Disclaimer: If only, if only…

Ok, when we last journeyed into the world of Remix, we found that Yoh and his rapidly growing team has happened upon Matt, Cloud, and Rayde, new members of Yoh's own team. Also, Yoh's own personal insecurities came to light, especially following a battle that shows just how strong his fellows, Kikyo in particular, really are. And in a twist that defies all logic, Sora has returned from Cloud's past.

Chapter 14 will explain Sora's presence in this sordid affair, but what is the secret of Rayde Zachrich, and what madness will occur as the team heads out for the Asakura Compound?

Chapter 14: Heartfelt Memories

"Well, this is a new one."

Though there was no possible way he could be aware of it, Hiei Jagenshi had commented on what could quite possibly be the single greatest understatement that the group could have made. After all, how often was it that a complete and total stranger walked up to them and randomly introduced himself to one of their number, and even stranger, that the person knew of them in the first place?

Yes, it was very much a new one, and much more than they could bring themselves to understand. But then, the way things had been going, what else was to be expected? Aside from the rapidly widening eyes and vanishing brows of a genetically enhanced ex-SOLDIER, obviously.

"What are you doing here, Sora?"

Cloud really did not look as calm as he sounded- to him, something was quite amiss.

Sora, from the looks of things, did not notice this, but responded to his question anyway. However, there was a slight darkening in his unusually vibrant blue eyes as he did so, and his voice seemed to lose a tiny of the excitement it held earlier. Strangely enough, though, his voice still carried with a light, carefree air in the manner of tinkling bells, almost like a child.

"Just something a friend of mine was worried about. I really wasn't too worried myself, but we both felt some kind of aura, so we decided to check it out. Couldn't hurt, right?"

"I guess not."

But his cold blue eyes and the crinkling around them said very much otherwise. Something was wrong…and they had no idea what.

"So who are these guys? Friends of yours?"

Obviously not one for the normal social graces, Sora walked up to the cluster of people that, up until this point, had been either beyond his range of sight or beyond his range of interest. But whatever the case had been, Sora was quite keenly interested in the group now, as his slightly bugged-out eyes indicated.

"Hi, I'm Sora."

The simple greeting was soon followed by an even simpler motion of an outstretched hand, moving so fast that none of them had any time to meet it or even tell who he meant to aim it towards. But after a while it became rather clear that he was extending it to all involved, strange as that may seem.

And being a man of very few social inhibitions himself, Yoh decided to follow suit, extending his own hand in greeting. His grin, which had only a minute ago been stretched so far upon his face that every single tooth was visible, was now more relaxed and subtle, while his eyes became calm as though the storms on a massive ocean had ceased, leaving nothing but silent water, smooth as glass.

"I'm Yoh Asakura. What's up?"

And as the conversation continued on in this airy, light as souffle manner, with both boys exhibiting a marked lack of seriousness or concern for their scenarios, Anna felt her eyes bug out in a strange combination of surprise and befuddlement at how simply ludicrous it all was; had this been an anime, there was no doubt in her mind she would have the classic sweatdrop on the back of her head.

How do we MEET these people?

Still, from what she could tell Sora did not seem to have any malicious intent; nothing in his childish expression or his lanky, big-shoed frame spoke of malice or evil at all. His voice lilted and hummed as would a cherub's own, and even his conversation spoke to someone who could by no means be wicked.

But Anna could feel her eyes drift over to Cloud as she thought of this, and as she scanned his own expression she could see that his eyes were clouded and ponderous as he stared at Sora, while his mouth drew so thin that he could hardly be seen to have lips at all. His hands, though relatively calm, were more than a bit clammy, and shook ever so slightly.

It was strange; Sora had spoken to the mysterious warrior like he had been a close friend…hadn't he? And yet Cloud did not seem to be reacting like an close friend would to the return of another. And if that was the case…then who was Sora?

It was lucky that Anna had learned to maintain a general expression of impassivity throughout her life, for she would have otherwise drawn attention to herself in a way that she absolutely did not need to at present. After all, with the way things had been going lately, the last thing she needed was more worry from the others…especially Yoh.

