A/N: So I apparently did well with my last chapter. Good signs for me then, and as for taking the romance slowly I planned to, as you will see it's going to take quite an effort to fish Noro out of the dark. All I have to say about this chapter is:

Insanity is so much fun.

Disclaimer: Take a guess on what goes here.

Can't you hear it

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Noro had not been seen for a few days now, that was nothing new. I think it bothered Riku though. We were all sitting on the Paopu Island, me, Kairi, Riku, Tidus, Selphie and Wakka. Riku as sitting on the paopu tree, me and Kairi leaned against it and Tidus Wakka and Selphie all sat next to each other on the ground. We all stared out at the ocean in silence, finally everything was normal again. Except Noro was here, but not right now so everything was fine. I had an odd feeling about her when she showed up with Riku. I'm not really sure...but there was just something /wrong/ about her...

She brought Riku back though, so I was grateful. I was grateful that I still had my keyblade too.

It was silent for a few minutes more until Wakka leaned back, bracing himself on his hands.

"'Ey Riku, so, uh, what was it like in Kingdom Hearts?" He asked, breaking the silence. Riku lifted his head and looked over at Wakka.

"Shitty, I thought I was going to go crazy in that place." He said, the look on his face distant, so it was easy to tell he was sifting through his memories.

"Could you of found another way out though? The girl you brought with you, she's a heartless, ya?" Wakka asked, rubbing the back of his head as he usually did when he was uncomfortable. Riku nodded.

"She's only half."

"Yeah but.some of the people, on the main island, they say they remember her, they say she's the reason why some people never made it back here...why they died..." Wakka's voice faded at the end of his sentence. It was true, Riku knew as well as I did that I didn't lock the keyhole to every world on my way to the end of the world. There would have been more along the way, many more.

But they were destroyed, and I don't mean just the heart of the world.

I know that Noro couldn't help it; she was under influence of the heartless, just like Riku. But Riku never /killed/ anyone, he took their hearts, not their lives. I forgave her for it, she seemed remorseful enough. But still, something was terribly wrong about her. Maybe it's just those wings...the wings of heartless... I had never seen any heartless with wings like that. But it made me even more frightened, I wouldn't know what I was up against if she turned completely heartless. My thoughts were then interrupted by Riku's voice.

"She was a heartless when she killed those people, you can't blame her for what a heartless did with her strength." Riku said in Noro's defense. Wakka nodded slightly and said nothing else; he never was the type to really fight with someone about things. Tidus spoke up, trying to lighten the mood.

"Heartless or not, she isn't a bad looking girl-"

"TIDUS!" Selphie cut him off with a yell then a smack upside the head. Tidus laughed gently, rubbing his head. He and Selphie were lucky enough to end up on a world together, and it all went uphill for them from there.

"What? Aren't I at least allowed to look?" Tidus's words and cheesy grin made us all give out a small laugh. And another laugh for the angry look on Selphie's face. Riku then looked over at me and Kairi.

"You two have been pretty quiet." He said. Me and Kairi both looked up, as I shook myself completely from my thoughts.

"Huh?" I said in true I-just-came-out-of-a-daze fashion. It really was genuine, I had been absorbed in my thoughts the whole time, and I imagine Kairi was also because our hands were loosely linked together, no pressure coming from her hand.

"You two are usually life of the party, and I've hardly heard a word from either." He said, the others nodding in agreement. I only smiled.

"Oh, just been doing a lot of thinking." I said cheerfully. Kairi nodded, a smile appearing on her angelic features.

"Me too."

"About what?" Riku asked, directing the question at both of us.

"Well...Noro..." Kairi answered. Just as I thought, that's why she's my perfect match I guess, we both worry and usually about the same thing. Riku jumped down from his seat.

"You all are too judgmental, any of you could have been heartless and been used the way she was. I'll go get her and prove she's just a normal person." Riku walked away from us and jumped down from the bridge and towards the door to the cove. It's where we usually found her when she disappeared for a few days.

~~~

"Noro?" I called to the bundle of something wrapped in a white cloak on the ground as I pushed the rock to the small cave aside. A muffled whimper- sounding noise came from the cloak and a bit of movement. A gloved hand emerged from beneath the cloak and pushed it aside, revealing a blue haired head. Her hair and her clothes were array, and I had known her to be somewhat of a neat-freak when it came to her appearance, but I took this not as heavily as I should have. Her violet eyes looked at me blankly.

"Yes Riku?" She said a bit too plainly. But I thought she was only toying with me.

"What have you been doing the last few days? No one's seen you."

"What does it matter?" I narrowed my eyes slightly, I /hated/ when she didn't answer me.

"Well, every one's at the Paopu Island and social interaction is something that's normal for people." I said and waited for her response. There wasn't one, she only turned over.

"I want you to go away now."

"What?" I blinked a few times; I expected sarcasm, but not /that/.

"I said I want you to go away now." She repeated, more harshly this time. I reached out a hand to grab her by the arm and pull her out of the small space. But as my hand got closer she smacked it away and jumped forward, standing on her knees and glaring at me.

"I SAID I WANT YOU TO GO AWAY NOW!" She yelled, her violet eyes twisted in fury. I took a step back, slightly surprised by her outburst. I narrowed my eyes, not willing to just let her get away with that.

"Noro stop it! People don't like you already, and you are not going to make it any better like that!" She stood and shoved me backwards so hard that my back said hello to the ground.

"I WANT YOU TO GO AWAY NOW!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She was shaking, her hands curled into fists, the area around her eyes fleshy red. I stood quickly and grabbed her by the wrists, forcing her back down to her knees.

"Noro! Noro what the hell is wrong with you?!" I yelled at her, gripping her wrists tight enough to be painful. I could see involuntary twitches come from her muscles as tears streamed from her eyes. She was looking in my direction, but not /at/ me, more like /through/ me, or as if I wasn't even there.

"Riku... Can't you hear it? Can't you hear the screaming...?" She said, her voice shaken and cracking. I narrowed my eyes; this was not at all like her.

"No Noro, I cant here any screaming, I can only hear you." I said firmly. She then began to thrash, fighting to get away from me. She screamed words at me that were not English, or any other language I knew of. Then out came the wings, revealing themselves from her cloak. Whoosh and I was smacked hard in the side by one of them. I released her; angry with what I'm sure would turn out to be a bruise on my side.

Yep, I hated her again.

She slid backwards across the ground and back into the small cave. She shoved one hand into her blue hair, covering half of her face.

"Riku...please tell me you can hear it...please tell me I'm not crazy..." She said desperately as she dragged her hand down her face. My eyes widened as the paths her fingers had taken down her face could still be seen even once her hand was gone from her face. They were visible because somehow, her fingers had cut open the skin on her face, leaving five bleeding cuts down her pale face.

"Noro! What's going on?!" I yelled, walking towards her again. But she moved forward violently, about to push me again, or worse. I glared at her, my own hands curling into fists.

"Screw this! You can sit here and bleed to death or rot OR DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT!" I yelled. I knew something was wrong with her, but she made me so mad... I'd think about it later, while she wasn't right there, being a psychopath. So I turned and began storming down the beach.

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A/N: Like I said, insanity is fun. And I just come to realize that I have way too much time on my hands...three chapters in just a few days... Dear Lord I have no life...