** Sorry this updated late on Tuesday- couldn't get to FanFiction.net earlier. v_v **

ARGH! Not only do I have a cold, I have a nosebleed from East Of Sanity YYH fanfics and pics... Although the nosebleed is worth it. Hehehe... ^_~

Lily: *Thwack* HENTAI! Sop drooling at my Kurama-sama!

Aw, you were thinking the same thing... He's HOT as a bellydancer! And "After the show" is even hotter... XD

Lily: *Starts to nosebleed* ALANA! You're only thirteen!

So? ^_^

Jo: *Reading lemons* ^_^ Teehee! I love Utopian Trunks!

Lily: O_O *Scandalized*

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Reviewers: Maji the Blue Mage (Fun?...I did? *Re-reads chapter* Oh, in describing Neko. You're right, Kenshy-chan. Vivi, just be glad it's not my muse Jo- she'd be glomping you, more than likely. Riku-chan, I sympathize, but I don't interfere with other people's muses. And Leon-chan, of course it is! I'm a fangirl of SIX boys! *Huggles Ryou Bakura, Riku, Sephiroth, Amidamaru, Kenshin, and Hiei*), SamaraRose7 *Chapter 1* (Oh, thank you! I'm glad you like it so far! *Giggle* And thanks for becoming my first NEW reviewer in forever!)

Warning: Actual humor. Rather dry, but it's there, at least for the first three scenes. Then my style changes completely. ^_^;; Also, some Japanese, most new to this story... Should that be a warning?

Disclaimer: You should know who I own and don't own by now.

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Experimental

Kurayami: Part Eight

Before Our Very Eyes



*********************

~~~~~ Bastion

"Wh-what?" Oka stares at Takeo. "But she wasn't supposed to leave until I met up with her! Her keyblades would upset the balance even more if she used them without supervision! Miru was supposed to get her to STAY!"

Niji smiles cheerfully, patting the brunette on the back. "C'mon, Oka, if Miru let her go, it should be fine. I mean, this is MIRU we're talking about."

Oka glares at Niji. "Yeah, but have you seen some of the sims Miru's run involving alter-Nekos? She's missing a few bolts, you know!"

Takeo blinks. "Oro? What's wrong with Neko?"

The two tall young men blink at the still-sitting-halfway-in-Oni's-nich-with-tearstains-from-reading-Oni's-journal Takeo. They blink at each other.

"Should we go where we have all the time in the worlds?" Niji inquires.

Oka nods. "Sure, why not?" he asks in a resigned voice.

They each grab one of Takeo's hands, and close their eyes in concentration. Takeo lets out another confused "Orooo?!" as they start to shimmer out of that particular level of reality.

*********************

~~~~~ |WALLS|

"Sooo... How long are we gonna be walking?" Sora asks Zeff, stretching his arms out then folding them behind his head.

Zeff shrugs, brushing a few reddish tendrils of hair out of his cinnamon-blood eyes. "A while."

Sora sighs just a little bit. ::I'm bored::

They walk.

Sora yawns as they walk.

They walk some more.

(The authoress assumes you get the point.)

The air in front of Sora and Zeff shimmers! Gasp! Shock! And three people step out of the temporary Interdimensional Rift!

Zeff blinks. Sora blinks. Takeo blinks. Oka blinks. Sora and Takeo blink about three more times. Niji makes a ^_^

"Well, it's about time something happened..." Sora jokes.

Zeff blinks at him, then at the two guides. "Niji? Oka? Why are you two here? I thought you two were going to be coaching Neko on how to use her-" Zeff cuts off abruptly, looking oddly at Sora.

::Is he looking _nervously_ at me?::

Oka looks at Sora, his grey gaze sharp. His eyes widen, and he nudges Niji. Niji blinks blue eyes curiously up at Oka, then also looks wide-eyed at Sora.

Sora blinks a little at the strange looks he was getting from the odd pair. "What?"

Takeo, taking in the odd reactions of Oka and Niji, looks curiously at the fairly ordinary boy, and gets swept with a wave of deju-vu.

Or maybe nausea. It's hard to tell them apart, in this place.

In either way, he draws in a sharp breath, his own aqua eyes widening. "You- you're SORA!"

Sora looks like he would sweatdrop if he were an anime character. "Er, yeah. I sorta know that."

Takeo nervously brushes his fingertips over one of the topazes by his eyes, blurting out the most cliché phrase he's ever used. "I'm your son!"

Sora blinks. A record five, no, six times. Every guide there stares in horror at Takeo. Then Sora blurts out the most intelligent thing that comes to his confused mind.

"What the hell?"

