Chapter X

Never Hurt To Try

Point of View: Riku

Written by: Jayde (10th Chapter)

Pain… Excruciating pain…

I can't think…can't breathe…can't see…

Am I even…alive?

"…What happened?" I heard myself groan. Slowly, I opened one eye…then the other. Everything was blurry…an abyss of Picasso colors. Then all was clear as the events flashed in my head.

"You were nearly killed by the Heartless, idiot," a feminine voice answered me. I sat up slowly, realizing I was in my own apartment…my own room…my own bed…But I wasn't alone.

"Where's Kairi?" I grasped my throat, for it felt as though I had lost my hollow voice.

A form so familiar walked out from the shadows—she left enough evidence to show that she was not the only one hiding.

"I'm right here, Riku," said Kairi soothingly. She walked over to me, and in the limited light I could see her face; it was stark white, whiter than her usual color, and her eyes still held the fear and surprise from when the Heartless appeared. "I'm okay. Are you?"

I stared at her for a moment.

"Yeah, I am," I lied. I looked back toward the shadows, where the figure still had not moved. I pointed to it. "Keiko." Finally, the shadow shifted into the light.

"Wow, you finally said something smart. Anything else you need to note?" she said sardonically. I squinted to make out her features. Pale skin – a familiarity with all residents of Nihility – and light blond hair done up in a messy bun, with uneven bangs falling into her two-colored eyes.

Light blue and dark blue.

I stared at the woman, my eyes hellish slits, her unorthodox attire catching to the gaze. She was tall, her clothing, unfitting for a person of Pareja. Her black shoulder baring top and equally shapeless raven pants continued as her facade as an authentic citizen, a leather belt, or shall I say many belts, adding to her accouterments. I snorted.

Wench.

"What…I mean…why…?" I couldn't get the words out. Keiko smirked, a hand meeting her hip.

"Like I said, you want to skin and eat me now?" She fiddled with the lacy black choker that lay around her neck.

I growled, narrowing my eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, staring at the wench.

"Well," the pale-skinned woman began, stretching the word to a climax. "You thought Kairi was ready to take on the Heartless, but you didn't know what day it was!"

"And just what day is it?"

"Four years ago today, you walked into the city and started slaughtering the Heartless two by two by two," Keiko answered in a slight singsong voice, swaying her hands and hips along the tone.

"How would they remember that?" Kairi asked in slight awe. Keiko turned to her.

"Just because they don't seem smart doesn't mean they aren't. Believe me, they remembered, and decided to have a little reunion. At least," she paused. "That's what I think."

"And you decided to play hero by suddenly appearing today, huh? You knew and you didn't even warn us or anything?" I asked angrily, glaring.

Keiko put her hands up in mock-defense. "Hey, hey, it's not like I had much of a choice now."

I'm going to kill her.

"Why, after all this time, haven't you told us you were human?"

Keiko rolled her eyes.

"Because I couldn't, asshole. I never had enough energy to make the transformation until I went looking for it myself, and then I found you. After that, I decided I only wanted to become human when I was needed."

Kairi turned to her.

"But…why couldn't you do it until Riku came?"

She smirked again, this time in a teasingly triumphant manner that in every way made me fume. "Because Riku had enough energy to boost my own. By living with him for a week, I was able to absorb some."

"You stole my energy?" I asked, never removing my glare.

Keiko shrugged and nodded at the same time.

"I wouldn't say 'stole' is the right word. I'm looking for more of a 'borrowing without asking' type of thing."

I am definitely going to kill her.

"You little…I knew from the start you were just a stupid furball." I rose from the bed. Even though I was quite dizzy, I was able to make out Keiko's face.

Keiko didn't flinch. "Well excuse me for saving your life."

"Can you change back?" Kairi quickly asked, avoiding a fight that was sure to come. Keiko glanced at her.

"Not for a while. I wasted a lot of energy morphing once into human, then even more when I fought the thousands of Heartless about to feed on this one." She nodded her head once in my direction.

"Get out," I growled loudly at her, feeling around the side of my bed for my two swords. "Get out. You're trouble. I know it." Keiko looked mock-surprised.

"Now you can't just kick out your rescuer, Riku. I saved yours and Kairi's asses out there, so the least you can do is muster a thanks." She smiled in a sickly sweet way.

"Thanks, but we didn't need your help. Leave my home now."

"You didn't need my help? From where I was standing, you sure looked in a heap of trouble." She gazed back innocently.

"Just leave."

Kairi tilted her head and spoke, "Unless you'd like to stay with us."

I turned, slightly shocked.

No.

"Kairi, she's not staying," I told her with a glare. "I put up with her as an idiotic cat, I'm not putting up with her as a cynical human." From the corner of my eye, I spotted Keiko biting her tongue, stopping herself from saying whatever retort she had to say.

"But Riku! She saved our lives! We'd be dead if it wasn't for her." Kairi's eyes narrowed like mine.

"There's no way, Kairi. No. Possible. Way."

"I can sleep on the couch, if not the floor," Keiko piped up.

"The couch!" "The floor!" Kairi and I said simultaneously. I glared again at her.

When would she learn?

"Kairi, it's enough with just the two of us. Why give her any luxuries?"

