would need for everything he wanted to do with Kairi for the day.

"Sora honey, are you going now?" Lee Mei called from the kitchen upon hearing her son run for the front door.

"Yeah Momma, I'll be back later." He responded.

"Okay sweetheart, have fun."

With that Sora left his house. The day was beautiful; the sky was at its bluest with a few fluffy white clouds hanging in it as if they'd been painted in. The sun was bright and warm on his skin, and the air was scented with the salt of the ocean the gentle breeze brought as his ruffled Sora's chocolate hair. The way things felt made Sora feel nothing could go wrong with today and he happily made his way to Kairi's.

As he was passing Riku's house he saw his friend coming out of his door wearing the outfit Sora saw him in when he had gotten his own body back "Hey Riku! Going to work now?" he called.

Riku, apparently in a bit of a daze, looked up at the younger boy and blinked, "Oh hey Sora. Yeah, yeah I am. You're heading to Kairi's?"

Sora studied Riku hard; he looked a little better than he had at school, but not all that much. He still looked tired, his body was tensed up, all in all he looked like he hadn't gotten that much rest like Sora had wanted him to and it made him worry.

"Riku, are you sure you want to go into work today? You still look a little worn down. Maybe school and a job are a bit too much for you." The brunette said.

Riku blinked and quickly adopted his trademark smirk the said, "I can handle anything you throw at me!" "C'mon Sora, you worry too much you know that? I'm just…" he trailed off a bit before swallowing thickly "I'm just a little worried right now is all, so I might be a little out of it for a while." He explained.

"What's going on Riku?" Sora asked feeling a little worried himself.

Riku gave a soft smile, "Nothing I can't handle. Now stop trying to make me bring you down with my problems, don't you have a girl waiting for you? You can't be depressed for you date with Kairi right?"

True as it may have been, Sora couldn't help but feel worried. Roxas had told him he had a sense of foreboding, now Sora felt it, something was definitely wrong with his friend. "Well if you're sure Riku. I'll talk to you later, okay?" he said.

The silverette's smile warmed and grew a little, touched that Sora showed concern from him despite the response. If anything it helped him feel as if a little weight had been lifted off his shoulders "Yeah. Hell, come by the shop if you want before you head to that movie. I'll get you and Kairi a discount on snacks since the prices at the theater are ridiculous." He said.

Sora gave his own bright smile, "Sounds like a plan. Bye Riku, have a good day!" and he took off down the street happily.

Riku just chuckled a little, shaking his head as he watched his friend. Then his smile dropped again; he wondered, how much longer would he last now that the darkness in him has begun to show itself? What would Sora do if he noticed it? He felt as if the world was trying to close in on him, the air around him was thick, almost suffocating with the darkness he felt secreting out of him now that he knew about those words writing themselves on his back. He felt the tension all around him was so heavy he could touch it if he reached a hand out to feel for it.

Was it because he had to watch Sora be happy or because he felt jealousy deep down for Kairi even though he gave her his blessing, asked her to do what she could for his best friend, no strings attached? Whatever it may have been he had to figure it out and stop it before he ended up hurting Sora again, he wouldn't be able to live with himself anymore if it came to that.

X_X_X_X_X

Sora practically skipped up to Kairi's front door and rang the door bell. A minute later it opened to reveal Kairi's mother, a pretty woman with dark hair and warm eyes that matched the smile on her face. "Sora, it's so good to see you. Come in, Kairi will meet you soon." She said stepping aside to let the boy in.

Sora gave her his famous trademark closed-eye grin, "Thank you. It's great to see you too. How have things been?"

"Oh the usual, my husband's always busy but we still manage to be a decent family. What about you? Is school alright? How's your mother?" the woman asked leading him into the den to sit down.

Sora sat on a couch across from her while she took a seat in a cushioned chair, "My mom's wonderful, but schools killing me since I agreed to AP courses. I'm happy Riku's helping me though, or my brain would have been fried a long time ago."

They laughed together "That would have been a shame." Kairi's mother said.

"Hey Sora, when did you get here?" Kairi greeted upon coming into the room.

"Hi Kai. I just got here so I haven't been waiting long. Are you ready?" Sora responded.

Kairi nodded. Like Sora she was casually dressed in a lavender sun dress with a pink T-sweater over it and her lavender shoes. She also had a pink tout bag.

"Yeah. I'll see you later Mom." Kairi said as she and Sora headed for the door.

"Okay Kairi, you and Sora have fun okay?"

Sora and Kairi made their way down the street to go to the town square where everything pretty much was. All the stores and restaurants, the library, theaters for movies and plays, and street entertainment was all there.

