A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! It makes me happy and motivates me to write more. This chapter starts right after the previous one. There is also a little surprise in this chapter, hehe. Hope you like this chapter. Hopefully things will be moving along in this story, its been a bit slow paced but I don't want to rush it either.

(^_^)

Somehow Zexion found himself sitting alone on a beach towel underneath an over-sized umbrella. The air around him reeked of salt water, which hurt and caused him to flinch when he took deep breaths. Eventually he learned that breathing though his mouth caused less pain, but he still cursed his ability. It was hot, humid, and he hated the feeling of sand against his skin, so overall this was torture. He doubted that Riku understood this, especially since he was accustomed to the environment.

From afar Zexion watched Riku, Kairi, and Sora play in the calm water. Currently it appeared as though Riku and Sora were competing over who could catch the most fish. As he watched the two boys attempts to out do the other he realized that the two of them probably did this sort of thing their entire lives. If he could feel jealousy he knew that he would be feeling it now. Ienzo did not have a childhood like most children. Whereas they played with each other Ienzo kept to himself and studied. He thought that it payed off in the end when he was accepted as an apprentice, but it had come with the price of losing his parents. Often times Ienzo would wonder what it was like to play with other children and not have a care in the world. A few times he would encounter a small girl who would try to play with him, she was also without parents. That small girl was the only thing normal in his life, and he couldn't help but cherish her. Zexion caught a glimpse of Kairi smiling and he froze. It was her, the small girl from Radiant Garden. How did he not recognize her earlier? After the incident in Radiant Garden he put Ienzo's past behind him so she did not come to his mind until now, also the fact that she is not living in her home world.

Zexion was so deep in this thoughts that he didn't hear someone sit down beside him. He glanced over when he felt something cold touch his hand and saw Kairi holding a soft drink out to him. Uncertain that the drink was for him, Zexion merely stared at her.

"Don't you want it?" Kairi asked, shaking the drink in front of Zexion's face. "I promise I didn't poison it."

Zexion gently grabbed the drink from Kairi and looked back toward the ocean where Riku and Sora were.

"What are you doing over here? Why don't you join Riku, I'm sure that he would be happy if you did even if it doesn't seem like it." Kairi asked when she noticed where Zexion was looking.

"Nonsense."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Kairi smiled and pulled her knees up. "If any girl saw the way he looks at you they would be jealous. He is the most sought after boy on the islands after all."

Zexion glanced at her and then back to Riku. He could see why the boy would be so popular. Riku was mysterious and was a bad boy, at least when compared to the other humans on these islands. "Why do you continue to force this kindness upon me? You know what I am and yet you do not hesitate to come near me."

"Riku told you?"

"No, but it was not difficult to piece it together after hearing your phone conversation."

Kairi gazed toward the setting sun and sighed. "I know this sounds crazy but after I left Riku's house I realized something. The Organization did not have a bad motive but their means to reach that goal was wrong. As I thought about it I also came to realize that none of the Nobodies chose to be that way. Your somebodies had strong hearts and that's not something anyone should be punished for."

Zexion shook his head slightly. "You are wrong."

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "It wasn't your choice. Heartless attacked you."

"There is no sense in continuing this topic because you will never understand."

Kairi stood up and brushed the sand off her bathing suit. "Even if you say that I don't understand it, I wont change my mind. I've decided that I want to help you get your heart back."

"Why?" Zexion mumbled, his eyes never leaving the two boys off in the distance.

"Because silly, I'll always help my friends."

Zexion froze when he heard the word friend...they were not friends. He hardly knew the girl and here she was already insisting they were friends. Sure he wanted to manipulate her but she was going off in a direction that he had not planned. He was hoping that she would help him escape from Riku and leave this dreaded island, now that possibility was looking slim.

Kairi noticed the small reaction she received from Zexion when she said that. Did he not recognize her? It had been awhile, so she would not blame him if he didn't. "I guess you don't remember the little girl from Radiant Garden, but that doesn't matter. We were friends and I'm going to help you."