"Look, I saved your life. I've been living with you for nearly two months. Why should now be any different?" Keiko's arms folded easily across her chest.

"Because now you're human. We don't have enough room. This place is too small and not fit for the likes of you!"

"The likes of me!? The likes of your savior! You should be thankful!"

I snorted as Kairi looked from me to Keiko, suddenly looking quite helpless.

"Thankful? How the hell can I be thankful? You lied to Kairi for four years, and you lied to me for two months. How are we supposed to trust you?"

"Can I get a word in…?" Kairi whispered nervously, only to be cut off by Keiko.

"Did I do anything but save Kairi during that time? Huh? Did I, Riku?"

"You mean…you saved her when…?" Keiko nodded, face set in an 'I-told-you-so' manner.

"Yes, that was me, Riku. I saved your precious best friend. I was the one who kept her alive, not you, so you owe me a lot." She paused, panting. "I should at least get to stay here."

I sighed, one hand to my temple. This was giving me a headache.

"All right, dammit. You can stay. But one foot out of line, and you can sleep on the streets for all I care."

"Riku!" Kairi hissed from beside me. Keiko simply shrugged.

"Whatever, boss." She walked out of the room, and I imagined her sitting on the couch.

"Riku," Kairi grumbled dangerously again once we were alone in the bedroom. "What is with you and that attitude?" Two fists positioned themselves on her hips.

"We didn't need her. She didn't have to save us. I had everything under control." A lie, of course. A very big one, and even I knew it. Sighing, I resorted to something else.

"I couldn't stand her as a cat, and I can't stand her as a human. How are we supposed to trust her when she didn't give us the slightest clue that she was human?"

Kairi sighed exasperatedly.

"Clue? You want even more clues? She saved me in the hallway, she brought me money and food for four years, she went to you, then led you to me, I mean…God, Riku, how many more clues do you want?" With that, she stalked out of the room, leaving me standing.

Could women get any more complicated?

After some while, I began to feel slightly guilty – but only slightly. I knew I had no right to be mad or angry, so I slowly rose from the bed I had positioned myself on. Running a hand through my silver hair, I exited the room. Kairi and Keiko were sitting on the couch, talking animatedly as though they had been friends since birth.

Keiko noticed my presence.

"Glad to see you've finally decided to join us," she said, closing her eyes to suppress rolling them. Her hands grasped a brown mug, one of the two that were in my kitchen cabinet.

I glared in response as Kairi turned.

"Riku…" she said warily. I nodded, losing the glare.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly.

"Er…" Keiko looked at me nervously. "Kairi forgives you, just don't apologize in front of me anymore. It's scary."

Kairi snorted into her mug.

I shrugged, standing behind the couch. "Fine with me."

Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

"Is Keiko your real name?" I asked her, remembering the fact that it was Kairi who named her as a kitten. The corners of Keiko's mouth twitched as she looked at Kairi.

"Yes…yes, it is. I'm Keiko Chinyere, a martial artist given the power to become a baby feline at will," she responded proudly.

This time, I snorted, and was rewarded with two girls narrowing their eyes in my direction.

"What?"

A long silence followed.

"Keiko knows of a way out of Nihility," Kairi suddenly whispered, changing the previous subject completely. Keiko looked at her, a slightly surprised look on her face.

"I never said I knew a way out," Keiko claimed. "I just said there was a myth about it."

"A myth?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. I had long since gotten over the feeling, but with the topic getting off of Nihility, I was suddenly quite interested. "What kind of myth?"

Keiko smirked.

"Well, it's said that a group of people wished to leave Nihility so much that they searched for a way out. They traveled many days and many nights before finally finding the door that would lead them away from this wretched place." Keiko paused, sighing. "They all died," she stopped again, looking from me to Kairi, then back. "Except for one.

"They say he is the only one who knows the horrors of what happened that fateful night, and that he is the only one who knows what you must face to leave Nihility. Of course, all of this is just a myth." The blonde smiled in a devilish way. "So how can any of it be true?"

"What do you mean by 'they say'? I thought everyone in Nihility couldn't talk?" I asked.

"That's only in Pareja. And it's not that they can't talk. It's that they refuse to talk," Kairi answered me. I stayed quiet.

"How would we find him?" I inquired. Keiko shrugged.

"Like I should know. It's a myth, you moron. Myth equals not true. So don't get any ideas." She laughed grimly. "Besides, we'd have to think of a way to leave Pareja first. I've tried to get away numerous times, but each attempt ends in complete failure."

I clenched and unclenched my teeth, while doing the same with my fists.

She'd better stop calling me idiot and moron if she wants to live.

But you can't. She saved your life. Aha, that annoying voice again. How I hated it so.

"Caige!" Kairi exclaimed. "Caige lives in the mirrors. He said something about dwelling in them. If he could live in a mirror, then there's got to be a way out."

"Yeah, walk through a mirror into another village!" Keiko agreed sarcastically. "Oh but wait, I forgot, we're not mirror dwellers. We can't do that." Causticity.

Kairi sighed in a sort of defeated way before putting a hand to her head, thinking.

"But you know," the woman opposite her said. "It may work. It never hurt to try, did it?"

I inwardly flinched at this.

Yes, it did hurt to try.