Author's Note-Blasted upgrades..what do they really do, anyway? …Anyways, I would have had this chapter out sooner, except for the fact that I couldn't log on over the past two days. But I finally managed to I get this chappie out, and I still don't own Kingdom Hearts. Now here's the chapter!

"Stupid idiots… They don't understand…" Kiyoshi grumbled, walking up the walkway behind the fountainand sitting down, pulling his knees up to his chest. He knew he shouldn't havebeen so mad. But for some reason, he was. He was growing frustrated. And not just frustrated, but lonely as well. And nostalgic. He wanted to see something or someone familiar again. He wanted to go home, to see his friends, to see his family.

Oh no. Now tears were threatening to fall. "This isn't fair. Why'd it have to happen to us? I just wanna go home. I just wanna see my friends and mysister again. I want Mom and Dad…" he sniffled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something black. Kiyoshi slowly stood up, wary. "Tifa…?" he asked nervously to the darkness. "Kairi…?"

Suddenly, glowing eyes everywhere! Kiyoshi spun, only to see that he was surrounded by Heartless. He rapidly grabbed his staff that he had regained at the house and got into fighting stance, all in one fluid motion. "An ambush…" he whispered.

"Don't be stupid! Normal weapons don't work against these guys! I don't want to have to baby-"

"Taro, she's my sister! And Hyotoko is my friend-I'm not letting you fight that man alone!"

Taro. He and Taro had argued about that. Kiyoshi could still remember. Though now it seemed like a hundred years ago instead of a couple days. He knewthat Taro was probably right then, though he didn't want to listen. Unfortunately, what Taro had said probably applied to now, too.

But what else can I do?! Kiyoshi mentally demanded. At that moment, the monsters leaped! Kiyoshi spun, fighting the Heartless off the best he could. Suddenly he tripped. He landed hard on the stone ground and winced, looking up at the Heartless. His staff rolled a foot or two away from his hand. He gasped and shut his eyes as a dozen Heartless lunged at him, claws outstretched.

There was a sudden shout and Kiyoshi cracked an eye open. In place of the Heartless, a lone, dark figure now stood before him, black Heartless blood staining the black coat, making it look even blacker. Kiyoshi froze.

"Insei Kiyoshi, eleven years old, here from Twilight Town." The figure said creepily. Kiyoshi's eyes widened and he reached for his staff, but the figure snatched it up first. Kiyoshi frowned. The figure turned, grinning. "And probably one of the biggest klutzes I have ever known. Here." He said, holding the staff out to the boy, the end pointed at him.

Blue eyes widened at familiar brown ones. Kiyoshi took the end of the staff with his left hand and let the person pull him up. "Hyotoko!" he exclaimed.

Hyotoko grinned and pulled back his hood. "In the flesh, kid."

"I'm so glad you're okay! Where's Sakura? And Taro? Where's Tar-ow!" Kiyoshi winced as he flexed his wrist, a pain shooting up his arm.

Hyotoko raised an eyebrow and took the boy's right forearm. The wrist was beginning to swell. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Looks like you sprained your wrist. You klutz." He said.

Kiyoshi's expression was a cross between a glare and pout with a bit of pain thrown in. "I'm not a klutz, Hyotoko." He sulked.

Hyotoko grinned and shrugged. "Whatever. C'mon. Let's go." He said, turning and starting off.

Kiyoshi blinked. "Go? Go where?" He asked curiously.

Hyotoko stopped, his back to his friend. "…Well, they have a restaurant around here, don't they?" he asked in a tone one would use when asking whether or not the sky was up to an idiot.

Kiyoshi blinked. "Yeah. Some kind of café or whatever in the First District, I think. But what about my wrist?" he asked.

"That's exactly why we're going. Now hurry up. The longer we leave that wrist untreated, the more it's gonna hurt." Hyotoko said impatiently.

Kiyoshi blinked, then nodded and followed. Hyotoko pushed open two large doors-to the First District, he guessed-and passed through. Kiyoshi continued to follow and Hyotoko turned to him. "First District?" the brunette asked.

Kiyoshi shrugged. "How should I know? I've only been awake in this town for a couple of hours." He said.

Hyotoko blinked, then shrugged. "Oh well. Doesn't matter. There's a restaurant right over there." He said, pointing to the restaurant near item shop. The two boys walked over there. "Sit down." Hyotoko said. "Be right back.

Kiyoshi blinked and sat down, still favoring his right wrist. Hyotoko walked over to the open window. The man, most likely the manager, stared down at the boy a bit irritated. "What do you want, kid? Don't you know we're closing?" he sighed/groaned.

"I need a brown paper bag and a bowl of vinegar." Hyotoko said, ignoring the man's question. "Oh, and two orange sodas."

The man's eyes narrowed at the boy. "What do you want with a bowlful of vinegar?" he asked suspiciously.

"My friend sprained his wrist. He needs help." Hyotoko said, nodding back at his black-haired friend.

"Then he needs ice."

"No, he needs brown paper and vinegar." Hyotoko shot back. The man paused. "Just do it!" Hyotoko snapped.

The man rolled his eyes and shook his head as he got the required items. Hyotoko fished some munny out of his pockets. When the man returned, Hyotoko paid him (purposely a few munny coins short of the real fee) and took the stuff over to the table that Kiyoshi was sitting at. Kiyoshi looked on curiously as Hyotoko ripped the paper bag into strips.

"What is that for?" The younger boy asked, tilting his head a bit.

Hyotoko dipped and soaked the strips in the vinegar, not really replying. "Here. Give me your wrist." He ordered, holding out his hand.

