Author's Note-First of all, late Merry Christmas, early happy New Year! …Okay, now that I got that out of my system… Well, I thought the last chapter was going to be much longer than it was. Guess it wasn't. But here's the new chapter. Um..if I got Leon a little ooc, please forgive me, I have yet to play FFXIII. -ish planning on probably getting that video game next- I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, in case I need to remind you all. My friend and I are busy writing a little prologue thing for Kingdom Gaia, and I'll consider posting it after this story, if anybody would be interested in reading it. Anyways, read and enjoy.
"Silence, what is our status?" the man in red questioned.
"The Dark Knights have been dispatched to where they have been assigned." Silence reported.
"Good. And the boy…Hyotoko, if I'm right?"
"Yes. He has made a smooth transformation to becoming an official Dark Knight. And also," Silence added, "he knows nothing."
The man in red grinned. "Perfect. What of the other boy? The youngest one?" he asked.
"We still have yet to find him. Chaos is keeping an eye out for him while recruiting. But the boy can only hide for so long-he'll have to come out eventually." Silence reassured the man.
This killed the man's grin a bit, but he still nodded. "Indeed." He responded. He studied the young girl that had once been floating and glowing and wide-awake-looking-but now she looked dull and lifeless. More lifeless, in fact, she looked paler than before. Perhaps not dead, no, butvery muchlooking like it.
The man's expression changed to amused. "Tell me, Silence," he asked, "what is it that interests you so about this child? From what I understand, your testing has been turned quite frequently to her, as of late."
Silence straightened a bit. He had been hoping his leader would not notice his testing. But then he replied smoothly, "She is a carrier, I am most certain of that."
"Then why not get the fragment and be done with it?" the man asked.
"Ah, well you see, that is the problem. She appears to be protected."
"Protected?" the man asked, eyes narrowing a bit.
"Yes." Silence said, reaching into the cabinet and pulling out an orb. The orb seemed to be made of light, though solid like glass. Floating in the center was a crystal, a heart shimmering with pink and blue. There was a random area of silver somewhat near the center. Not too large, but not so small that it was toohard to spot, either. The fragment. "Both the heart and body appear to be like this. Guarded. Untouchable. I suspect sorcery, possibly witchcraft." The advisor explained.
He didn't mention Sakura's earlier display. He was reluctant to notify his leader about any activity different from the usual. The spells possibly encountered had yes, been expected. This was not of much surprise. What had happened earlier thoughhad definitely been outside of the norm.
"Mr. Silence!"A young voice yelled. Both the man and Silence looked over at the young girl that came skidding to a stop before them.
"Machi.." the man said.
Machi bowed. "Hello, Mr. Dark Lord!" she said. She turned to Silence. "Mr. Silence, I'm bored." She whined.
"Then go play with Hyotoko." Silence said with a slightdismissive wave of his hand.
"But he's not back yet…"
Silence and the man exchanged glances.
"You sent him somewhere?" the man asked.
"No. You didn't, either?" Silence asked.
"No." the man replied.
There was a long silence. Machi, understanding after a moment, broke the silence with a giggle. "Oooh, Hyotoko left without asking! He's gonna get in trouble…" she said.
The man's eyes narrowed at Silence. "Find the boy. He could find out things he does not yet need to know." He ordered.
Silence bowed. "Yes, of course. I will also get Chaos to search while he is journeying worlds. We will find him, my lord." He responded.
"…Make sure that you do." The man said, walking out.
Silence straightened, eyes narrowed. "That foolish boy…" he muttered.
Machi blinked up at him. "…Mr. Silence…?"
"Machi, it looks like you may get to go to another world. I'll tell Chaos what has happened. If wedon't get anynotification that he has been found within an hour, be ready to leave."
"Okay, Mr. Silence!" Machi said, running off.
-----
"Hey, Squall, Kiyoshi, you're back! …Squall, I didn't know you had a son…"
Leon twitched. "It's Leon. And this is not my son." He said, pulling Hyotoko inside, Kiyoshi trailing along behind them.
"Another little brother, then?" Yuffie asked.
Twitch. "No."