Zexion stood up and glared at Kairi. "I must clarify that the little boy you are referring to is not standing before you. Ienzo is dead." Zexion then stalked away from the umbrella as best he could considering he was walking on sand.

"Wait!" Kairi yelled, grabbing the attention of the two boys who were previously engaged in their competition. "Where are you going?"

Zexion kept walking until the necklace he wore forced him to stop. He cursed the spell but refused to turn around and look at her. Behind him he heard a set of footsteps drawing close, but he knew Riku was not one of them because he was still unable to walk any farther.

"Zexion what did I say, please tell me?" Kairi begged as she came closer. She walked past him and stood in front of him, getting the idea that Zexion was unable to continue. "I..."

"Silence." Zexion growled and he notice Kairi's mouth stop mid sentence. If he had his powers that spell would have muted her, however, he knew she was only complying to his words. "Leave me be."

Kairi lowered her head and kept her gaze on her feet. "Zexion I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again, but I want to help you."

Zexion heard two sets of footsteps come toward them, he knew that he could move but he would have to push past Kairi to do so. Within a few seconds he felt someone grab his shoulder, causing him to spin around and glare at whomever it was. He assumed that it was Riku, but the boy he glared at was Sora.

"Zexion play nice." He heard Riku growl under his breath, which was too low for the other two to hear.

"Zexion are you alright?" Sora asked. "I'm sorry I asked Riku to bring you here. I didn't know that anyone could hate the beach."

Zexion continued his glare and pulled himself away from Sora. "Do not touch me." Did he not tell Riku earlier that he could not be nice?

"I don't know what I did to make you mad at me." Sora whined, looking to Kairi for help with big watery eyes. "I'm sorry for whatever I did or said. Can't we all just be friends?"

Zexion walked around Sora and walked toward Riku, who had a stunned expression on his face. "No."

"Why not?" Sora pleaded.

As Riku watched the scene around him he felt bad for Sora. His best friend never had anyone hate him, except their enemies. Of course Zexion was considered Sora's enemy, only he didn't realize it yet. He also didn't expect Zexion to go to him, did he want Riku to get him out of the situation? It didn't sound like something Zexion would do, but he did hear that the boy often forced others to do his dirty work in the Organization. Maybe he was just a pawn like everyone else in Zexion's eyes. "Sora I..."

"Riku don't." Sora interrupted him. "I want Zexion to tell me what his problem with me is." He felt Kairi grab his shoulder gently but he shrugged it off. "What did I do to make you mad at me?"

Zexion raised an eyebrow at the question. There were so many answers he could give. Sora destoryed the Organization, Sora is the reason he was assigned to Castle Oblivion, Sora would kill him if he found out he was Nobody, Sora was too close to Riku. He locked his eyes with the bright blue ones across from him and simply replied, "You exist."

Both Sora's and Riku's eyes widened and looked at Zexion's cold dark eye. Sora stomped over and folded his arms across his chest. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Riku wanted to push Zexion behind him but forced himself to remain still. Zexion had no powers and could not physically harm Sora so there was no threat. Sora would not harm anyone if it could be helped, so he was not a threat either. Somehow he was still afraid that Zexion's identity would reveal itself in a matter of minutes. "Sora I..."

"Riku stop trying to defend him!" Sora spat. "I want to hear it from him."

Zexion couldn't help but see Roxas in front of him. Somehow he had a feeling that Roxas was watching him, maybe it was because the youngest Nobody was known for his small temper. He wondered if it were possible to directly speak to Roxas, it would be an interesting study. He knew he couldn't because doing so would be giving away his identity.

"Sora please you're going too far." Kairi pleaded. "Zexion is just in a bad mood that's all."

"That's no reason to take it out on me. I just wanted to apologize and he acts like this?" Sora turned toward Kairi.

"I know Sora, Zexion's in the wrong here but your letting your temper get out of hand." Kairi walked over to Sora and hugged him. "Let's just go home and let the two of you cool off."

