Author's Note-Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I had last posted.. –blink- Oh, and thank you for the plushie, DemonSurfer! The food ish good too. –smiles and huggles both plushies- As for the fanfic, I'll have to start reading it again. –nodnod- But when I do, I'll be up to giving advice. (Though from the question, it sounds original and cool, so you might just want to try it.) To business, I have finished CoM. Though I will say now that due to the fact that I started this fanfic nearly a year ago, some of the new information that has been released will not be affecting the plotline. Maybe a little, but not a whole lot. And I'm also doubting that there's gonna be a lot if any CoM references in here. Just letting you guys know now. And yet in spite of all that, I still don't own Kingdom Hearts! –sends the lawyers away- There. Now, read and enjoy.
"What are we going to do with him?" Aerith sighed.
Cloud shrugged. "We don't let him go back, I guess."
"If Hyotoko is determined enough, nothing will stop him," Kiyoshi said. "Hyotoko has always been the smartest of our group. He can find a way to sneak out easily if he tries."
"Well he certainly isn't making any good decisions now." Yuffie commented, raising an eyebrow.
"Darkness and worry is clouding his judgment. You can't really blame him," Aerith said.
"Either way, we've got our hands full enough as it is. On the other hand, if we've got Hyotoko then it would be sabotage on the Non-Existent," Leon said.
"I just don't want Hyotoko ending up like Riku. I want him back to normal and I want to find our friends or at least our parents..." Kiyoshi said. He looked up in sudden realization. "Wait…!" With that, he ran upstairs.
-----
"Hyotoko? You awake?" Kiyoshi asked, poking his head into the room that he and Hyotoko were to share. It was a small room with two twin beds, a bedside table between them, a window, and a dresser.
"…" No answer.
Curiously, Kiyoshi flipped on the light and walked over to Hyotoko, who was lying on one of the beds. "Hyotoko…?"
"Go away," Hyotoko said, his back to him.
"But Hyotoko.. I have an idea…" Kiyoshi said, sitting on his own bed.
Hyotoko rolled over to look at him. "Like what?"
"Let's go see my Uncle Ken about this. He's pretty smart," Kiyoshi suggested.
"Last time you saw him, you were two years old." Hyotoko pointed out.
"So? Mom told me that he was pretty smart, and Dad respects him so he must be strong. And if your parents were friends with him, he must be a good guy. He could help us figure things out and he could probably help us in fights and stuff. I'm going to try convincing the others to let me go-please come with me." Kiyoshi said.
Hyotoko blinked, then shrugged. "I'll think about it," he replied. "In the meantime, I'm gonna get some sleep. That woman with the braid was right about one thing-I'm beat. I'll make my decision when I'm more awake.
"Promise you won't try to run away until you tell me if you're going or not?" Kiyoshi asked.
Hyotoko grinned. "You know me too well," he said. He held up the orange oath orb that Sakura had given him back on the night of the incident. "All right. I promise."
Kiyoshi smiled gratefully. "Thanks…"
"Yeah, whatever. Now lemme sleep." Hyotoko said, turning over again so that his back was facing the younger boy.
Kiyoshi nodded. "Okay. I'll go tell the others," he said, running out and downstairs.
-----
"Taro!" a voice shouted in the darkness. "Taro, wake up! Taro!"
Taro opened his eyes blearily. Who was calling him? Let him sleep a while longer…
"Taro!"
Taro groaned and opened his eyes again to see a fanged mouth filling his vision, reeking breath being breathed into his face.
Okay. Now he was awake.
"What the?!" he cried. He tried to struggle, to get free, but he was tightly tied. No, not tied, but tightly wrapped in coils. The coils of a snake, that's right!
"Let go!" he yelled, trying to form his keyblades. Trying to form them but he couldn't. He noticed that it was getting harder and harder to breathe. The coils kept getting tighter. The air was being crushed from his lungs, crushed from his body.
"Let him go," a calm, angry voice said behind him. Taro tried to twist his head around best he could to see what it was and caught a glimpse of glowing eyes.
The mouth drew away to face the speaker. "Ah, another mancub," Kaa said.
"You could say that," the cold voice replied.
"I sssee."
"Now let Taro go," the person said.
"I don't think ssso. He is my sssupper."
The person took a step closer. Pause. Then, "All right. One snake? Should be a piece of cake."
Taro suddenly felt a wind right by his face. A blur and suddenly Kaa's head had been snapped to the side. The coils loosened slightly. It was enough. Taro pushed the coils away and jumped back, away from the snake. The person landed next to him.
