Aw, thanks for the reviews DivineShana and Angel of Light and Darkness. They really helped fuel me to write another new chapter, dispite the fact that I have a ear ache and feel like I just got ran over. Thanks! And thank you Divine Shana for wishing me a Happy Kwanzza, Merry Christmas to you.

Oh and whoever ...( ) is I want to say this: YOU SUCK YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU DIDN'T EVEN READ THE WHOLE DAMN STORY YOU ASSHOLE! YOU JUST REVIEWED AND SAID: "it sucks"! HOW ABOUT TELLING ME WHAT "sucks" ABOUT IT, HUH!? I ACCEPT CRITISM, BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING INTELLGENT TO SAY! I KNOW THE FIRST CHAPTER WASN'T THAT GREAT, BUT AT LEAST IT WAS OKAY! AND NEXT TIME GROW A FUCKING BRAIN AND DON'T WASTE MY TIME!

Evil Jazz7: Well I guess that's why you don't piss me off. Any one else want some?

Everyone in the room: (shakes head)

Evil Jazz7: I didn't think so! God, I hate Kikyou haters, rasict people, idoits, and people that can't leave a intellgent review.

Kingdom Hearts: Soul Taker

Chapter 11: Destruction

Try going past that broken memory,

I can't promise that there won't be any pain

Living only in the moment, that's a bit foolish

Holding on to morals when they can't help you,

is even more foolish

Just one more step, just one more and she would be...
Kikyou didn't know where she would be. She was lost and ,maybe for the thousandth time, a little scared. Kikyou also felt like crying, at this rate she would never return back to her own world and she could die just standing here.

Her knees buckled and she was now kneeling on the ground with one hand closed around the jewel that had got her into all this mess.

'That's not true, I got myself into this mess. If I had just let myself get yelled at by mom for leaveing the cat outside, if I had only not made such a big fuss about not being able to go anywhere, maybe if I had just faked being sick so I wouldn't have to go to the prom! God, why me? Why not Kagome? Why not anyone else? I'm not special, I'm just scared and weak...'

That's not true. Kikyou WASN'T weak. And Kagome would crack under this kind of pressure. It was too late to start with the "if onlys" and "maybes".

Kikyou put her left palm against the cold, brick wall on her left and started to pull herself up, all the while trying to pull herself together and be devoud of emotion. Emotions could get one killed here and she could no long depend on others or be scared or weak. She had to fight to get out of here, and to see Riku again.

Standing up to her full height, Kikyou frowned and nodded her head. 'Yes, I'll have to just cut through these problems and deal with it. I can't depend on anyone but myself now, not even Riku.

After a minute of thinking on her plan of action, Kikyou notched a arrow in her bow and ran towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

Standing tall and fearless is what makes a person and as long as she had even one breath inside her she would be fearless.

For herself as well as the people she was hopeing to see again.

"Up ahead and beyond those doors is The Queen's chamber. No doubt she will be waiting for you."Snow White said above a whisper. They didn't have to whisper, but they did anyway. Even through The Queen could probably still hear them.

"Thanks, I'll go in alone."Riku took a step forward to continue with out Snow White when she reached our a hand and stopped him.

"No, I'll go too. My husbands there! Even if I die...I want to see him. Even if I die by....his hand."she let go of his arm and Riku gave her a small smile.

"Okay, but leave the fighting to me." Snow White laughed at his small joke and followed behind him.

The hallway they were now in was painted in royal shades of blue, red, and purple. The touches on the wall gave it adquite light, unlike the rest of the chambers, and seemed to light as they got near one. As the last touches in front of the Queens chambers came to life so did the doors, they opened of their own accord and without human help.

Riku paused in front of the doors but then stepped inside the chamber in front of him. For Kikyou's sake, as well as his own, he couldn't stop now. Exspecially if Kikyou was hurt or dieing, if she was then...

He closed his hands at his sides into fists, just thinking about her being hurt angered him. What kind of game was Ansem playing? But whatever it was, he wasn't going to let Kikyou become just another pawn like he had become a long time ago.