*********************

~~~~~ Belgariad

Neko and Silk head up towards relative safety, carrying the still-unconscious Dark Magician Girl between them and attracting a few (Well, a lot) of odd looks.

Goodness, today seems to be just FULL of odd looks, isn't it?

*********************

~~~~~ Destiny Island.

Anzu sits on the top of one of the coconut-star palms, chewing absently on the end of a ruddy-brown strand of hair as she watches Selphie and Tidus clean up the mess from the birthday party.

"Island life is so peaceful, is it not?"

Anzu nods, not startled by the odd voice from behind her, having already sensed the gentle presence. "It is. That's why I like it here." She turns her head to look at the person sitting on the next tree over. "I don't remember meeting you before."

A slight smile crosses the young woman's pale face. "Probably because I just got here. I'm Nami."

"Anzu 4-SK."

Nami nods her head, looking out over the ocean, her odd grey-blue eyes distant. "Anzu..."

"Yeah?"

"Well..."

"Ne, what is it?" Anzu tilts her head to one side, curiously.

"Do you know what it means when there is a meteor shower?" Nami brushes some of her short green-blond hair back, dangling her legs over the side of her tree.

"Iya..."

"It means that the barriers between worlds are falling." Nami's gaze shifts east, towards the cove. "It means that the Heartless... The Heartless have been released again."

Anzu blinks her large blue eyes, turning her head to see what Nami is looking at.

White streaks of fire fall across the tropical blue sky.

"Are?!" Anzu jerks upright from her lazy half-reclined position, orange feathers bristling. ::She said that means the Heartless are back?! Demo sa... How does she know all this? Why did she show up now?:: "Mou, what's going on?!"

Nami looks a bit sadly at Anzu. "Do you need to wrap up anything? We need you to leave the islands."

*********************

Ansem?

::Hmm?::

Ansem.

::A voice?::

You need to come back. You are part of our balance.

::All right...::

Do you know how to escape?

::Escape? Escape what?::

Here.

::Where is here?::

It does not matter. Can you escape?

::Can I? I don't know.::

You can. Will you?

::I suppose. How shall I do so?::

***

Dark orange eyes open in a tan face. They look up at pale, sad, almost inhuman eyes, half-way familiar, because he looked into the same face they sit in nearly a decade ago.

"Hello, Ansem, my creator. Boku thought you were dead." Holding out a hand, the boy helps Ansem to his feet.

"I thought I was dead, too." He holds up his hand in front of his face, then pulls a long strand of pale hair examining it minutely as if to see if it was real. He drops the strand, looking around the blankly dark landscape. "Where are we, 5-RSSK?"

"My name is Oni, not 5-RSSK." He looks mournfully around. "I don't know were this is; Aku took over my body for a while, and here we are."

"Hmm."

"Dakara, how did you get here? Or don't you know?"

Ansem frowns a little, looking at the blue horizon. "I heard a voice... It said something, and I said something back... And then I was here."

There is a long silence, then Ansem sits down.

"So, tell me, how long has it been? How have your fellow creations grown? I remember that Squall, Yuffie, and Aerith came back to the Bastion; Did anyone else?"

Oni sits down beside Ansem, eyes falling from hurt crystal to a more thoughtful grey, although the pain remains. "Since you disappeared, along with the Heartless? It must be near nine years, now. My siblings, I haven't actually seen- seen with my eyes- in six years. Anzu- Wait, you knew her as 4-SK- She may be dead, but I'm not sure. Neko, 2-RK, is alive. Her magick developed nicely, with barely any training, and I found out from Aku that she possesses two keyblades..."

Oni continues to report to Ansem, grateful for any reason to ignore the feeling that his heart and soul are slowly being ripped apart.

*********************

Translations:

Oro: Wha? Huh?! ORORORO??!! (This is what Kenshin says in the Rurouni Kenshin subs when, say, trying to balance on top of a giant ball in a circus, or getting thwacked by Kaoru-chan, or falling over, or whatever.)

Ne: At the beginning of a sentence, sort of like saying "Hey". At the end of a sentence, more a "Right?", "Isn't that so?" or "No?".

Iya: No (less formal form of iie)

Are?: Another way of saying "Huh?!"

Demo sa: But...

Mou: In the case where it's used, it's sort of like saying 'Tell me!'... I think...

Boku: I/me. Informal, masculine, but polite. If a girl used this, she would be marks as a at least semi-tomboy...

Dakara: So...

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Every muse except Jo: *Unconscious from loss of blood via nosebleeds*

Jo: Wai~! Hiei is so kawaii, looking at Kurama like that!^_^

-_-()Er, Jo-chan, could you stop looking at the citrus fan art? I like it as much as you do, but I need my muses... And my READERS...