But it likely wouldn't have mattered anyway; in spite of having absolutely no knowledge on where he had come from, or even what sort of lunatic fashion sense had possessed him, Yoh was finding that he could talk quite comfortably to Sora, if only about the few things that they shared knowledge on, which pretty much boiled down to general details that were common in any culture. Still, the two did not seem to have any real problems in conversing easily on these matters, and at great length. Obviously the two had more in common than could have been realized with his coming.

After a while, Sora's attention turned to Cloud again, his vibrant blue eyes locking with the ex-mercenary's indifferent yet tormented cerulean ones, and for only a moment there was the smallest spark of confusion in both, flickering in the silence of that moment and then ceasing to be. They knew what it meant, and nodding to each other understood it completely.

The silent exchange went completely unnoticed except by a few people, Kikyo and Keiji specifically. And though they had no real idea what any of it meant, the brief glance was enough to tell them that something was going on between the two, something that was beyond their range of experience; the sheer mystery behind them spoke enough to that truth. But both were still bizarre, for the simple reason that in spite of the fact that they were human, and acted within that range, there was something about them that seemed, if anything, to be of another place or time…

Cloud, Sora…who ARE they?

Who they were, however, was relatively unimportant for the moment, in comparison to their loyalties, and since they had not tried to kill any of them yet it was quite likely that those were not to Satoshi. And from what Kikyo could sense, there was no real wickedness in their spiritual auras; Sora's was nearly as pure as any she had ever seen, perhaps almost as pure as Kenshin's, while Cloud's, darkened by strange reflections of emotions she could not quite discern, was still that of a moral, if confused, man.

Yes, for all the enigmas and bizarreries behind the two newcomers to this world, there was little doubt in her mind that they could be trusted.

Within all of this could be heard new footsteps, from about the same direction that Sora had come from, and for a moment there was not an untensed muscle in the area. But it was when they noticed that Sora himself had not moved at all, and in fact had brightened immensely in his eyes, there was an almost palpable sense of relaxation.

"Hey Sora, you find anything yet?", rang out the impassive, slightly brisk voice that was certainly the new arrival's own.

"Maybe. I don't really know."

It was not too long after this that the speaker himself appeared within eyesight, and the first thought to occur to everyone was simply that he fit the voice perfectly. Standing slightly taller than Sora, the newcomer was dressed in a white, yellow-trimmed zipper vest covering a similar black one beneath it, as well as slightly baggy denim jeans that covered the heels of his gray and white sneakers. His face, though slightly drawn from experiences that none of the others could see, was still healthy for his age, and his vaguely unkempt silver hair complemented the dark brown, weathered eyes he had. The young man, not aware of these brooding features, carried himself with a sort of grace and solemnity, as if he knew exactly what to do and when to do it.

"Hey, Riku. How'd it go on your end?"

The one named Riku eyed Sora for a moment before shaking his head, though the motion was almost too slight to notice.

"Whatever was there got lost a while ago…so who are these guys?"

The transition was so smooth that Sora hardly caught it, and when he did it was with an obvious start.

"Oh yeah, these are some guys I met up with a couple minutes ago; I know one of them, so I didn't see any problems." And as if by reflex, Sora's right hand moved to the back of his head as his cheeks reddened slightly.

Ignoring this, the one named Riku moved his attention to the group, eyes wandering methodically over every one of them, and resting for a while on Keiji, Kikyo, and for the longest, Yoh. The process was slow, and as it went on those with keen enough eyes could see Riku's lips draw into an ever-thinner line, as his eyes became increasingly clouded. But if there was anything on his mind it was not worth voicing, and within seconds he had turned back to Sora again.

"Alright. I'll take your word for it." Riku's voice, as impassive as it had been since his arrival, showed no signs of either acceptance or rejection, but those were the breaks. And in any case, Sora didn't seem to have voiced any objections to this, so it was taken as such.

The situation was fairly quiet for several minutes afterward; Riku's cool eyes and even cooler disposition had pretty much rendered all conversation null and void. But when conversation did start up again, it wasn't too hard to pin it down to the one who did it.

