Hello, all! This is Lulala, back with chapter 8! The next chapter of this fic will be the last... but fear not, I have two more fics in the works, so I'll be back pretty much immediately XD Thank you so much to the reviewers...

Especially Skitty 2004. This is actually a repost of the same chapter... but this ever so kind reviewer pointed out one glaring error... which I will talk more about at the end of this chapter.

Enjoy!

Riku tried to re-situate Asahi behind him, but she wouldn't budge. "Asahi," he mumbled, "this guy's dangerous, you don't know what you're—"

"Riku," she shot back, "expert. I do know what I'm dealing with."

The man in the black coat cocked his head to the side. "I'd listen to him, if I were you, sweetheart."

Asahi wrinkled up her nose, and pulled out her swords. "Just for that—"

"Chill," the man advised. "I'm not here to hurt you or anything, so if you back off, you'll get out of this alive."

Asahi immediately turned her head to look at Riku. He was staring at the man, not quite sure what he should do—should he attack? He had no idea how to even go about attacking this nobody, since he didn't know which one it was.

Instead, he settled for conversation. It would, for one thing, buy him a little time. "I thought all the organization members were dead."

"They are," the man said. "I'm a parting gift from the last to die."

Riku's brow furrowed. "Xemnas?"

"You were there when he died, you tell me."

"If you're here to kill me, why haven't you attacked?" Riku asked.

"What, are you asking for it now or something?" the man asked, unable to believe his own luck. "Man, this will be a lot easier than I thought it would be!"

Riku glared at him. "No. Just wondering why you didn't get to the point."

"Just waiting for the girl to leave," he answered.

Asahi scowled. "I'm not leaving Riku alone in here with—"

"Asahi, go," Riku commanded.

"But—"

"I can handle it. Now, go find Sora."

She put her hands on her hips. "No way, Riku."

He sighed exasperatedly. "This isn't about whether you can help or not. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"And I don't want you to get hurt, either!" she snapped back.

"Okay, would you both just shut up?" the man shouted over them. "Let her fight, Riku. I'd hate to hurt her, but… she's askin' for it."

"If she fights, you're the one who's asking for it," Riku told him. "Let's go then, Asahi."

They charged the stranger. He quickly teleported from the corner to the middle of the room. Riku and Asahi whirled around, just in time to see him draw his weapon…

He held out his hand in front of him. Riku and Asahi watched in complete and utter confusion as a keyblade materialized in his hand. "Uh, Riku?" Asahi whispered.

"Roxas?" Riku asked, shocked.

"Wrong," the man answered. "He's not the only one who can wield a keyblade."

A parting gift from Xemnas…? Was it possible?

"What's your name?" Riku demanded.

"Not that it matters, I'm Xurik," the man answered. "Xemnas brought me to life just before he died."

If it was possible, Riku became even more confused. "What? I was with him right up until he died, and I didn't see him create any nobodies."

"Exactly," Xurik replied. "For a smart guy, you sure are stupid."

Riku and Asahi looked at each other. He could read it in her face that she had no idea what Xurik could possibly be talking about. If the expert didn't know…

"You did see him do it, you just don't know you did," Xurik continued. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

Riku looked at Asahi again, hoping she might have worked some of this out. Her expression was nothing short of utter confusion. He mentally slapped himself—what was this guy talking about?

"Evidently, I do," he said, answering his own question. "Not only did you see Xemnas' last-ditch effort to get rid of you and Sora—you felt it, too, I'd guess…"

"Riku?" Asahi whispered. "Xemnas hit you, right?"

"Yeah," Riku murmured back. "But—"

Suddenly, something in his brain clicked into place. One glance at Asahi made him realize that she was most definitely thinking what he was thinking. "Well," she said under her breath, "now we know where your nobody went."

Xurik yanked back his hood to reveal dark brown hair, which went down to about his earlobes. He had the same eyes as Riku, and bore a striking resemblance. "Lucky you've got that girl here with you, or you might never have figured it out."

Suddenly, the door to the study swung open, and Sora and Kairi entered. "Hey, Riku—" his eyes fell on Xurik. "What the—"

"Be seeing you, Riku," Xurik said, grinning maliciously as he teleported away.

