Akurei-Shinzo: Hey what's up? Eight Grade graduation is both sad and great! A whole night of dancing and a sleepover at a friend's place! Well, here's the continuation of the other chapter! I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any other anime/manga that appear in here, except for a few characters from some of my own series which I hope to get published! So please R&R! Enjoy!

===============================================================

Kingdom Hearts II: Shadow of Hearts

Chapter 5: Onboard the Outlaw Star (Part 2)

"Riku! The wall's sealed up!" shouted Yami looking back at the entrance which had been sealed up. The two boys rushed back and tried to make another opening in the wall.

"Stand back," warned Riku holding out the silver Keyblade. "I'm going to try to use my Keyblade again." Riku held the Keyblade up high, but nothing happened. "What? Why isn't anything happening?"

"Maybe some kind of force is preventing you from reopening the entrance."

"I knew that, let's see if we can find that person called Gene."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The two boys searched several rooms of the ship, but they saw no one. There were a couple of Shadow Heartless, but they took them down no problem. As they walked down a hallway, Riku spotted a shadow, it seemed to go into another room.

"Riku?" asked Yami, bringing his friend back into the present.

"I think we should check out that room down the hall."

"Right!"

A pair of yellowish eyes glowed within the shadows as it watched the two rush down the hall to the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Whoa!" exclaimed Riku, the metallic silver Keyblade had suddenly appeared in his hand and it began to glow once more. A beam of light appeared from the end of it and hit the door. Both Riku and Yami heard a click as if the Keyblade had opened the door. They shrugged and Riku opened the door.

"Run!" shouted a human voice. Gunshots rang and echoed inside the room, a red-haired man leapt from behind a machine to another one trying to avoid the wires that were trying to wrap themselves around him.

"Where?" asked Yami. Riku looked behind them, just their luck, the door was shut and there was no way out! The two dodged another onslaught of wires and hid with the guy behind a machine.

"Are you Gene?" asked Riku.

"Yeah, nice to meet you to!" he shouted as he fired his blaster again. "What is that thing made out of?!" Riku and Yami glanced over their 'shield' and saw a heartless. It seemed to be connected to the computer, and was in the shape of a woman. Only she was all black with glowing emotionless yellow eyes and had a Heartless mark on her. They ducked down in time to save their heads from the wires that nearly cut them off!

"What kind of Heartless is that?!" asked Yami.

"I think her name's Circuit Breaker!" answered Riku. "And she's doing a pretty good job tearing up the area!"

"This isn't good!" muttered Gene firing another shot at the Heartless. "If it destroys the Outlaw Star then how can I travel the worlds?!"

"You can travels through worlds in this?" asked Riku.

"Well, we used it to escape ours!"

Suddenly wires from another nearby computer shot out and bound Yami to a piece of machinery. Riku and Gene abandoned the 'shield' and the chase was on again. Gene kept firing shots at the Circuit Breaker, but nothing worked! Then wires shot out from the Circuit Breaker's hand and wrapped Gene up in a coil of wires.

Riku desperately dodged the wires as he made his was towards the Circuit Breaker. He managed to get up close and strike it a few times with his Keyblade, but instead of disappearing, the Circuit Breaker formed a blade out of coils wires. And Riku found out that they could be very sharp. The blade managed to slash him across the arm, he grabbed his right arm and blood leaked out from his left that that held the wound. The Circuit Breaker now held it's blade high above Riku and was about to bring it down. Riku gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, waiting for the blow.

The blow never came, Riku looked up and saw that the Circuit Breaker had a five-tailed fox gnawing on it's arm and through the coils of wire. Riku watched as the fox tore through the wire, disconnecting one from the other. He noticed that the wire that was cut off from the main power couldn't move anymore! Riku quickly drew his Keyblades and rushed towards the Heartless, it was too preoccupied with the fox to pay attention to Riku as he prepared to attack.

A flash of light and the Heartless's dying scream filled the room. Riku struck the power source from which the Heartless had connected itself to. Then the lights of the Outlaw Star returned and the wires that had attacked them disappeared. Riku turned to face the fox.

"Thanks, Zeero," said Riku. With a puff of smoke Zeero returned to his other form, his half-demon form.

"You're welcome!"

"Thanks for your help, but why did you help us?" asked Yami. "You said this was a test."