"So Sora, what's the plan for today?" Kairi asked.

"Well you know that corner café my mom always goes to when she wants those little cupcakes she can never get the recipe right for?" the redhead nodded "I thought that'd be a good place to have lunch, if that's alright with you." He said.

She nodded with a smile, "I think it sounds great. What about after that?"

"I remembered you said you wanted to see that movie that came out last week so I went and got us tickets yesterday. Before we go there though we gotta go see Riku at work, he said he'd give us a discount on some snacks so that all we have to worry about is if we want popcorn and slushies or not."

"Sounds great!"

[You seem to be handling this well.] Naminé said.

'I'm just hanging out with a friend, nothing more and nothing less.'

They got into the square and went to the corner café Sora mentioned, and they couldn't believe who was their hostess!

"Uh-um… Hi Del, I didn't expect to see you here…" Sora stuttered.

The blonde scoffed, "Sora. Kairi. Follow me and I'll show you your table." She grabbed two menus and started walking, more like stomping, away.

The two teens followed her, Sora slightly shaking and Kairi rather annoyed. They were led a table by the window that looked out into the square. They took their seats across from each other and Del pulled out a note pad and pencil "What can I start you off to drink?" she asked in a board tone.

"Ice tea please." Kairi responded.

"May I have soda please?" Sora requested still feeling scared.

Del wrote down the orders then stalked off and Sora breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't let her scare you Sora." Kairi said.

"You don't know about the middle school incident do you?" he asked.

She blinked, "What are you talking about?"

Sora looked over to the counter area where he saw Del getting their drinks. The café was comfortably small and the customers, if they wanted to look, could see the staff at work which made it easier to spot if employees who had a beef with any customers spat or otherwise in any orders. "Well it was when our class had the swim course with our teacher. I got partnered with Riku for the lesson and she didn't like that, none of the girls did really but she was the worst. Anyway, I was timing Riku and she came up behind me and tripped-shoved me from behind.

"I fell in and got tangled in the lane lines under the water. I lost consciousness at some point and when I woke up the whole class was surrounding me, Riku was leaning over me. Del suddenly started claiming that I fell in on purpose just so I could get Riku to perform CPR on me. If Tidus didn't happen to be there to say otherwise I don't know what everyone would've thought of me."

Kairi laughed a little, "Good ol' Tidus. Showing up at the most convenient times to help a friend in need."

Del came back with their drinks and it looked like she had to keep herself from slamming them down, or worse dumping them over their heads "Have you decided on what you'd like to eat?" she said sounding irritated.

"Hey Del! Watch your attitude! I already had to make you dump those other drinks because you try to put salt in the tea and hot sauce in the soda! Those are already coming out of your paycheck!" a burly, tanned man with dark hair falling past his shoulders, facial hair, and rust colored eyes snapped.

Del rolled her eyes but said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Forgive my tone from earlier. What would you two like today?"

Sora wanted to hide under the table "May I have the tuna melt wrap please?" he responded quietly.

"I would like the stuffed bell peppers please." Kairi said evenly.

"How many peppers?" Del asked writing down the orders.

"Two peppers please."

"And can I interest you in any deserts after your meal? The chocolate crème pie (A/N: That pie is bomb!) is our special today."

"No thank you." Sora said in an almost whimper.

While they waited for their food Kairi spoke to Sora about the Paopu Festival. "So I confirmed with my mom and she said that we are really the musical entertainment, I kinda regret letting her hear the CD we made a few years ago. But anyway! We need to rehearse some songs, maybe come up with some new ones. We'll definitely have the time at school come next week since everyone will be helping to set up at the beach."

"Sounds great Kairi. Let's be sure to tell Riku about it when we see him. So are you going to be our lead singer?" Sora asked.

Kairi swatted his arm, "I'm not singing all the songs Sora! You and Riku are going to be singing too, no getting out of it."

Sora pouted, "But we all know I'm only good for backup vocals and Riku's to shy about his voice! We might as well recruit everyone else."

"Tidus can't sing to save his life!" the teens jumped at the sudden voice and looked to see the man who snapped at Del with their food "Thought you'd like you orders done right the first time. But seriously, the only musical talent my son has is beating drums like he kicks a blitz ball." He set the plates down and straightened up putting his hands on his hips.

"Oh Jecht you doubt him too much in everything." Kairi laughed.

"No lie! He can't sing. He had Selphie, Wakka, and his new girlfriend over one night for a karaoke party and our ears almost bled when he opened his mouth." Jecht said.

Kairi started laughing and Sora blinked "Tidus has a girlfriend?" he asked.

