Me: wow, I finally updated! School's back again and now I don't think I have enough time…
Ken: you're lazy…
Me: no I'm not! I've been doing lots of homework!
Ken: riiiight…
Takari: Merielle does not own Kingdom Hearts. Now read before I get my flying monkeys.
Destiny's Punishment
Chapter 12—New Friends and Enemies
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"…What about now?"
"No!"
"…Now?"
"NO!!"
Sora grinned and leaned back in his chair as Donald threw him an annoyed look. It had already been about five hours since they left Disney Castle…and they got bored. Now they were trying to pass the time away by annoying Donald.
"One million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall…"
Donald turned around slowly, an angry look on his face. "Riku?"
"One million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand—Yeah?—nine hundred ninety-eight bottles of beer--"
"SHUT UP!"
The three teens laughed as Donald began throwing a temper tantrum. Kotoro smiled at them before looking back out at the stars. For some reason, he felt that something wasn't right…
"Your friends are going to arrive soon." The cold voice echoed throughout the dimly lit room.
Kaitsu remained silent as the unknown walked past him.
"You know what you must do once they get there," he said.
Kaitsu nodded slightly, still refusing to speak. The unknown turned towards him, his eyes narrowing.
"You still care about them, don't you?"
The unknown frowned as Kaitsu lowered his head. The silence was beginning to irritate him. He shook the thought away as he stepped towards Kaitsu.
"There's no need to care about them anymore. The darkness is the only thing you have now--"
"You're wrong…"
The unknown stopped, his eyes narrowing into deadly slits as Kaitsu glared at him. He sighed and waved away the remark. "There is still light within you. No matter—it will fade away soon enough." The unknown walked off, but stopped before the door.
"Remember Kaitsu, one wrong move and you will deeply regret it. I'm sure your brother will too." And with that the unknown closed the door behind him, leaving Kaitsu alone in the room.
Mickey sighed as he put the ship on auto-pilot, trying his best to stay awake. He looked behind him and examined the sleeping passengers. They had all fallen asleep an hour ago.
Mickey glanced at Donald, who was muttering in his sleep, then at Goofy, who was snoring peacefully. Sora was drooling in his sleep, a happy expression on his face, and Kairi was asleep also. Mickey chuckled lightly as he heard Riku mutter something about "no more cottage cheese" in his sleep. Everyone was sleeping peacefully…well, almost everyone. Mickey glanced at Kotoro and frowned as he noticed his sad expression. He sighed and walked back to the pilot's seat. None of them were aware of what was soon to befall them…
Kotoro stood in an open field. He looked around and noticed a figure standing in the distance. Running towards the figure, he noticed the sky turning blood red. He stopped as he reached the figure.
"Kaitsu?"
The boy turned around, his blue eyes locking on to Kotoro's yellow ones. Kotoro smiled and walked closer to Kaitsu, a smile on his face.
"I'm so glad I found you!"
Kotoro stopped walking as Kaitsu took a step back. A pained expression was on his face, and he looked like he was near the edge of crying.
"…Don't come near me," he muttered. Kaitsu's clothes began to fade into black and he summoned his Keyblade, which was now pure black. Kotoro's eyes widened as realization hit him, and the fear in his heart grew.
"Kaitsu, no…"
Suddenly a deep burning pain began to grow inside Kotoro and he fell on his knees, clutching onto his chest. Pain like none other was shooting throughout him. He felt like he was going to die. Kotoro looked up and saw that Kaitsu was crying. The younger boy raised his Keyblade over his head; uttering two words before the blade came crashing down…
"…I'm sorry…"
"AAH!" Kotoro shot up from his seat. Cold sweat was covering his body and he tried to slow down his fast breathing. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, the nightmare still taking its effect on him. Was the dream really true?
Kotoro put his hand over his heart, a tingling pain still lingering there. The dream felt so real… He sighed again and looked out the window, the stars twinkling as the ship flew past them. Only a few more hours until they reached Tamahiko…
"Hey, kid, why so gloomy?"
Kaitsu turned around, looking at the boy standing behind him. He looked about the age of fifteen and had spiky blue hair, and light green eyes. But the strangest feature of him was his light blue cat ears and tail.
