disclaimer : Kingdom Hearts is no mine. ;__;



Darkness Within by rin_lockheart



Cloud continued to chase after Sora all through the Second and Third Districts. Finally, in the Third District Sora showed signs of slowing down. He lost his breath and stopped, hands on his knees. Cloud walked up behind him, breathing normal, not out of breath in the least bit.

"Sora," Cloud said. "You shouldn't run off like that around here. You could be attacked by Heartless."

The brunette stood up and glared at him. Cloud flinched; Sora's deep blue eyes were full anguish and despair.

"I can take care of myself, you know," Sora stated bluntly.

The blond nodded. "I am quite aware of the fact. It's just that lately, Heartless have been attacking in groups of about ten or more."

"So?!" the small boy said angrily. "I'm the Keyblade master!! It's not like I haven't beaten ten or more Heartless before!!!"

"I know. I am just worried about you, that's al-"

"NO!!!" Sora shouted. "You're not worried about me!! You were never worried about me!!!!" He shook his head vigorously and then calmed down. "I'd say Riku cared more about me..."

Suddenly, laughter erupted behind them. Sora's eyes went wide and he paled.

"No..." the boy muttered. "No... not now....."

Confused, Cloud looked behind and saw a youth standing about twenty feet away. He had longish platinum hair and he wore an outfit that bore the Heartless symbol. On his face he wore a smirk that held evil intentions behind it.

"Hello, Sora," the youth said mockingly, smirk ever present on his face. "How have you been?"

Sora whimpered and took a step backwards.

The platinum haired youth snorted. "Don't tell me you're afraid of ol' Riku?"

"You're Riku?!" Cloud asked, aghast. This boy was the one who did... to Sora?! He was a bit younger than the blond had thought; he looked no older than fifteen but was a bit tall to say the least. He eyed Sora like the small boy was a piece of meat to a hungry wolf. His eyes were full of what looked to be lust. Cloud only hoped that it wasn't.

Riku's attention suddenly turned to him. "What of it?"

Cloud stood there wide eyed for a second. "You're the one who did... that... to Sora, aren't you!?!"

Riku stared at him boredly. "Oh, so the little wretch told on me, did he?" He looked over to the brunette, who shrank back in fear. "Bad boy, you'll have to be punished for that later, now won't you?"

Cloud stood protectively in front of Sora, almost hiding the boy from Riku's view. "Don't think so."

A platinum eyebrow went up. "And you think that you can stop me? Like to see you try!" His eyes glowed an evil red and about fifteen Heartless appeared. They all attacked the two of them at once. Riku jumped into the air and levitated ten or so feet from the ground, watching the fight ensue.

A smaller one lunged at Cloud's face but Cloud used his sword and it bounced off. The next one attacked him about the knees and hit dead on. The blond staggered and fell onto one knee. 'Got to... protect Sora,' Cloud thought. 'He's too much of an emotional breakdown at the moment.' He blocked the next attack to his chest.

Sora summoned the Keyblade and started half heartedly hacking away at Heartless that happen to come his way. A big round one (sorry, I forgot what they're called! ^_^) kept pushing him backwards until he hit a wall. Sora attempted to hit it but the attacks bounced off. The Heartless kept on banging into him and causing him to keep hitting the wall. The small boy closed his eyes and waited for the Heartless to finish him off....

And then it stopped; the hitting, the banging into walls, it all stopped. He opened his eyes to see Cloud madly slashing away at Heartless. Sora stepped away from the wall and then took a few more steps. He looked around; he couldn't see Riku anywhere. This both relieved him and concerned him.

Two arms suddenly encircled Sora's waist from behind; the boy froze and dropped the Keyblade. The two arms pulled him upward until his feet dangled.

The person holding him from behind landed on top of a wall. Sora's feet were still dangling over the edge but the person had a firm grip on his waist.

Warm breathe was on his ear about a moment after landing on the wall. Soft lips kissed the side of Sora's face and worked their way down his neck. "Too long I have denied myself this," came Riku's whispery voice. He continued kissing down the teenager's neck and Sora whimpered.

"No..." was Sora's weak protest. "No, please..! Not again..."

One of Riku's arms left Sora's waist and began to stroke gently up and down along the brunette's arm. "Cloud!!" Sora cried out. "Cloud, please help..!"

The blonde looked up to where his name had been called from and the sight sickened him to no end; that filthy bastard Riku once again taking advantage of Sora. Enraged, Cloud tried to get to him but more Heartless appeared and prevented him from getting through.

"We should make our leave," Riku whispered into Sora's neck. The small boy fearfully struggled to get out of the hold and kicked Riku in the knee in doing so. "You shouldn't have done that," the platinum haired youth said to Sora. A swift punch to the stomach sent the boy into unconsciousness. Riku slung Sora over his shoulder and proceeded to disappear. The Heartless soon followed.

Cloud flung himself to the ground in utter sorrow as he cried out and mentally beat himself up. 'How could I have let that happen?!?' he asked himself harshly. 'How!?!?! Why!!? How could I have let the only one I love get taken by the one thing he fears?!?!'



~fin of ch.6~

A/N : How's that for weird?!?!?? I mean come ON!!! It took me a whole four days to write this, and I want reviews!!!! Give me more!! I need MORE!!!! Mwa hahahahaah!!!!! *cough* Sorry... *___*;