"So how've you been, Cloud? I haven't seen you for…wait, how long was it again?"

The ex-SOLDIER gnawed faintly on his lower lip as he tried to remember the date, eventually coming to the conclusion of, "About six months."

"Wow, it's been that long? Huh, wouldnt've guessed." Sora's motions as he spoke were gentle, like tiny waves running under his skin with as much ease as his voice held, and the waves hardly even shifted as Riku spoke again.

"So what was it you found?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Well, I'm not really that sure, it was only there for a second, but maybe Cloud knows."

"Hm?", was all Cloud presented in response.

"Yeah, we're looking for some guy that Riku met a while back. We don't know what he wants, but we're pretty sure he's here…and using Heartless."

The group didn't even have to ask questions; they knew instantaneously who Sora was talking about.

"Heartless, huh? I think we know the bastard he's looking for," intoned Matt to Rayde.

"We've met him, actually. He goes by the name of Akuren, that he does, and he's attacked us twice today. However, we do not actually know where he is at the moment."

Sora, having had his attention drawn to Keiji, nodded in his direction in gratitude.

"Hey, don't worry about it. At least we have a name now, right Riku?"

Riku said nothing, only nodding in response.

"Well, it's a start, at least. But we should probably get going; we don't know where he'll show up next, so we've gotta stay mobile."

Sora, eyeing everyone carefully, turned towards Riku, and proceeded to walk from the group, always maintaining that same nearly goofy smile. Nothing seemed outside his range of brightening, and Yoh was quick to notice that his leaving seemed to make the area around them all the dimmer...

"Excuse me."

Kikyo's melancholic yet dulcet tone rang out in the sidewalk, causing both Sora and Riku to turn around.

"If you are looking for Akuren, I suggest you join us. He was sent by a man named Satoshi Daiou to assassinate us, and since Satoshi is likely to make another attempt upon our lives it is just as likely that he will send Akuren again."

Sora chewed on this thought just as he chewed on his lip, and after just a second nodded eagerly.

"Sure, why not? Is that cool with you, Riku?"

The less sociable of the two only inclined his head.

"Ok, we'll come along; we could use all the help we can get right about now."

It was a good thing, thought Kikyo; after the rather nightmarish attack by the beings called Heartless, in addition to Keiji's own clash with their master, they would likely need all the help that could be gotten against them.

Besides, there is something in Sora's eyes…something we need more than what he knows…

Her thoughts beginning to swirl in her mind like so many soul collectors, the priestess turned her head towards Keiji, who was counting upon his fingers with a vague furrowing of his eyebrows. After a few seconds his eyes brightened, and he looked towards the others. "Ok, I think that my car will be able to hold two more people, and the rest of us can go in Matt's car."

Already Rayde could be seen to characteristically pinch the bridge of his nose at the prospect of someone else being with them, especially when Matt was driving. This is not going to end well…

Matt, of course, was oblivious to the exceedingly exhausting effect that his driving had on his friend, and turned towards Cloud with a look of boastfulness on his face. "So you wanna ride with us? No matter what Mr. Sunshine here says, I'm one helluva driver." And Cloud, having dealt with more jarring rides than he expected Matt had, nodded his consent.

"Alright, so then Sora and Riku will come with us."

"Ok by me."

And as the others voiced their varying consents, Yoh felt as though, for the first time since this nightmare began, that things were shaping up into something good. They had fended off two attacks by one of the most dangerous warriors he had ever seen, and what was more, they were going back to his home, where he could be certain that he was safe from the obnoxious sadism of Satoshi and the rampant cruelty of Akuren. Things were finally looking up, and he only hoped it would get better as it went.

It will never get better. It will only get worse, as long as I'm weak like this. As long as I can't battle with my true power, nothing will be ok again…

The voice resounded like a gong in Yoh's skull, and he felt himself respond with a rudimentary slap across the Mind's cheek. But deep within his heart, he knew that it was true; if he was to emerge from this battle alive, he would need the support of those around him, but he would also have to hone his skills by himself, within and without. For though he was Shaman King, he knew he would need to get stronger, faster, no matter what the cost.