Sora sighed and rested his forehead on Kairi's shoulder. "Alright. I don't know why but ever since we returned I've been getting angry more often." Sora lifted his head and looked at Riku. "Riku we need to talk later." Without waiting for Riku's reply, Sora grabbed Kairi's hand and walked toward the mainland.

Riku watched them go wondering how this happened. Hopefully Sora was not angry with him, but there was nothing he could do now. He glanced down at Zexion, who was walking toward the umbrella and beach towel to clean up. Thinking of an interesting punishment for Zexion's actions, Riku hurried behind Zexion, grabbed his waist, and lifted him over his shoulder.

"Riku release me." Zexion growled, struggling to wiggle out of Riku's grasp.

Riku laughed and walked toward the water. "This is your punishment for not behaving. How hard was it not to fight with Sora? All you had to do was accept his apology and everything would have been fine."

"Let me go." Zexion warned one last time.

"Nope." Riku lifted Zexion up once his feet were in the shallow end of the ocean. He continued into the ocean until the water came up to his knees but he knew sand dropped off a few inches in front of him. Before Zexion could pull free, Riku tossed the small boy into the water.

As soon as Zexion plunged into the water he instantly felt cold, which was a welcome change from the heat but he could have lived without the wetness. Within seconds he broke the surface of the water and coughed up rancid salt water, which he tried not to think what it consisted of. His hair was ruined to say the least, it was plastered over both sides of his face. If he could feel anything he knew he would be beyond rage. After coughing up the last of the water he tried rubbed his eyes, which only made his hair worse. "What were you thinking?"

Riku laughed a the sight before him, Zexion looked like a drowned rat. Part of the hilarity was the fact that Zexion was fully clothed. "I told you, it's your punishment." Riku waded into the deep waters and drifted toward Zexion. "I thought it was rather light considering what you did today." When he reached Zexion, he pushed aside the mess of hair out of Zexion's face without thinking. He gasped when he saw what Zexion was hiding.

Zexion glared at Riku and grabbed a portion of his hair to cover his eye but was stopped when Riku grabbed his hand. "I remember warning you not to touch me."

Riku stood strait, his feet barely able to touch the sandy floor without his chin going under. "What happened?" He traced his hand across the large scar that forced Zexion's eye closed. The scar looked similar to the design of his Keyblade Soul Eater.

Zexion tried to pull back but his couldn't escape Riku's grip on his arm. "Leave me be." He whispered, the water running down his face fell similarly to tears. Nobodies could not cry. "You have done enough."

Riku's eyes narrowed and his grip on Zexion's hand tightened. "Are you implying that I did this?" When he did not receive an answer, Riku shook Zexion's arm and growled. "Answer me Zexion."

Zexion glared at Riku with his eye. "Yes and no."

"What the hell does that mean?" Riku snapped.

Zexion looked into Riku's eyes and the only thing he saw was anger. "Technically you did not scar me, only tried to kill me." Zexion replied in a soft tone that could be described as being deadly.

"You attacked me first."

He saw the slight hurt in Riku's eyes when he said this, which was curious. Did Riku regret what happened? That was unlikely. "I was not intending to kill you. As I said earlier, I merely wanted your assistance in defeating Sora." Zexion paused. "Your replica, following that traitors orders, stole my powers and scared my eye closed to prevent further use of my magic."

"I killed him." Riku whispered. He looked in Zexion's face but saw nothing.

Zexion nodded and tried to slip his hand out of Riku's again but couldn't manage to free himself. "I know. My powers returned after his death, however, it cannot use them in my condition."

Riku pulled on Zexion's arm, forcing him closer. "You've had your powers all along and you didn't tell me?"

"Yes. There was no need to say anything because I am unable to use them. My eye is the source of my powers."

"Is your eye damaged?" Riku asked. "If we are able to open your eye will you be able to use it?"

"I do not know." Zexion replied and looked down at the water. His body was growing tired, swimming used too much energy.

Riku looked up toward the dark sky, the sun had set without him realizing it. They were the only ones on the beach and it was eerily quiet. When he looked back at Zexion he noted how pale the boy looked in the moonlight, he obviously did not get out enough. He noted Zexion slightly lean against him to hold himself up, obviously swimming was too much on his frail body. "Lets go."

