Surrendered Innocence

Disclaimer: If this was mine, I would be so rich I would be able to dictate these ideas to someone. Since I'm not, I believe we can all safely assume that Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me.

Author's Note: To note: from now on, a ~ will be used to mark the beginning and ending of a thought. I had originally intended to simply italicize the words, but apparently that doesn't carry over when you upload the story. Ah well. On with the story.

Chapter Three

With an "oomph", the child dropped the final few feet down to the ground, landing in a crouch. Carefully creeping away from the house, he made sure to stay out of sight of anyone that may have been looking out of the windows. Last time he'd been seen, the two grown-ups inside had stopped arguing long enough to storm outside and drag him back in. At that point, they turned their combined wrath on him. He unconsciously rubbed at his bare arms. Once he was sure he was clear of the house, he stood up straight, the moonlight reflecting strangely on his platinum hair.

The child Riku carefully walked through the streets of the sleeping harbor town, alert for the constable making his rounds. He'd gotten caught by him only once, and that was more than enough for him. If his parents had been unhappy the time they caught him sneaking away, they had been positively furious when the constable had brought him back home by the ear.

Stopping below Kairi's window, he considered not waking her up and just sleeping down here tonight. The last time he'd done that, though, she'd caught him in the morning. She'd been so upset and he hadn't known what to do to calm her down. He hated it when she got upset like that. It made him feel weird. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he scuffed his feet against the ground in indecision.

"Riku?" a sleepy voice called out softly into the night, startling him out of his revere. Snapping his head up, he noticed Kairi leaning out of the window, rubbing at her eyes as she looked down at him. Smiling as she noticed him, she tilted her head slightly to the side "Bad night?"

Riku wordlessly nodded his head, feeling a lump in his throat. It wasn't the first time he'd come here during a 'bad night.'

"Well, hold on while I open the door, okay?"

Nodding again, he absently kicked a pebble with the toe of his shoe while he waited. Sometimes, he wondered what would have become of him if Kairi had never come to the islands. She was the only one he could really trust to come to on these nights. Sora would never just let him over without questions. Plus Sora's parents were something of snoops. They weren't exactly untrustworthy.exactly. It was just that they were the sorts to do something "for your own good." That wasn't to say that the mayor and his wife were bad people either. They just weren't the type to push or go snooping. The closest either had come to actually asking him was when they would tell him that they would always be there to listen if he had anything to say. And that was that.

Looking up at the sound of the door opening, he couldn't help but smile back at Kairi. She had an infectious smile, even at the worst of times. Entering at her beckoning, he took a moment to look around the dark house. The grandfather clock to the side of the stairs tick-tocked as it had for time out of mind, regularly wound by the mayor every Sunday evening before going to bed. He could just make out the shape of the couch in front of the living room's fireplace on his left, knowing from regular visits that the mayor's armchair and his wife's rocker were on either side. To the right, the kitchen tile was a diluted white in the moonlight, the kitchen table and chairs casting a long shadow across the floor. Following behind Kairi as she went up the stairs, he made sure to step over the fourth step, which always squeaked.

Once in Kairi's room, Riku took a moment to look around. Originally an attic, the mayor and his wife had converted it into a bedroom shortly after Kairi had arrived. The front of it showed all the signs one would expect from a girl's room, but it was the back that always interested Riku. That's where all the boxes of forgotten treasures had been stacked. Most days when the three of them, Riku, Sora, and Kairi, would hang out over here, they would spend the time looking through the boxes. There were all sorts of stuff there. A lot of it belonged to the current mayor and his wife, but there were also old trinkets left behind by mayors and their wives of years and years ago. There was even an old skulls and crossbones flag, supposedly from the mayor's "Great-great-great-great-great Uncle Magnus' ship, who was also known as 'the three fingered demon of the seas.'" Even if he didn't -totally- believe the mayor, it was still one of his favorite stories.

Ducking under an overhanging root, he stood upright as he came out in the clear section of the secret area. Turning, he noticed Kairi sitting on the cave floor, drawing on the wall. As she turned to wave to him, he noticed something behind her. A pair of sickly yellow eyes in the shadows. He tried to call out to her, but found he had no voice. He tried to run towards her but his legs would not move. Desperately, he tried to reach out and grab hold of her before the Heartless could touch her, but couldn't quite make it. Helpless, he watched in horror as the deceptively small thing drove it's black claws into her chest, pulling them out to hold her heart overhead. Free of his paralysis, he dashed forward, catching Kairi as she slumped forward. Taking her by the shoulders, he frantically screamed her name. A deep booming laugh filled the Darkness, stopping him cold as a shiver of pure fear ran up and down his spine. Almost against his will, he found his head turning towards where the laugh came from.

"Looking for this, boy?" the voice taunted in a laughing tone. And sure enough, there he stood. Easily over six feet tall, his long silver hair was a startling contrast to his bronzed skin; arrogance and viciousness rolled off of him in waves as he hovered in the Darkness, holding Kairi's heart in one hand.

"You want it boy?" Ansem taunted him, extending the heart towards him, his lips curving up into a viciously cruel smirk. "Come and get it"

Surging to his feet, Riku desperately grabbed after the heart, always just a fraction of an inch from success. Stopping a moment to catch his breath, he suddenly stood up straight and looked around.

"Kairi?" There was only Darkness around him now. With a start, he realized that not only could he no longer see Kairi, but also he was wearing those same clothes in which he had battled Sora in Hollow Bastion. Pushing that aside, he continued to look around, trying to spot Kairi.

"Kairi?" he called again, a note of panic in his voice. The only response was Ansem's booming laugh, echoing throughout the Darkness. Finally, he spotted her being carried away by several of the small Shadow Heartless. He tried to race after them, but he didn't seem to be moving. One arm outstretched, he found himself again helpless as she faded away into the Darkness. All he could do was scream her name in despair.

"KAIRI! KAIRI!!! KAIRI!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Author's Note: Yes, I know. I'm evil. I'm evil evil _evil_ to end with such a cliffhanger. But then, the entire point of a cliffhanger is to leave you on the edge of your seat. Will you be coming back to read Chapter Four? I think so. Hey, don't worry. You won't be waiting long.