Author's Note-Hah! I posted! –sweatdrops- And now I've got a lot more to write again... Oh well. About Axel, I started writing this back when he was still known as 'red-haired unknown.' Oh, and sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Our internet has been crap lately... Anyways, I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Amber eyes opened slowly. Taro looked around, rotating his head in the process to get the ache out of his neck. Glancing out the window, he could tell that it was already sunset. He sweatdropped. "I've been asleep for that long...?" he muttered. "Oh well..." As he turned to the couch, he said, "Well, Sora, feeling any bet-"

He stopped dead to see the couch empty. "Sora?!" he called. "Sora? Dammit! Oi, kid, if this is some kind of practical joke, I am not amused!" he ran into the foyer, only to see that the front door was wide open. "Shit." He cursed, running out.

The first step he took outside, at least ten shadow Heartless pulled themselves out of the ground. "Dammit!" Taro growled, forming his keyblades in his hands. Whirling around, he sliced through the shadows to see a slender silver Heartless standing before him. There was a few moments of stillness, silence. Suddenly it took off down the street.

"O-oi!" Taro yelled. Maybe it wants me to follow it...? Maybe it can lead me to Sora! I have to follow it! He thought, chasing after the silver streak.

Down familiar streets he ran, ignoring the eerie silence of the town, the sinking feeling that everybody he ever knew and loved was gone. He came to a halt as the Heartless disappeared into a building wall. "...Gone. Dammit!" He sighed and looked around, then wandered down the street until he came to an empty courtyard. Empty, that is, save a lone red-haired man.

Wait. Red hair? A black coat like his?

He had red hair and wore a black coat just like yours!

Of course. This man fit the description Kiyoshi had given him perfectly. He was the one who had taken Hyotoko and Sakura, who had kidnapped them. And probably also the one that had kidnapped Sora. That opened up some questions.

"So you've arrived. It's about time." The man said. Taro nodded once, then quietly and grimly walked over only to stop a few feet away from him.

"Who are you?"

"...Chaos..."

"...Where's Sora?" Taro asked.

"You can't see Sora." Chaos replied calmly.

Taro sucked in a deep breath to contain his annoyance and his anger. So this man did have Sora. Now for his other question.

He glared. "And my friends?"

"Your friend Hyotoko is willingly in our care. He is now what you are rumored to be. The brat Kiyoshi appears to have slipped from our grasp as has your friend Riku."

Taro felt a bit relieved at this, but there was something missing. Something not mentioned, something not asked.

"...What about Sakura?"

"Ah, the girl..." Chaos said. "There are no worries. She will be needed later on, we believe. So naturally, we are taking very good care of her."

"You will not lay a hand on her." Taro said, eyes narrowing. "Leave my cousins and my friends alone!" he shouted, his keyblades appearing in his hands.

"You choose to fight me? What the hell will that accomplish?" Chaos demanded, throwing back his hands. There was a gust of wind that was so strong, it made Taro stumble forward a step. "You may be needed as well, so why don't you come along quietly?"

"I will never go and help you!" Taro shot back defiantly.

"Very well. Then, I have no choice." The Chaos said, energy swirling around im. Energy like...embers? "Suffer the consequences!" he yelled, lowering his head. A ring of fire suddenly shot up around the two and he raised his arms. Taro noticed that as he did this, the flames became even higher. A trick?

No. No, this guy is the real thing. But how does he fight? Surely if he was going to kill me, he could have easily burned me to a crisp just now. What's his game? Taro wondered.

Chaos's arms suddenly dropped to be holding his hands out to his sides. In his hands appeared two red and white spiked wheels. Then he looked up.

Just the look was enough to worry Taro. The expression on the man's face was no longer a serious look. It now held a grin, a homicidal smile. But those eyes...once concerned and in pain, now they were evil and chaotic, but something in them screamed with unwillingness.

"Get ready." Chaos said. Taro only had the time to take a step back before the redhead charged at him.

-----

The boy with white hair smiled through his feverish pain. 'I can feel it...I can feel pain again...' he thought. It hurt. He felt like he was in an inferno, despite the fact that he was shivering as if he was sitting outside in the snow on a winter's evening. He ached all over, in all of his joints. If he moved his head, it felt as if it would split in two. Even his eyes stung.

But he still smiled. He welcomed it. He welcomed the pain. Pain meant life. And if he were truly alive again, that meant that he had finally found it. The door to the light.

But then, what did he know? It felt real, but it may have been a mere illusion. A mere memory conjured for the desperate boy, not for the first time. He had found memories that he didn't even remember. Memories that might not even had been his. Through these, he was able to live. He could live through his memories. Through the memories of others.

Memories of light.

