Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts, KH: Chain of Memories and any characters from Square Enix games are copyright Square Enix. My name IS NOT SquareEnix, therefore, I do not own them.

A/N: Ahahahaha! I'm NOT QUITE two weeks from the last Update. It would've have been sooner, and, er, better, but I was sick, and I gotta watch out cuz every four weeks my immune system drops, and I was freaked out I was really gonna be sick. But now I am over it! yay!
I will do my best to have the next chap up by the end of this week/beginning of next week. I'll do my best…

Title: Blood in the Cesspool

Rating: PG-13

Author: Zoshi the Confused

Genre: Kingdom Hearts

Sequel to These Wings That Ache

Chapter 1

"So, you really can't talk, can you?" Sasha said, eyeing the boy critically. He was still dressed in the black robe, his hands lightly gripping the fabric at his thighs. He tilted his head for a moment, frowning, and then shook it. She sighed. "Ah, well, either way… I guess it was worth the gold."

She eyed him again, chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully. Sure, at first, the similarity to Riku was undeniable. His silver hair, turquoise eyes, really tripped her up. But now that she could see him eye to eye, really look at him, she was finding more and more differences. For one, this boy had about as much effectual presence as a sock. There was always a moment when she found herself surprised that he was there, he was so inconspicuous. He had a strange way of looking at everything, she got the feeling he was trying to connect to something, anything, but it wasn't working out. Surprisingly, physical differences were apparent also. He was a few inches shorter than Riku, and his face was slightly narrower. Sasha leaned in a little more, looking at his eyes closely.

"Even your eyes are different…" Sasha said, looking at one of his eyes first, then the other. "See, your right eye is more blue-tinted, and your left one is green-tinted."

The boy blinked in surprise. He raised a hand hesitatingly to his right eye, brows furrowed thoughtfully.

"Well, either way, you should still know something. Or rather, feel something. We'll figure it out." Sasha shrugged, and motioned for him to follow her as she headed down the road they were on. "There has to be some sort of connection to could zero in on…"

The boy fell into step with her and they walked in silence for a little while. He looked around as they walked, taking in the sights of this world. The tree's leaves whispered in the wind, the grass at the edge of the road shifting in green waves. All this was new to him, the sight of flickering butterflies, the scent of daisies, the sound of birds chirping away in the trees. He looked over at Sasha, interested in the girl who had become his master. She had her brown hair tied back with a black piece of cloth. She still wore the deep green hunter's cloak, hung loosely on her shoulders, the hood down. Every now and then, especially when the girl sighed, the boy noticed that back of the cloak shifted slightly. He didn't understand what that meant, so he continued studying her. His former master had told him that a good servant got to know their master, a good servant knew what his master wanted before the master himself knew. He hadn't been a good servant before, but this girl was nice to him, and treated him gently, and something made him want to try his best to serve her. After all, the better a servant he was, the happier his master would be.

"Hmph." Sasha turned to look at him suddenly, and the boy looked at her questioningly. "Do you have a name? Well, I guess it doesn't really matter if you do, since you can't really tell me…"

The boy shook his head slowly. He'd never had a name; everyone had always called him boy, or servant.

"Then let's think of a name for you…" Sasha stretched her arms out as she thought, then folded them behind her head, looking up at the sky as she walked. "How about Isidor? It means "Gift of the gods' if I remember correctly…"

The boy's eyes narrowed uncertainly, his mouth turning in a slight frown.

"What?" Sasha dropped her arms and smiled. "You can't talk, so you should have a name that says a lot for you…"

The boy still looked uncertain, and Sasha shrugged, going back to thinking again. A moment passed, then suddenly the boy stopped. Sasha stopped, turned to him with a quizzical look. She was surprised to see a look of panic and distress on the boy's face. Suddenly scared, she stepped closer.

"What? What's wrong?" She said, worried.

The boy wrung his hands in distress. How could he have done that? His master had wanted to name him something, but he'd dismissed it without a thought! He struggled, trying to think of a way of telling her that he wanted the name she had picked. "Gift of the gods" seemed like a joke to him, but if that's what she liked, what she wanted, then who was he to tell her no?

"What? Is it about your name?" Sasha asked, and the boy nodded vigorously. "Hey, its all right if you don't like Isidor, we can…"

She got cut off by the boy, who nodded at the name. She eyed him skeptically, but he smiled, shyly, and she grinned.