Zexion nodded, wanting to get out of the cold water as soon as possible. He allowed himself to be dragged by Riku, his body was too tired to swim on his own. Although they were not far from the shore the swim back seemed to drag. As soon as Zexion was able to touch the ground he staggered, luckily he was still holding onto Riku so he did not fall on his face.

It was only a few minutes before they reached the edge of the waters and were back on dry sand. Zexion pulled away from Riku's grip and collapsed onto the sand. His wet clothes stuck to his skin and attracted sand where they touched the ground.

"What's wrong?" Riku looked down at the smaller boy, but he averted his eyes when he noticed how Zexion's clothes stuck to his skin.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Zexion sighed, attempting to brush the sand off his wet clothes.

"You need to rest?" Riku asked, feeling his face heat. He was not blushing, merely exhausted from the swim. When Zexion nodded, Riku sat down on the beach next to him. "We should be getting home soon, its getting late." He glanced over to Zexion out of the corner of his eye, he could understand why Lexaeus had a need to protect the small boy. Unconsciously he leaned forward and brushed Zexion's hair out of his face. His eyes met Zexion's, who looked taken aback.

"Riku, what are you..." Zexion was cut off when Riku's lips gently brushed cross his own. His eye widened and he stiffened. Within seconds Riku pulled away and looked toward the ocean. "What..."

"Sorry." Riku whispered, cutting Zexion off again.

Zexion pulled his hair back over his eye. "Did you forget that I am a Nobody? A being of darkness who can not feel anything."

Riku did not look Zexion in the eye because he knew what he would see. Zexion would remain emotionless and he knew that. He did not know how to reply to Zexion because he didn't know what was he thinking. Honestly he did not know, somehow he was hoping that Zexion would feel something. All he could hope for was that what just happened was a fluke and he was not falling for a Nobody, who would never be able to feel anything.

The two of them sat in the sand for awhile, neither of them saying anything. Zexion preferred the silence while Riku was content watching the tide.

(^_^)

Sora sat on his bed starring through the window at the dark sky. He was angry with himself for exploding like he did, it was not like him. Usually he was happy and it took a lot to make him angry. What he wanted to do was run to Riku's house an apologize, but he knew that as soon as he saw Zexion he would lose his temper again. There was something about the boy that he did not like, and he hoped that it wasn't because he was monopolizing Riku's time. He should be feeling happy that Riku has another friend, especially now that he was dating Kairi.

He stood up and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. When he glanced into the mirror he jumped backward and hit his shoulder hard against the wall. For a second he could have sworn he was looking at himself with blonde hair. Unsure of what he saw, Sora glanced back over to the mirror and was relieved to see dark brown spikes. Obviously he was tired and seeing things.

Still unsteady from his sudden crash into the wall, Sora wobbled over to the shower. After a long shower and a good night sleep, he would call Riku and apologize for the way he acted. Maybe he could even get his friend to accompany him to Radiant Garden to see how Cloud is fairing. He was still worried about the older man, when they left last time Cloud was seriously injured.

(^_^)

Kairi pulled on her pajamas and walked toward her vanity. She grabbed her hair brush and began to pull her hair back into a low ponytail. As she brushed the strands of hair back, Kairi couldn't help but think about what happened today. She had not expected Zexion to react the way he did when she mentioned that she wanted to help him. Somehow she had thought that Zexion would be happy to see her after so long, but apparently she was way off.

She put her brush down and looked deep into the mirror. "I don't understand." She whispered. Although Zexion had blatantly told her that he didn't want her help, she would not give up. There had to be a way to get his heart back, not only for Zexion's sake but for Riku's as well. She was not oblivious to the way Riku looked and treated Zexion. At first she may have been jealous because when she was younger she always thought that she would be with him, but things did not end up that way. She loved Sora with all her heart and always would, but Riku would still be her first love. The only thing she could do to make Riku happy was to help Zexion.