Kaitsu remained silent and turned towards the open field. The boy pouted and leaned against the wall of the mansion.
"You don't have to be so quiet. It's not like I bite."
"I highly doubt that." The blue-haired boy turned around to see another figure walk out from the shadows. He too wore a black trench coat, and had straight black hair with yellow highlights and black eyes.
"Well, what do you know? Sanyu the Wicked finally shows himself," mocked the cat boy and smirked at the seventeen-year-old.
"Shut up, Tamorei," hissed the one known as Sanyu. He looked over at Kaitsu and narrowed his eyes. "Is he the one?"
Tamorei nodded. "Yep. I can't get him to talk, though…"
"What's your name kid?" asked Sanyu.
"Kaitsu," he muttered, looking back at them.
"He speaks. Oh joy…" said Tamorei in a sarcastic tone.
"Anyway," continued Sanyu, ignoring Tamorei's remark, "Welcome to our group. You're going to like it here."
"I doubt that…" muttered Kaitsu.
"Hey, don't be so depressed! Put a smile on!" Tamorei grinned, his tail flicking behind him. His smile disappeared and he pouted when Kaitsu didn't respond. "Oh fine, be that way."
"Now's not a time to be fooling around," said Sanyu.
"Don't worry! I'll be ready when they come!" said Tamorei as he grinned in a cocky way. Kaitsu lowered his head, feeling a pang of guilt inside him.
"And even if they do interfere, I'll just kill them," said Sanyu. Kaitsu glared at Sanyu for a second, and then walked off into the fields.
"I think you made him upset," muttered Tamorei. Sanyu just shrugged and the two of them disappeared into the shadows.
"Okay, everyone! Just a few minutes left," said Mickey. Everyone had gathered around the window of the pilot's seat to see the world as it came into view.
"It looks so beautiful," said Kairi. The entire world was covered in fields of grass. But as they came closer, they saw destroyed buildings on the world, and a dark sky.
After a few minutes, the Gummi Ship landed safely in the open field. Everyone walked out and began to look around at the ruins of what used to be a town. 'This is the town where we used to live in…' Kotoro looked at the destroyed buildings as memories of the past began to playback in his mind.
Suddenly a small rustling was heard behind some of the buildings. Everyone looked over at the source of the sound and saw…
"…A tail?!" Sora looked closer at the tail and pulled on it.
"Ow!" A boy about the age of fifteen popped out behind the rocks and jumped back, rubbing his tail. "Don't ever touch the tail!"
"What the…" murmured Riku as they saw that the boy had blue cat ears and tail. The boy looked at Kotoro and his eyes widened.
"…Kotoro? Is that really you?"
"What?" Kotoro blinked, surprised that the…cat-boy knew his name.
"Kotoro, it's me! Don't you remember?" The boy smiled as his tail swayed back and forth behind him.
"Sorry, I don't…" He trailed off as he looked closer at the boy. He looked very familiar without the ears and tail. "…Tamorei?"
"I don't want to go, Kotoro," muttered the five-year old as he hid behind the seven-year-old.
"It's okay, Kaitsu. I'm sure the people here are nice," said Kotoro as they walked into the town. There were several wooden cabins on the sides of the dirt road that was filled with few people.
"Where should we go?" asked Kaitsu. Kotoro looked around and saw a lady selling flowers.
"Excuse me, miss?"
The lady looked at the two and smiled faintly. "Hello there. You must be the new inhabitants everyone's been talking about."
"Um, yes… Could you tell us anything about this town? We're kinda lost…"
Suddenly a middle-aged woman walked towards the lady. "What're you doing? Why are you talking with them?"
"I'm sorry. I was just helping them…" The lady trailed off as the woman shot a glare at the two boys.
"It's best if you two leave this town," hissed the woman. "We don't want any trouble around here." She then grabbed the younger lady by the arm and walked off.
"…That was rude," murmured Kotoro.
"I told you they'd hate us…" whimpered Kaitsu. "Let's go home…"
"But we need a map to find our way home…and we don't even have one," said Kotoro.
"Hi there!"
The two boys turned around and saw a boy about the age of six. He had short blue hair and bright green eyes.
"You two must be new around here. Here's a map." The boy pulled out a map from his pocket and gave it to Kotoro.