Once he and Snow White were inside the doors slammed shut behind them and the sound reveberated off the cream and peach walls around them. The Queen was no where in site, nor her "prince", but that didn't mean she wasn't there.

Snow White turned around and tested the doors they had come through, just as she thought, they were locked. She turned to Riku only to see that instead of suprised, he was angry.

Riku fast walked over to the center of the room, looked up at the white ceiling above them, and then scream. "Where the hell are you!? Come out, I'm not playing your fucking game any longer! You bitch...YOU FUCKING BITCH! Come out and stop hideing! Or better yet, bring that basterd that you work for out here!!" Riku stopped screaming and then looked down at the white marble flooring. Why? Why wasn't she here? Was Kikyou okay?

Snow White started to go toward Riku to comfort him when a voice, The Queen's voice, stopped her.

"A bitch am I? It seems that Ansem should have trained his puppet better when it came to manners."

Riku turned around and stared at the woman he had hoped would hear him and come out. He took out his sword and pointed it at her. "There you are, I was looking for you but I guess you're pretty hard on hearing. Where the hell is Kikyou?!"

The Queen smiled and before her materilized a mirror. "Look and see."she said and Riku frowned but did as she said. Slowly comeing into focus was Kikyou.

Or what once had been her.

Her broken body was laying in a pool of fresh blood and her empty rib cage showed that half of what was in her had been ripped out and either eatten or done away with. There was no question that she had died painfully and her eyes showed the horror she went through. That and the jewel was also missing, not that that really mattered at all to Riku.

Riku took a step back and the color drained from his face. The monster in front of him started crackling evilly. "It seems you are too late! The jewel has been taken and Kikyou has been disposed of. Maybe if you had spent your time looking for her instead of me she would still be alive."

The Queen walked toward him while still holding the mirror and Riku took a step back. He couldn't say anything to counter her claim, for it was the truth wasn't it?

"Or maybe if you hadn't angered her, but it's too late now. Because she's already dead!"with that The Queen laughed again and Riku's sword fell from his numb hand. He couldn't move or speak, all he could do was stare at the mirror in front of him.

"It's not true Riku! She's a queen of lies! She's lieing to you! That mirror holds no more truth then her words do!"Snow White yelled and tried to run toward them only to get caught in a bear hug by her own husband who appeared out of no where. She cried out as he held on to her tighter.

Whether it was the scream or her words, Riku snapped out of his parlization and glared daggers at The Queen. Seeing that he was no longer buying her words or the mirror's image, she took a step back and smiled nervously. Riku picked his sword off the floor and stabbed the mirror in The Queen's hands. It broke and the mirror fell from her hands.

"So your a lier, huh? Well you can't trick me twice, die!!"Riku yelled at her then slashed at her throat. The blade barely missed and The Queen took out a staff and countered his second attack.

Riku dodged and blocked two of TQ's (short for The Queen, since I get tired of writing her name) attacks and then used a Gravirga spell against her. TQ countered it with one of her own and then smiled wickedly.

"So you DO want to fight me. It's a shame really, I would rather wait tell the wielder of the jewel got here so I could kill two birds with one stone!"after shouting this at him she threw a unknown spell at Riku flying into the wall behind him. It also seemed to knock him out cold.

Seems like they would wait after all.

The room Kikyou entered was the throne room. The sand colored walls and the sound of the rushing water running though the two inch wide slitts in the floor reminded one of the beach or a river. It was suppost to give one a feeling of calm and peace, but to Kikyou it just gave her a feeling of emptyness.

Looking toward the throne, she could see that there was only one solitary gray stone throne. Kikyou walked toward it and kneeled in front of it. Something wasn't right about this throne...

"I was right."Kikyou said under her breath to herself while running her hands on the raised ground below the throne."Something was here before this, the stone under here is ruff and chipped. Looks like someone was in a hurry to move in..."

Kikyou stood up and climbed on to the stone throne to look around. The room was vast and empty with several dark entrances hallways leading to unknown rooms and more hallways. No sign of Riku or the owners of the castle. Sighing, Kikyou sat on top of the throne and put her face in her hands.