But even as the group walked along the path towards what he was sure was destiny, Yoh could not help but wonder…just how high that price would be.

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Parking Lot

"Heh. Sweet, huh?"

Staring at the car that Matt's toothy grin indicated was his, Cloud was not entirely sure what to say about it. On the one hand, it was an impressive vehicle; a streamlined yet imposing Thunderbird, the car stood with a sort of restrained animalism that was only magnified by the gleaming jet black paint job. The grill, chrome detailing shining in the waning sun, could barely conceal the monstrous 312 Y-Block V8 engine, and the leather convertible top seemed more durable than the concrete around it.

On the other hand, Matt was looking at the car in much the same way that Cid looked at his airships…and if Matt was the same as Cid in other ways related to mechanics, he had a very good idea of how defensive he would be.

"So, it runs off fossil fuels."

Matt, not being familiar with how unique a concept it was to Cloud, simply stared at the older man across his glasses, a single eyebrow quirking upwards. "Uh…ok, sure." And deciding not to pursue the matter any further Matt took out a cloth and proceeded to give the car a last-minute buffing while Rayde and Cloud slid into their seats. Several minutes later, Matt followed suit, sliding over the hood whilst sitting on the towel and spinning along the windowframe and into the seat.

Several feet away, Keiji was making his own preparations, as he packed various foodstuffs and supplies into his own vehicle, a sizeable red van which seemed almost as well kept as Matt's Thunderbird. The only ones standing outside by this point were Keiji and Yoh, the others already sitting in their respective seats.

"Is everyone ready in there?"

The responses, of varying types, came as quickly as he had asked, and soon enough Keiji had completed what little preparations were left.

"And you, Yoh?"

Yoh had been ready since the start, and his rapid nod indicated this.

"Alright. Let us go, then."

The doors on each side opened, and with silent dignity both entered. All had lead up to this moment, and for what they knew could be the last time, they stared at the Kyoto skyline, the sky blood red against the setting sun.

It was time to begin the hunt…and they knew just where to start. And with that spirit in mind the two vehicles sped out of the driveway, the Thunderbird easily overtaking the van but falling behind when Matt realized he had no clue where he was going.

All was silent, all was still. Life came to a silent reverie as the act of the day closed, leaving naught but the props and sets of the day…as well as one of the last actors, standing upon the rooftop stage to deliver one last soliloquy to the silent audience of the gods.

Although to be fair, it was not so much a soliloquy as a seal of approval as he saw his targets move ahead safely, and it was a short confirmation at best; he knew they would be safe with their power levels, and it made him wonder why he was doing this at all.

But he knew his assignment, and he knew what he was supposed to do…no matter how tedious it was.

As the hidden man's lazy brown eye watched the two vehicles ride away from the sun, he felt a heavy sigh pass his lips; they were moving during the nighttime, when there were worse things than Heartless and missing-nin about, and he knew it meant he would have to follow them the whole way now.

"Ah well. It's getting too dark to read anyway."

But as his eye returned to the page he was dimly scanning, he decided to stay there for a while; tracking the Shaman King would be easy, and he wanted to see how the chapter ended. Besides, he had been told to keep a low profile of about a mile from the cars, and what better way to do so than to sit and read his favorite book?

And so, with nothing pressing at hand and a fairly easy assignment, Kakashi Hatake returned to the voyeuristic adventure that was Icha Icha Paradise, silently thanking his client for the time he had allowed him for this.

But a part of him remained on edge…for the moments when he'd need both of his eye for other matters…matters that were closer at hand than he would have liked.

To Be Continued

What can I say? I like ninja.

Anyway, chapter 15 will chronicle Yoh and the gang as they head for the Asakura compound. But what secrets is Sora hiding, what past is Cloud confronting, and what is everyone's favorite copycat Jonin doing following them all?

Check it out next time.

And on a sidenote, I don't own Ford Thunderbirds or The Dukes of Hazzard.