Jecht sniffed a little, "No, Wakka does. You probably haven't seen her yet, she's new to the island."

"I hope we meet her soon then." Kairi said with a smile.

"If that's the case, don't let her scare ya too bad, particularly you Sora." The man said ruffling the brunette's hair before he went back behind the counter, "Oh and come by on your way home, I got more of those cupcakes your mom likes so much."

"Oh, okay! Thanks Jecht!"

After their little lunch they headed to the shop Riku worked at finding their friend behind the counter.

"Hi Riku, how's your day so far?" Kairi asked.

"I'm doing alright. What about you two? How's your first date?" Riku responded with a little smirk.

Sora blushed and Kairi giggled "Why are you trying to embarrass me Riku?" Sora whined.

"Because it's fun. Now go get your snacks before I change my mind." Riku threatened.

With a huff Sora went to the snack aisle for the stuff they needed for the movies.

"So how's it going so far? Really?" Riku asked Kairi in a low tone.

"The only reason I don't feel so awkward is because we haven't talked about anything to do with me and him." Kairi answered.

Riku nodded slowly, "I understand. But maybe if you do this a few more times, and nothing happens, maybe he'll want to remain just friends after all. Try to keep it going for his sake okay? Please?"

Kairi couldn't help but sigh sadly, "I know Riku, I will. I can only hope that he will see it won't go anywhere. Not just for his sake, but for yours too. I hate seeing you like this."

"Like what? I'm fine." Riku defended.

"Don't lie. And it's not just me and Sora that's got you. What's going on Riku?" Kairi asked.

The silverette sighed lightly and kept his gaze on the counter, "My grandmother, she told me she felt too weak to get out of bed this morning."

"Oh no. Is she alright?" Kairi asked.

"I hope so."

"Hey guys, what's with the long faces?" Sora asked upon return.

Riku quickly put on an assuring smile, "Don't worry about it Sor. Like I said, it's nothing I can't handle. So whatcha got for me to ring up?"

Sora studied him for a moment then started putting things on the counter. Two boxes of Pocky, a few packs of Hi-Chews, two boxes of pandas, one filled with chocolate and the other filled with strawberry, and a pack of sour straws "Are you sure nothing's really wrong?" he asked.

"Riku there's no reason to keep Sora in the dark. His grandmother's not doing all that well right now Sora." Kairi said.

"What? What's wrong with her?" Sora cried.

"She just couldn't get out of bed this morning Sora. I'm sure she's fine by now." Riku said scanning each item.

"Riku you're doing it again." Sora said sadly.

Riku stopped his actions, "Doing what?"

"You're trying to handle everything yourself, all your problems. You always did that and it only made everyone worry about you. Stop taking things on by yourself so much, that's why you have us. Me and Kairi are here to help you. So stop keeping us in the dark, please." Sora pleaded.

Riku looked into those blue eyes, those pleading blue eyes that asked for so little. He felt a pang of guilt in his heart because he wouldn't tell Sora the first time, now here was his friend in front of him asking to be part of Riku's life like he use to be before the Heartless came to the island. Finally he sighed, "I'm sorry Sora. I just don't want to bring you down is all. Sorry for pushing you away."

Sora took hold of Riku's arm and dragged him from behind the counter towards him and Kairi, bringing them both into a tight hug "We're making a promise right now. If any of us is having a problem we tell each other about it, no keeping each other in the dark. We tell each other and we help each other no strings attached. We do what we can. We've been best friends for years, we can't lose each other now. Promise?" he said.

Riku and Kairi wrapped an arm around Sora and around each other "Promise." They said.

They pulled back and looked at each other with smiles on their faces, Riku felt better than he had in the past few days.

"So, now that the emotional part of the day has passed I'm having my birthday party next weekend and of course you're both invited." Kairi said.

Sora started bouncing in place, "Yay! Party! What's gonna be the theme?"

"You won't know until the day of." Kairi said with a wink and Sora pouted.

"Yeah well someone owes 1649 munny for junk food." Riku said having returned to the counter and ringing up the items.

Sora smiled sheepishly and pulled the amount from his pocket "Is that what it comes down with the discount?" he asked.

"Right. Make that 1380 munny." Sora handed him the amount "Thanks for shopping, see you guys around."

"We'll come by your house sometime later okay? To make sure everything's okay." Kairi said and she and Sora left.

[You're a lie.] Axel commented.

"Shut up. If I am so is Kairi." Riku murmured.

[Heh, touché. On the plus side, you look alright now.]

"Yeah well, Sora manages to do that to me. Even if it's just a little bit or short lived."