'Great...now what to do?'she thought to herself. After a few seconds she decieded to walk through one of the openings to heaven knows where and find Riku instead of waiting for him. She was going to get down from the throne when the clank of armor made her stop.

Two knights entered the throne room from the way she had just came, they turned their heads to look at Kikyou and grunted as they took out their swords. Kikyou heard another clank of armor and looked behind her, three more came out of an other entrance and soon more came from other entryways to the throne room. She was now surrounded.

Kikyou used her bow and shot a arrow through the head of one and then hopped down from the throne. Some part of her wanted to protest what she was about to do, but she wouldn't let it.

She had to kill them, they may be innoccent and be controlled by someone, but it's her or them.

And she chose herself.

Notching two more arrows in her bow, Kikyou fired them at one to her left and dodged a diagonal slash from her right. She killed another knight and then ducked another diagonal slash from another. The sword went through a knight in front of her and drenched her in blood, turning her blue dress into a dark red and blue one. Kikyou stood up and used a Thundaga spell on the rest.

Kikyou turned her back on the bodies and began walking when she heard the clank of armor in back of her again. She smiled to herself and notched another arrow.

This might take a little longer then she thought.

You can't gain anything unless you take something away. And what she threw away was her old morals.

'Murder is a crime, yet why can't I feel guilty over it?'Kikyou thought from herself as she pulled one of her arrows out of a knights head. Blood spurted up and Kikyou stepped back and missed some of it. She was already covered in blood, she didn't need more.

Wipeing her arm across her forhead she saw that her face was also covered in it. Kikyou looked down at the slitts in the floor. 'Might as well clean up alittle...' She kneeled down and washed the blood off her face and arms. After that was finished she looked at the now blood red water sadly and sighed.

"I can't be the same person I used to be. Or maybe this is the real me?" The question echoed off the walls and within herself. For now it would have to be left unanswered. Making herself think about it wouldn't help either. There were more important things to do.

Like find Riku.

Kikyou ran toward the entryway she had came out of, she thought she knew what door Riku had taken. So all she had to do was double back to the main hallway and go through one more hallway and then find Riku.

And deal with however made all those people she killed into monsters of course.

His head hurt, his whole body hurt, hell, even his hair hurt. But then again, he had slammed into a wall hard enough to break every bone in his body. He should be dead.

But he wasn't. Riku stood up and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. When he studied his right hand he saw that he was bleeding and he spit up some blood.

"Ah, he awakes!"The Queen exclamied and then smiled as he wiped the blood off his face. "I have good news for you though, the wielder of the jewel will arrive soon."

Riku turned to look at her and then yelled at her: "Stop calling her that! Her name's Kikyou dammit! I'm not a puppet either and neither is she!" He picked up his sword and was about to charge at her when the doors to the room slammed open.

All eyes turned to Kikyou as she looked around and then finally locked eyes with the witch that had put her through hell. "So your the one that owns this castle..." Kikyou then turned and looked at Snow White and The Prince. She stepped toward them and notched a arrow in her bow.

"Wha...What are you doing?!"Snow White yelled. Kikyou looked at her and pulled the arrow and the bows string back.

"Just putting you out of your misery."Kikyou said and then released the arrow and it hit both Snow White and the prince in stomach, the two fell to the ground unconsience.

Riku looked suprised by the The Queen looked happy. "It's just as Ansem said...You are being tainted."

Kikyou looked at her, disgusted with what she said. "Ansem says alot of things doesn't he? Well I'm not tainted, I'm just doing what I have to do. Those two will live but you can't control them by they're uncosience."

"And here I thought you were taking my job."Riku said with a small smile and Kikyou turned and smiled at him.

"You're hurt..."Kikyou said by seeing that he was bleeding.

"It's just a scratch."Riku replied.

"It's going to be more then a scratch, now that you are also here I can kill two birds with two stones."TQ said cutting off any other converstation as she took out her staff again.

Kikyou used a curaga spell on Riku and then used a Aeroga spell on both of them. Another one of TQ's unknown spells (I don't know what to call it, lol) came at them, this time it was two beams of dark energy. Both Kikyou and Riku dodged and found them selfs standing back to back.