"Well, I guess it won you over, huh?" Sasha said. "All right. Isidor. I like that."

Smiling, she started back down the road, and Isidor followed her happily. A sudden thought crossed her mind, and she turned to him, her face serious.

"You know, I know I bought you and all, but you don't have to act like I'm your master or something… I mean, I don't want you… you know, feeling all obligated and stuff." Sasha said, stopping.

Isidor frowned in confusion. Sasha sighed, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Now look, I don't need a servant. What I do need, however, is someone to talk to and occasionally to help me fight some heartless. You think you can handle that?" She asked, looking him in the eyes.

Isidor thought for a moment, then smiled, nodding his head. She was so nice. She got him away from the man who kept him in cages and sheds, and made him wear dark robes. She'd given him a name, and was talking to him like she really cared about what he thought. He wanted to stay by her.

"Over here, boy!"

He cringed, clinging to the wall he was pushed up against. Something flashed, metallic, in the dim light of the corridor. A figure was making its way down the corridor towards him, its black robe fading into the dimness of the shadows.

"Here, boy… Come when your master calls you!"

The boy whimpered, sliding along the wall to the ground. He cowered there, eyes closed, whimpering like a scared animal. Footsteps echoed ominously around him. He knew the figure was coming closer, he knew soon it would be upon him. Suddenly, he felt it, felt the figure standing over him. Opening his eyes a fraction, he saw the hem of the soft robe near his foot. He whimpered again, closing his eyes.

"Stand up! And stop making that infernal noise…"

The boy yelped as strong hands lifted him by the shoulders. His back thudded against the wall, and he lifted his arms, his hands to cover his face.

"We're still not done yet, boy. But for now I have to do something about your habit of sounding like an animal, at least until I'm certain you can form coherent words…"

The scene melted, the walls ran like candles left burning too long. Lights flashed around him, his arms and legs bound with invisible ropes. Something burned, something froze around him, he screamed into the rapidly shifting, colored darkness before him, screamed as something cut into his throat, screamed as he felt the warmth leaving him out his neck, warmth filling his mouth, screamed and screamed through froth of warming liquid that was rapidly leaving him freezing cold…

Sasha woke with a start, her hand shifting subconsciously to the ground on her right, where the Masamune lay sheathed. Her bleariness passed, and she jerked her hand away, looking away as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The fire they had made up was nothing more than softly glowing logs now, and didn't give much light. She turned to look at Isidor. The boy was curled up in a tight ball, facing away from her. Looking closer, she saw that his shoulders were shaking. Violently shaking, actually. Concerned, Sasha scooted over, placing a hand on his shoulder.

With a start, Isidor twisted around, pushing away from her. His eyes were wide with fear, terror painting them an eerie green, his face was even paler than usual, his breath came fast and ragged, as if he'd just sprinted a mile. Sasha found herself in dumb shock, unable to think of what could cause such drastic terror in the boy. She'd found him to be nice, stubborn at times, but extremely eager to please. Now, he looked at her as if she were a total stranger, a stranger that was threatening him with some sort of unimaginable horror.

"Isidor, it's all right. It's me, Sasha," She said in as soothing a voice she could manage. Even so, her voice trembled slightly, "Come on, you know me… Calm down, okay? Everything's all right…"

Slowly, recognition came into Isidor's eyes, and his breathing slowed. He blinked a few times, trying to collect himself. Sasha smiled gently, reaching out and brushing his hair back.

"It's all right, okay? It was just a bad dream… "Sasha said, "Don't worry, okay? You're safe…"

Isidor shook his head, trying to get the memories out of his mind. He looked uncertainly at Sasha, and she grinned at him. Slowly, slowly, he smiled slightly, the terror of his nightmare passing. In truth, he was very tired, but even though his nightmare was fading, something still kept him from relaxing entirely.

"Here, it's not much longer until daybreak, I'll stay up and keep watch, you get some more sleep, okay?" Sasha said, shifting to sit cross-legged, and smiled at him.

Isidor grinned back. He didn't think he should be making her stay up, but he was very tired, and sleep was pulling him back down to the ground. With a soft sigh, he lay back down, curling up, and drifting away.

E/N: So, I hope that cleared some things up… Next chapter, they'll actually DO something. You know, the search really begins? Hee hee… Dammit… why do I suddenly miss Sora?

Laters

Zoshi