"Well, I never said I couldn't help you!" ^_^ (Riku and Yami fall over anime style while Gene is left very confused).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They explained the legend of the Keyblade to the Outlaw Star gang and made a deal that they could help them travel the worlds since they got rid of the Circuit Breaker. Only they couldn't travel till morning, the Heartless seemed to have done some damage to the ship and it needed to be repaired. Riku had sealed the Keyhole which was in the cockpit inside of a tube (where Melfina gets put into when they are flying the ship in case you don't know).

"Can you answer my questions now?" asked Riku.

"Only if you can answer this one," said Zeero. "Do you completely trust your heart?"

"Uh…I guess…"

"It can't just be a guess, Riku. If you yourself don't trust your heart, then the Keyblades won't trust you. You see, when you tried to reopen the hole you'd made in the Outlaw Star, you couldn't do it. You should have been, but you didn't."

"I really do trust my heart!"

"Are you sure?"

"Well…"

"I can't give you any answers until you know the answer to that one. Remember, as the Keyblade Master, a lot of people are counting on you. If you don't trust your heart, then you'll let them all down. It's better you'd admit you don't trust your heart now then to jeopardized the universe."

"…"

"I'll be waiting at the heart of Shin City. When you've come up with an answer, meet me there. I'm not trying to discourage you Riku, I'm trying to help."

The fox-demon strolled off into the darkness and once again Riku was deep in thought.

"Are you alright?" asked Yami.

"Yeah, but I need some time to think…alone."

"Alright then, I'll meet you back at Dr. Shuichiro's home. And Riku?"

"Hmmm?"

"Think carefully about what Zeero just said."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Riku wandered around the town like a lost puppy. He didn't know what to do? Was he really not reliable enough to take the Keyblade. He tried to summon them, but they did not appear. 'Maybe I'm not really the Keybearer after all…' though Riku.

"As long as you have doubt in your heart, there is no way you can win against the darkness."

"Who said that?" asked Riku who was startled by the dark voice. An eighteen year old boy stepped out of the shadows. He looked almost exactly like the boy he had met when he escaped Kingdom Hearts. Only his eyes were a golden color and his cat ears, tail, and hair were a midnight black color.

"You're wondering if I'm related to the stranger you've met right?"

"How…?"

"He's my brother, you're wondering how I know, correct?"

"Who are you?!"

"A friend, or perhaps, a foe…It really depends on who's side you're on… Riku…"

"How do you know my name? And why are you helping me?"

"How can you be sure I'm helping you?"

"…"

"My name's Kuro, and I believe that we'll meet again…Keybearer…"

"Are you sure that I'm the Keybearer?"

"Hmph! Like my younger brother said. Remember this advice, sometimes to find the light, you must look within the deepest part of the darkness…"

"Hey wait!"

"If you don't give into the darkness you stand a chance…"

Kuro melted away into the shadows, leaving Riku alone in the darkness, thinking. 'Don't give into the darkness?' he thought. 'Of course! I have the ability to be the Keybearer, but I keep doubting myself and falling into the darkness! If I just believe in my heart then nothing can stand in my way!' Both Keyblades appeared in his hands, this time, they felt completely in his control!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, the heart of Shin City should be here right?" asked Yami.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it!" replied Riku. They spotted Zeero standing in the center of the town. He seemed to be guarding something.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" questioned Yami.

"Yeah!" said Riku. 'I want to pay back for all the sorrow I have caused, the people that have suffered because of me…This time I'll make things right!'

"Oh good, you all made it!" chirped Zeero.

"I can answer that question now," said Riku.

"No need to, I can see the answer in your eyes. Now, do you want me to explain why you have two Keyblades?"

"Yes, that will be nice."

"Well, you know you have to seal the Keyholes right?"

"Right?" Zeero groaned as he began to move some small, but heavy rocks into some kind of pattern.

"Well, you notice that only the black Keyblade does that right?"

"Come to think of it, yeah."

"Well," said Zeero, he had just finished setting up the rocks. A beam of light shot up from the ground and inside the beam was a transparent door. Zeero turned to face Riku and Yami. "Now you're about to learn what the other Keyblade does…"

Remember this advice, Keybearer. Sometimes to find the light, you must look within the deepest part of the darkness…

===============================================================

Akurei-Shinzo: I hoped you like that chapter! This newly graduated eight-grader is very proud of her work now! I get to relax! But to all you seventh graders out there, eight grade graduation can just break your heart! You'll see what I mean later! See you all next time! Please R&R!

P.S- Should I start putting up little spoilers of what will happen on the next chapters?

P.P.S- Kuro is also from Youkai Shinzo. Kuro, Shiro, and Ryu are all brother, but you'll see that Ryu doesn't exactly fit in with his brothers that well!