He lived through these memories, maybe. Maybe. Was he alive? Was he dead? He came to the point of where he just didn't care anymore.

He was alive. But what about his sanity? 'Have I gone insane? How can I tell...?' the boy wondered as he drifted through the abyss. But now he was no longer drifting. Now he was...somewhere...

Where was he?

Was this even...real?

But there was no light here. No, wait. He just wasn't opening his eyes. Because it hurt. Oh yeah. Yeah, that was right. That was it.

Instead he saw darkness, but with beings of light occasionally walking by. He amused himself by watching them, judging their volume of light. 'Their souls?' he wondered. 'Am I seeing the good and bad of their hearts?'

He didn't know how long he had been in that dark void. He didn't know how long he lay where he lay now, until finally, something came. And what he 'saw' was a being of shadows, only shadows. Inside were two tiny flickers of light, one trembling violently, as if trying to break free or something.

He felt something fall on him. Something light, something barely heavy at all. Fabric? Something touched his forehead and through his weakness he felt a strength flow into him. Huh?

He held up a hand in front of him. Its light, which already wasn't very bright, seemed to have darkness seeping into it, making it darker than it already was.

"Stop it!" he cried, lashing out with all his strength. "Get away!"

The hand jerked away. He could sense the man smirk. "...You will be needed soon, Riku. You may as well face this truth: You cannot run from us and you cannot run from him."

'...Who...?' Riku mentally demanded as he heard the person walk off. 'Who is he talking about? Who is 'him?''

As he wondered this, he felt a chill go up his spine. Could it be...? He frowned. Could it be who? He felt like there was someone that he should have remembered. Someone that he should have been afraid of. But who...?

He frowned, his confusion turning into concentration; the most he could remember was shadow, a silhouette of a person. A person with long hair and a coat. Who was he? Was this who he was supposed to be afraid of?

Red eyes suddenly burned into him from the silhouette. He screamed...

-----

"Kid! ...Human! Hey, kid!" Yukiro exclaimed, grabbing Riku's shoulders and giving them a firm shake. Riku didn't wake, but clutched at his heart as if he were having a heart attack. Yukiro frowned. He didn't know what to do. Five hundred years of solitude had diminished all of his people skills whatsoever.

His eyes suddenly widened to see darkness circulating into Riku's aura, the light surrounding him. Carefully he pried the hand away from the heart. He frowned, concerned, to see the light of the boy's heart pulsing with lines of darkness. And also there was...

...A hole? Yes! A tiny hole was right there in his heart! And...a piece that looked like it didn't belong...

This is Riku, one of the holders.

She was right! He is one of them. He's a fragment holder! ...But his fragment...it's broken. Its been broken into thirds... Where did the other two pieces go? Yukiro mentally demanded.

He shook his head. Now's not the time to worry about that. This boy's been exposed to far too much darkness. If I don't do something soon then something horrible is going to happen.

With that thought in mind, he touched his own heart and slowly withdrew his hand, a ball of light resting gently at his fingertips. Then, he touched Riku and the light disappeared. A couple of moments later, Riku's aura got slightly brighter, but only slightly. It was enough.

However, as the blindfold twitched and Riku awoke, Yukiro watched on in grim silence. This kid...who is he? What is he? And what exactly happened to him? His aura is outlined in black. Could it be that...he's one of them? Yukiro's eyes widened momentarily, but then he glared darkly. He can't be. But just in case, I think I'd better find out a little more about this Riku kid...

To Riku he said, "You fell asleep."

"...I see..." Riku said. "Now, what just happened?

"Apparently your dreams are dragging you into darkness. It won't be long before the Heartless themselves begin attacking you in your sleep." Yukiro walked into the other room (since he had explored the house while Riku was sleeping) and came back with a small pouch. He tossed it to Riku.

Riku nearly dropped it, but caught it just in time. "What's this?"

"Goldenwood. Burn it while sleeping. That should get rid of any dreams. But it's only a temporary cure. We will have to find another alternative soon." Yukiro explained.

Riku nodded. "Okay." Then he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, muttering, "Man, I just can't get a break..."

"Now, it's time to go."

"Go?"

"Yes..." Yukiro paused, then said, "One of the Dark Ones are here, no doubt looking for us."

"Dark Ones?"

"Who you might call the 'Nobody.'"

Riku stiffened slightly at the name, then nodded. "Okay, then. Let's go."

And with that they set out.

Author's Note- Meh...running out of things to say down here. Um...I'll try to write more soon. I can't really post every day though now since my final draft has caught up with my rough draft, but I'm trying. I'll at least have one chapter a week up if not more. So just sit back and review, and I'll get to writing more. Ja ne!