"We're going to have to watch out for those spells of hers."Riku said as he watched TQ charge up for another attack.

"I have a plan...If we get rid of her staff she can't cast magic. Then all you have to do is hack and slash at her until she dies."Kikyou whispered to him so TQ wouldn't hear and then notched a another arrow in her bow. Riku grinned, so she was learning something about battle.

After a silent one, two, three count, Riku ran to the right and Kikyou to the left. Being the fool that she is, TQ tried to hit Riku instead of Kikyou. Riku dodged the Queens lesser magic and managed to jump over the energy she had charged up earlier to attack her. He got hit by her staff and flew back a couple feet though.

Kikyou looked briefly at him to make sure he okay and then charaged up her own energy. The staff, in better hands, could probably dish out a lot more power, so it just made it all the more dangerous. Kikyou kept her eyes on the target and looked to Riku before she released her now charaged up arrow.

Riku got hit by another blast of TQ's magic, it was the same one that had knocked him out cold before. This time however, he struck his sword into the marble flooring so he wouldn't get blown away, it seemed to work. Riku turned to look at Kikyou and saw was watching him. "I'm alright! Just shoot the damn thing!"

Kikyou nodded and smiled, then did as he said. The arrow hit the glowing gem on top of the staff and it broke into pieces. TQ screamed and was engoulfed in some kind of blue fire. When it was gone she was reduced to her true form, a ugly old woman.

Riku took a step toward her and the old woman took a step back. "I'm still the queen of this castle and I won't give it up to anyone!" TQ still had some life in her, she threw another one of her spells at him, but this time it had less power.

"We've had enough out of you."Riku hissed at her and then charged toward her and cut off her head. For a minute it stayed in place, a shocked impression implanted on it, then it fell off and her body sake to the floor. A wave of energy came out from her remains and turned whoever was left in the castle to their normal selves.

Kikyou looked toward Snow White and The Prince and saw that they were wakeing up. She removed her arrow from them and then handed Snow White a elixer. It wouldn't completely heal her shoulder, but it would help it.

Turning to Riku, she smiled and then frowned as she saw he was stareing at her a little sadly.

"You're all bloody..."

"What? I had to get to you some how, that and I finally came to peace with what I am."said Kikyou as she walked toward him.

"And what's that?"Riku asked as she stood in front of him. Kikyou didn't say anything but stared into his eyes for a second and then replied.

"A person that wants to get home no matter what...I can't continue with this quest and not kill anyone can I?" Riku sighed at her words and then embraced her. Kikyou gasped out in suprised from the supriseing action, and then held on to him.

"I guess this means I won't be doing all the "hacking and slashing", huh?"

Kikyou smiled at his joke and then answered his question. "You can still do it, but I'll help conceal the bodies. Since I'm the only one that thinks before I leap anyway."

Riku was going to reply to her comment but didn't, instead he just smiled and didn't let her go. Kikyou did the same.

"Ah, what a cute couple! Don't you think honey?"Snow White said while clapping her hands. Riku and Kikyou pulled away and blushed. Embarrassed more by the fact that she had been watching them then her words.

The Prince stood up and clapped also. "Ha, kids these days. All embarrassed by love and the lot."

Riku turned to glare at him. "We're NOT in love! I was just worried about her that's all!"

"Then why are you blushing?"Snow White teased and Riku turned away from the both of them so he wouldn't see that his face had turned completely red.

"I agree with Riku,"said Kikyou."We're just friends really."

"Well anyway,"The Prince said."thank you for restoring our Kingdom."

Kikyou was about to reply when she sensed something in back of her and turned around. In back of her was another soul, time the soul of The Queen. It flew towards her and Kikyou put up her hands to stop it from hitting her. It did no good though and went inside the jewel around her neck. The jewel glowed and then turned back to it's dull color.

Riku stared at her in suprise, this had happened once before when she was possessed, he hadn't expected it to happen again.

Kikyou turned to Riku with a pained experssion, how would this change how he felt about her?

Instead of looking at her like a monster, Riku looked suprised and then looked at the jewel around her neck. "Well no wonder everyone wants that thing. So I guess this happens to everyone we fight. That means we have to find more information about that also."