X_X_X_X_X

By the time Sora and Kairi left the movie theater the sun was starting to go down and they couldn't stop laughing "That movie was so bad it was laughable! Why did I ever want to see it?" Kairi said.

"I dunno. But hey, we needed a good laugh right?" Sora responded between his laughter.

Kairi caught her breath and let out a sigh, "Yeah. Now let's head over to Riku's like I said we would."

"I need to stop by the café first." Sora said.

Kairi rolled her eyes but followed him and they met Jecht at the door. The man handed Sora a paper bag with a box in it that contained the cupcakes Sora's mom wanted, after giving his thanks Sora and Kairi started for the shop. As they were making their way down the street they saw Riku coming out of the shop he worked at, only he looked really miffed.

"Hey Riku! Wait up!" Kairi called and she ran, dragging Sora with her, to catch up to him "What's going on? You look like someone pushed the wrong button."

Riku took a second to breathe so he wouldn't snap at his friends, "Well my dad happened to show up not too long after you left demanding I sell him alcohol. When I told him no and to go see if Granma was okay he tried to destroy the place! And while I was cleaning up after kicking him out Del came in complaining about you two leaving a lousy tip. I told her she probably deserved it."

Kairi tapped her chin with her finger, "Well she did give us an attitude, and scared Sora. But we left her 800 munny."

"Then I was right, greed little bi-! Brat." The silverette sighed "Well you guys following me or what?"

"Yup!" Sora chirped trying to lift the tense atmosphere.

Riku couldn't help but smile, "Then let's go." He started walking.

Sora hooked his arm with Kairi and pulled her so that they fell into step with Riku and he hooked his other arm with the other boy's like he used to do when they were kids. It sure brought back a lot of memories to the three of them, like when Sora first did it. They were on a field trip with their class and they went into the forest outside of town. They got lost and Sora got scared, so he hooked their arms together to keep from getting separated. He'd done that ever since because it made him feel like they'd never be apart.

They got to Riku's house and they had to let go so Riku could unlock his door "Step on in and follow me up." Riku said going in, followed by Kairi then Sora who closed the door behind him.

They walked down the hall passing Riku's room to the stairs at the end that led to the attic. Riku knocked on the door at the top "Granma, it's Riku! I have a couple of visitors for you!" He said loud enough for her to hear.

"Oh how nice! Bring them in dear!"

With a low chuckle Riku opened the door and led his friends in, finding his grandmother in her rocking chair to his relief, "Sora and Kairi wanted to see how you were doing."

"Ah Sora and Kairi, so nice to see you both again. Goodness Sora, you look so grown up now." The old woman said fondly.

"It's nice to see you again too ma'am." Sora said with a smile.

"And it good to know you're doing well. Riku was worried about you." Kairi added.

The elderly woman laughed, "Oh he always worries about me. I tell his it does no good if I manage to get right back up again without a problem in the same day."

Riku blushed lightly, "I have a right to worry about you."

The woman nodded, "And worry you may. You just think too much of it and that's not good for you Riku. It distracts you and worries those around you. Am I right Sora?"

Sora blinked when the question was directed at him, but he nodded.

"You see? Now, you two tell me. What's been going on in town lately? Riku won't tell me anything."

The teens took a seat on the carpeted floor in front of the woman and Kairi was the first to speak, "The Paopu Festival's coming up and we're going to be in it. We're going to sing!"

She clapped her hands together, "Now that does sound exciting! I wish I can see you all perform, I know you'll do wonderfully."

"Maybe you can come see us!" Sora said.

The woman laughed, "Ah Sora, ever the optimistic one. You're such a sweet boy."

At the other end of the room Axel manifested himself to watch the scene play out. Riku looked a little better and he felt a slight warmth on his back where the words on Riku were, maybe they were fading!

"You're taking a risk showing yourself with Sora in the room Axel." Naminé said appearing beside him.

"I know, but I wanted to see them together. Can you blame me?" He asked.

Naminé giggled, "No, I guess not. So did you figure out what was wrong with Riku?"

The redhead nodded, "Darkness is trying to overpower him again, writing negative words on his back. Three of them are there so far."

"What do they say?"

"Alone. Torn. Tainted. But I think they're fading a little."

"That's good. But don't expect them to go right away, darkness is a difficult thing to overcome on your own. Especially if Xemnas was the one who put it there."

Xemnas did it!

Riku: You've been writing on my back?

Xemnas: No!

Hey! No fighting! Go back to your boyfriends!

Once again thank you to LovelessHyde for her idea rants, some ideas that will show in the story will be from her. This includes the whole "Xemnas leaving darkness in Riku" thing. Now I'm going to spaz about my sister coming back from Texas after five years.