"Dammit," Riku cursed, having a strong urge to kick something.

"Uh…" Kairi was dumbstruck. "He looked just like you!"

"Riku, what's going on?" Sora asked, confused.

Riku swallowed hard. "That guy—he… well, he—"

"That guy was Riku's nobody," Asahi told Sora and Kairi.

"Uh. What?" Sora asked again, obviously not believing what he had heard the first time.

"She's telling the truth…" Riku said, "…I guess."

"So there's more nobodies for us to get rid of?" Sora hung his head. "Oh god, not again…"

"That's what I said!" Riku burst out. "He said something about being Xemnas' 'last ditch effort' to get rid of us."

"Last ditch effort? More like last chance to be a jerk," Sora said bitterly.

"Yeah," Riku agreed. "I don't understand how Xemnas hitting me with his stupid little light sword somehow let my nobody loose."

Asahi gave him a look, but didn't say anything. Instead, she bit her lip thoughtfully.

"Asahi?" Riku said expectantly.

She looked up at the ceiling. "No clue, Riku. That must have been what he was trying to do by hitting you… let Xurik out to stir things up… but I have no idea how."

"Well, how did your organization or whatever take out your nobody?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Equipment," Asahi answered vaguely. "I don't think Xemnas knew that my boss had discovered a way to remove and destroy nobodies… he had no idea that we were on to him, and that we knew what could become of a nobody that escaped from a person."

"Well… I mean, they could end up bad, but otherwise, they could end up good, like Roxas and Naminé!" Kairi pointed out.

"Regardless, we didn't want to take the chance," Asahi explained. "At any rate, Xemnas knew, at that point, that he was finished… so he must have released Xurik because he knew he wouldn't be able to finish you off himself."

Riku nodded. "That makes sense, I guess."

"So… what are we going to do?" Sora asked, turning to Riku.

"Well… we're going to have to track him down, right? Don't want him causing too much trouble, after all," Riku replied, not sounding particularly thrilled about the whole thing.

"We'll all go," Kairi said cheerily. "Hunting down bad guys together? It sounds great!"

"Yeah!" Asahi agreed. "That does sound like it would be fun… but let's not leave here until tonight, just to make sure the attack is over."

Riku and Sora shared a look—neither wanted the girls to come along. They were the only ones that fought Xemnas, and were also the only ones who knew exactly want a nobody was capable of… especially a nobody with a keyblade.

"Right, we'll leave later," Sora agreed, raising an eyebrow at Riku. "Hey, Kairi? Could I talk to you alone for a minute?"

"Sure… let's go to the garden!" she suggested brightly, leading the way out of the study. Riku watched them go sadly. Being alone with Asahi after the encounter with Xurik was the last thing he wanted. Just before Sora disappeared out the door, he jerked his head in Asahi's direction, and gave Riku a thumbs up.

Oh, god, Riku thought to himself. I can't believe he actually wants me to say something.

Riku turned to face Asahi, who had mischief dancing behind her eyes. "Hey Riku," she whispered, breath tickling his ear, "let's follow them."

Riku's face broke into a grin. Stealthily, they crept out of the study behind Sora and Kairi.

Sora and Kairi made it to the garden pretty quickly, for which Sora was thankful. He was feeling a burning fire inside, almost like a can of pop, ready to explode. He had absolutely no idea why he felt like this exact moment was the right one to tell Kairi the secret that he had been harboring since… well… as long as he could remember.

"Kairi," he said, smiling a little. "I really had something I wanted to tell you."

She smiled back. "Okay, Sora, I'm listening."

Sora felt confident—he was pretty close now… within a couple inches of kissing her… he suddenly felt as though he was going to pass out—and then, the strangest feeling he had ever had occurred. It felt as though someone was smothering him, taking over his body… and he realized with a jolt that the words he was about to say weren't what he meant at all—

"I love you, Naminé."

If you have read this chapter before, you'll notice that Riku's nobody's name is different... cause Skitty 2004 pointed out something that I completely forgot about XD So Xurik is his actual name... sorry about the confusion, and thanks again, Skitty, for your help :D

Anyway. What's Sora thinking! Read chapter 9, coming extremely soon, to find out!

Thanks!

Lulala