Kiyoshi held out his wrist. Hyotoko took it, pulled back the sleeve, and began wrapping the strips around the already-swollen wrist. Kiyoshi's nose wrinkled.

"This stinks. Can't we just use ice?" he complained.

"This reduces the swelling. Good thing my mom was a doctor. I used to get sprains all the time when I sparred with my dad. This is an old-fashioned remedy."

"Well it still stinks." Kiyoshi whined.

"Well it still works, so quit whining." Hyotoko shot back. "And keep it elevated-more fluid will rush up and get into it if you don't."

Kiyoshi pouted but the complaining stopped, at least. He blinked at the brunette, the pout fading away to a worried frown. "So, Hyotoko, what happened to Taro? And my sister? Where's my sister? What happened to you guys?" he asked.

Hyotoko frowned. "It's not lookin real good, Kiyoshi. It really isn't." He saidquietly as he finished wrapping and took a sip of his soda.

Kiyoshi's brown furrowed even more, his blue eyes growing ever the more worried. "Hyotoko, what happened? Please tell me." He demanded.

Hyotoko stared into his soda and said in a dull, depressed voice, "Well. To start, Taro is against us."

Kiyoshi's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Look. There's something wrong with Sakura. She's…I don't know what she's got wrong with her. She's lost her heart, I think. Although that's scientifically impossible… But…more or less, she's somewhere along the lines of comatose… She was doing some weird floaty glowy thing earlier. Maybe it was due to some kind of radiation exposure…but I don't know. I'm not really sure about much of anything right now. Either way, it was some really freaky stuff."

"So she's in a coma?!" Kiyoshi exclaimed.

"Something like that, yeah." Hyotoko's sad and worried look brightened a little bit. "But…there's some guys that are willing to help her. They're called the Dark Knights or the Non-Existent or something like that. They promise that they can wake Sakura up if I help them." He said.

Kiyoshi frowned. "But…what do they want you to do? What is it that they're after?" he asked.

Hyotoko now frowned. "Ya know, I'm not really sure. I think they're looking for some kind of fragments or whatever. They did want yours and Taro's help, I know that much. But…Taro isn't going to help us. He's found new friends." He added glumly.

Kiyoshi frowned. "Did you ask him? Face to face?"

"Face to face." Hyotoko confirmed with a nod. "Look, c'mon with me. You and me are Sakura's only hope left." He urged, an almost pleading look on his face.

Kiyoshi bit his lip and frowned. "Well… Who are you working for? Anybody we know?" he asked.

"No, not really. There's Silence, Machi, Chaos, Tamara, and our leader, Ansem."

Kiyoshi nearly choked on his soda. "Ansem?! As in the same Ansem Sora defeated last year?!"

"What?" Hyotoko asked.

"Ansem was one who started this whole thing! The Heartless, the worlds disappearing, all of it! He used Riku and then possessed him. I'll bet it's his fault that Riku went blind, too, because he wasn't that way before. Hyotoko, if you're workin for Ansem, you've gotta stop! Otherwise you're gonna end up like Riku." Kiyoshi said.

Hyotoko blinked, then said, "…I'm sure this is a completely different Ansem…" But now his face was uneasy and unsure, his browneyes were troubled.

"And what if it's not? Now many Ansems do you know that work with the Heartless, Hyotoko? You're smart. Tell me." Kiyoshi demanded. Hyotoko jumped up.

"Why don't you stop being a coward, Kiyoshi? How about facing reality for change? We're just a couple average teenagers from Twilight Town. We have no superhero powers, nothing from comic books. We have martial arts restrained by normal human limitations. But these guys-they can help us! They're strong and experienced and much more technologically advanced than we are. They're from another world." Hyotoko snapped.

"None of that's gonna matter if you're evil! Besides, Taro's got keyblades and fights really well with them!" Kiyoshi argued.

"Who cares about Taro?!" Hyotoko shouted angrily. "He's nothing but a backstabber! A traitor! He doesn't care about us! I asked him myself to help and he said he wouldn't!"

"Taro isn't like that! I saw him last! I told him that you and Sakura had been kidnapped and Riku was hurt! I told him what happened and he looked madder than I've ever seen him before! He fought tons of Heartless to find and save us! All of us! Please, Hyotoko, you've got tobelieve me!"

Hyotoko's angry look seemed to die to be replaced by a sad look. "I wish I could, Kiyoshi. I really do." He said, the normal, quiet tone returning to his voice. "But Sakura needs help, and I'm going to do everything I can in my power to get her back her heart. Taro isn't gonna help. I was hoping that you would, but it seems that you've turned your back on us as well." He said.

"Hyotoko, I didn't mean that! What I meant was-"

Hyotoko held up a hand to silence the younger boy. "Don't try to lie, Kiyoshi. It'll only raise contempt and lower my opinion of you. But if you ever do think about changing your mind and helping us out, just call. Or come to Hollow Bastion. I'll be there. We'll be there." He said, beginning to walk off. "Oh, and keep that wrist elevated. Don't use your right hand tomorrow. That would only make it worse." He called back.

Kiyoshi jumped up. "Hyotoko! Hyotoko, wait!" he yelled, running after the brunette.

Hyotoko ignored Kiyoshi's cries but suddenly stopped. Not to say anything more to the boy, of course, but because a hand was now suddenly grabbing the back of his jacket. He turned around and looked up to see a man that practically looked like an older version of himself, a diagonal scar running between the eyes.

"Well, well," the man said in a quiet voice. "Who do we have here?"

Author's Note-Rain ish nice.. –grin- But anyways, I'm already working on the next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to write quite a bit now that school's out for the rest of the week. Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving and please review! Ja ne!