"Look!"Snow White cried as some bright light appeared behind them. It was the last light they were looking for. Riku stepped toward it and touched it. After the bright light had disappeared they were back to their normal age.

Kikyou looked down at herself and smiled. "Now all that's left if to go back home and defeat Ansem."

"So he is really back, and you two are going to stand against him? Even though you are alone in your cause?"The Prince asked.

"So what? We're alone, but were stronger than anyone else. I don't care if it's just us or half of the universe, all I do care about is getting her home and killing the man that took ten years of my life!"

Snow White smiled saddly at them and stood up. "Then we shall help you, what do you need?"

Kikyou smiled at her for her willness to help. "I doubt you could help us, but I could need a bath and maybe my clothes could use a wash?"

After Kikyou got her request fulfilled Snow White and The Prince requested to see them one more time before they left.

"Lots of destruction has happened to his land because of Ansem, and maybe because of you two also."Snow White said. The pervious throne in the throne room had been replaced with the old one, and now her and her husband were sitting side by side. The bodies and water had also been cleaned up.

Kikyou looked down at the ground saddly. "If this is about what I did to your men..."

"No, it's not about that. Don't beat yourself up about it, the knights families don't hold a grudge against you and neither do I."The Prince said and stood up as his wife stood up.

"Then, what is this about?"Kikyou asked, still not completely convinced that what she did couldn't have been avoided, but at least she wasn't going to cry about it like she did last time. She was true to her word, she had made peace with it.

"I still want to help even if there isn't much I can do. So I want to give you something I found, it might help you."

Snow White picked up a box that had been sitting besides her. She took off the lid and took out the object inside. It was a small bracelet. (think of chapter seven). "This should protect you agianst all magical attacks. Well most of the time anyway."

Riku took the object from Snow White's hand and handed it to Kikyou. Kikyou smiled and handed it back to him. "You'll need it more then I, since you were the one that got knocked out before I could even get to you."

Riku glared at her. "Well where were YOU anyway?"

"Um, guys? Lets not fight."Snow White said nevously. Riku calmed down and took the bracelet from Kikyou's hands, somedays you just can't win with her.

(on the gummi ship)

Riku drived silently until Kikyou broke the silence. "Where to now?

He turned to look at her and answered her question. "Traverse town. I know someone that might be able to tell us what that jewel around your neck is. If we are going to continue trying to find Ansem, we should at least know what the hell it is."

Kikyou nodded in agreement and looked down at the thing that everyone seemed to want. It looked back at her and Kikyou seemed to think it was watching her.

Who knows, maybe it's alive.

Yay! The chapters finished, I finished this in what....5 to 6 hours. That a new record!

Sora: Not really, you finished a chapter for "Gift of Humanity" in two hours. So that wouldn't be a new record.

Jazz7: (glares at Sora) What the hell would you know? Your a pervert and a idoit.

Sora: (shruggs and goes to get more egg nogg)

Riku: I'm suprised, he didn't try to counter that with some corny saying.

Kairi: Maybe he's learning how to stop saying all that "heart" and "power of the keyblade" stuff.

Ansem: Or maybe he just couldn't find anything that rhymed with pervert.

Scar: (sighs) Probably...

Jazz7: Well I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. And about the item thing, I tried to make this as realistic as possible. So that's why you see all that item crap, since how else could they still be standing after getting hit with all that magic, going through places with very high or very low tempetures, or anything else like that? But don't worry, that stuff won't pop up again. I get tired of writting it, plus it only reminds me that I don't own anything! (crys sadly from the fact)

Riku: Don't cry, at least you own the plot to this.

Jazz7: Yeah thanks Riku. That and if anyone else flames me I'm going to bitch like crazy in the next chapter. I officially hate half the people on this site! God, why do people have to be such assholes!

Ansem: Too bad you can't beat them up.

Evil Jazz7: We can humilate them though. (smiles evily)

Good Jazz7: Well hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter: Riku and Kikyou got to Traverse town and find out what the jewel really is. That and another excitting battle. Yay! Now go on and hit the review button!