"Thanks," said Kotoro. "What's your name?"
"My name's Tamorei." The boy smiled at them. "See ya later!" And with that, he ran off.
"Yep. That's me," smirked the boy, his tail swaying happily. "For a second there, I thought you forgot about me."
"What're you doing here?" asked Kotoro.
"Just looking around," said Tamorei as he crossed his hands behind his head.
"We don't have time to chat!" quacked Donald.
"Yeah, we need to find Kaitsu," said Sora. Kotoro looked back at them and nodded.
"Hey, Tamorei, do you want to come with--" He stopped as he turned around and saw he was gone. "…Where'd he go?"
"Probably off to look around some more," said Riku.
"Come on, we have more important things to do," said Mickey. Kotoro nodded and they walked off.
Tamorei sighed as he leaned against the rail of the balcony. This wasn't going to be an easy fight for them…
"Something on your mind?"
Tamorei closed his eyes, sensing two people behind him.
"I'm just thinking…" he muttered and looked behind him. There stood a girl in a black trench coat with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a black witch hat, and a small black raven was perched on her shoulder. Next to her was a boy wearing the same coat and had shoulder-length silver hair that faded into blue at the ends and grey eyes.
"Looks more like worrying to me," said the girl as she crossed her arms.
"It's just…what will happen when they reach the mansion?" asked Tamorei.
"I doubt they'll be able to even find the mansion," said Sanyu as he walked out of the shadows. "This place is like a maze."
Tamorei frowned. "But if they do find it…"
"We'll be ready," said the girl.
"It's not that. I just wonder how he'll feel when he sees his best friends turning against him…" muttered Tamorei. The girl sighed,
"I know he'll feel heart-broken, but--"
"Heart-broken? Please! The guy barely has half a heart," hissed Sanyu.
"Sanyu, don't you dare talk like that!" The girl shot a glare at him. Sanyu looked at the fifteen-year-old.
"Whatever. You can say whatever you like about him, Yuri, but it won't change a thing," said Sanyu. "He's still a half-Heartless."
"What do you think, Nori?" The blonde known as Yuri turned to the silver-haired boy, who had remained silent the entire time.
"…I don't think it really matters," muttered Nori. "They'll all die sooner or later."
"Whatever," said Tamorei. "Forget I asked."
Yuri sighed, petting the raven on her shoulder as she looked out at the open fields. "I feel sorry for Kaitsu…"
"You feel sorry for everyone, don't you?" said Sanyu.
"We should go inside," said Tamorei. "We have to get ready." The others nodded and walked inside.
Kaitsu looked out at the ruins, memories flooding back into his mind. He sat down on the ground and hugged his knees to his chest, a teardrop falling to the ground. He buried his face into his knees and began crying.
"Someone help me… Get me out of this mess… Please…"
Me: I FINALLY finished!!! It's been like… five days I've been writing this piece by piece. Stupid school and homework and other distractions… and this officially the longest I've ever written!
Everyone: 10 pages!!! (wave flags)
Kaitsu: you're turning me into a cry-baby in this story…
Me: well, someone has to be the sensitive one… hehe…
Takari: And now for the review replies.
Kai- No, you're not gona get angry when you find out who he is. Actually, he's just another OC of mine. Hehe… yep, Ronin get very mad.
Risako- Yay, you have returned! (happy grin) So that explains the lack of reviews… (sweatdrop) Anywho, yeah, I updated a lot! And as for Riku being strong enough to hold Kaitsu….well, he's…Riku! XD
Ken: you can't argue with that logic…
Me: shut up. (glare)
Keyblade Master- Fear the cliffies… Fear them! Mwahaha…um…yeah… eheh… (sweatdrop)
NinjaMage- I would never abandon my reader's reviews! …okay, maybe. XD And yes, my heart aches to make Kaitsu suffer this much.
Kaitsu: no it doesn't. You laugh evilly every time I suffer.
Me: Oh, I do? (whacks Kaitsu with staff)
Kaitsu: ow! What was that for?!
Me: mwahahaha—erm… ehehe… (sweatdrop)
Kaitsu: …
Me: anywho, I might update the next one by tomorrow or the next day since it's the weekend now! Yay! Hehe.. read and review!
Merielle