"Then who is he? Why does he look like a miniature you?" Yuffie grimaced. "And what's that awful smell?"
Kiyoshi looked away in embarrassment, his arm still wrapped in the vinegar brown paper strips. Leon glanced over at him, then looked back over at the others.
"…That's not important. This boy is a friend of Kiyoshi." He explained, putting special emphasis in the word 'friend.'
Cloud's eyes narrowed a bit. "He's dressed like a Non-Existent."
"…" Hyotoko kept silent, his head down, as if his eyes were studying the floor.
"He was trying to convince Kiyoshi to join them." Leon stated.
Hyotoko looked up and around at everyone, then shot an angry glance over at Kiyoshi. "So, Kiyoshi. Are these your new friends?"
Kiyoshi's eyes widened, then took on a hurt expression. "Hyotoko…" he started.
"So what if we are?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" Yuffie seconded. She looked over at Kiyoshi. "Why would you ever want to be friends with a jerk like this?"
"Look, give him a break, okay? He's not always like this. He's just worried about-" Kiyoshi stopped as he saw Hyotoko give him another angry look and fell silent. "I mean…"
Leon glanced over at Hyotoko and glared. Hyotoko saw and looked away. Leon then turned to Kiyoshi. "About what?"
Kiyoshi blinked, then said a bit reluctantly, "About Sakura. She's…lost her heart…"
Kairi frowned. A few people automatically glanced over at her. Kairi looked over at Hyotoko.
"Maybe…her heart is in you…" she suggested.
Hyotoko raised a skeptically eyebrow. "Yeah right," he said.
"No, really! I lost my heart last year, but it was in Sora the entire time!" Kairi said.
"Impossible. Impossible enough already that Sakura's lost her heart to begin with. But the idea that it's in me is just stupid. If you people are all gonna talk nonsense, I'm outta he-" As he started out the door, Cloud merely reached out and grabbed the back of his jacket.
"Maybe you should try listening to your elders before making assumptions." Leon advised.
"Maybe, but I'm not going to start listening to adults who start rambling about magic and myth. I believe in only scientific laws and theory. If you're going to try to steer me away from a cause, then you're going to have to use different tactics." Hyotoko said coldly.
"Alright." Leon said. With that said, he unsheathed his Gunblade and in a flash, was holding it up Hyotoko's throat. Hyotoko gasped, eyes wide, frozen. "It's all so easy to say you're going to help the Heartless when you don't experience the pain of those suffering because of them. Isn't it?"
"Leon!" Kiyoshi cried, stepping forward.
"You're helping the Heartless. With your help, the power of the Heartless will grow. How many people will be killed by them? A hundred? A thousand?" Leon asked. "Well?"
Hyotoko frowned, looking down. "I'm not doing this because I want to. It's to save someone I really care about." He said.
"And would Sakura want you to stain your hands with so much blood?"
"Shut up!" Hyotoko yelled, clenching his fists and shutting his eyes tightly. "You don't even know her-"
"But it's true, isn't it?" Leon countered. "Murder is the only thing you can call it. Is that want you want? Is that what she wants?"
"…I'll atone for it, someday. I'll atone for it all. But this is now. All those people…they're all going to die anyway, with or without my help. But if I do help, at least some good can come of it."
"How can good come from murder?" Yuffie demanded.
"Look. You just…have to save who you can, alright? There's no other way. None." Hyotoko said, trying to convince them as well as himself.
"…" Leon slowly lowered his gunblade. Aerith's look softened, looking at Hyotoko's surprised yet helpless look.
"Why don't you stay here for awhile and think about it? Go on upstairs. You look tired," she said.
"But-" Hyotoko glanced over at Cloud, who was still standing by the door, then at Leon, then sighed. "Fine," he sulked, stalking up the stairs.
Author's Note-Uh oh, looks like Hyotoko's in a bit of trouble. And he's so confuseded. Character torture like this is so fun. –grin- But anyways, I'm working on the next chapter. We're going off to see some relatives over the weekend, so I'll probably get to writing a lot more if I don't get sidetracked by my new Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories game, Heheh.. Anyways, please review! Ja ne!