Taro looked over, into familiar green eyes.
"Tam?!"
"You okay, Taro?" Tam asked.
Taro nodded in surprise. "Y-yeah… What are you doing here?"
"Saving your butt, of course," Tam said.
"Oh. Um, thanks."
"Sure, whatever. Now where'd that snake go?" Tam demanded, looking around.
Taro looked around. No snake. He shrugged. "Gone, I guess," he said. He turned to Tam. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" he asked. Tam blinked at him.
"Huh?" she asked.
"That technique. I didn't know you knew karate," Taro said.
"Oh. Well, it wasn't really karate. Just street fighting. My dad was friends with a lot of martial artists." Tam admitted.
"Really? Mine, too," Taro said. He thought for a moment. "Though most of the ones I knew weren't exactly friends, just idiots he put up with. At least, in his opinion."
"I see. That would explain your skill with the keyblades," Tam said. Taro blinked. "But it was one of those friends that taught you how, wasn't it?" Tam asked.
"Er…yeah. My uncle-"
"Shinomori Aoshi," Tam finished. "But never mind. Let's get back. I think we both need some rest. And the others will be worried. So c'mon."
Taro blinked again, frowning as they headed back. How did she know about his Uncle A? He didn't tell her about his family…did he? He ran ahead to catch up with her.
"Tam, how did you know? About my uncle, I mean." Taro asked.
Tam shrugged. "I recognized the style. Shinomori has quite the reputation, you know. My parents heard about it one time, I don't remember where they did, though. Maybe they knew him, I don't know."
"Oh…" Taro replied, unable to come up with a more brilliant answer than that.
Tam leapt up into the tree and Taro followed. "Try to stay here this time, okay? We'll be walking around plenty in the morning, I'm sure." Tam said.
Taro nodded. "Yeah. Okay," he replied. And this time, he meant it.
-----
"Dammit! There's no end to these things, is there?" Barret demanded, firing into the mass of Heartless in the street.
"I though it was a bit suspicious that Rufus was cooperating with us so easily. He must have been summoning Heartless while he was talking," Vincent said.
"Gee, ya think?" Yukiro said sarcastically.
"Where is the ship?" Red asked.
"Outside the city near the Shinra mansion."
"Good. We shouldn't have much trouble once we get out of the city."
Yukiro glanced back over his shoulder. "You holding up back there, Riku?"
"…I'm not better off than you are," Riku replied.
"I'll just guess that means you're fine."
"The gate is just up ahead," Barret said.
"Good. Just so long as the Heartless stop following us…" Yukiro said.
"It's unlikely that they'll follow us," Vincent confirmed.
Yukiro nodded. "Then let's get out of here." With that, he began to clear a path through the Heartless to the gate with his bladed staff. The others followed in suit.
Finally, they reached the gate and passed through, slamming the doors behind them.
"Thank god…" Red sighed. "We're out."
Yukiro nodded. "The ship is this way. C'mon," he said, heading to where the gummi ship had crashed. Everyone followed. A relieved yet awkward silence settled over the group.
Who would have thought…? Yukiro thought. Look at all of this. Everything I've ever known has so far been ruined. Could it be because…Mother and I ran away…?
-----
"We've got to run," the blonde White Knight said, taking a step back yet still standing in front of the nine year-old boy and his red-haired mother. The knight was wounded, yet still ready to fight to the death with Gekido, her four-bladed sword, to protect the royal family from the Heartless.
"What?! We can't just run away!" the boy argued.
"Permission to retreat, your Highness?" the knight pressed, ignoring the boy completely.
"But my son…my husband…" the woman started.
"With all due respect, your Highness, your husband is lost in darkness and your son has completely lost his mind. You're better off saving the one you still have," the knight replied coldly.
The woman paused, then nodded. "You're right," she finally said. She took a deep, shaky breath. "You're right. Where is Sir Auron? He must tell the knights to retreat."
"I'm sure he's fine, but we don't have the time to look for him. I can give the order, if that's okay. I'll make sure everyone gets out, even," the knight replied.
"No… No, my son and I need you in our personal guard. Just give the order," the woman said.
The knight paused, looking torn, looking like she was about to argue. But then she sighed. Shook her head. "If you wish, your Highness," she said. "But what about you and Yukiro?"
"I can hold the monsters off until then. But what about you? You're wounded," the woman pointed out.
The knight glanced down at her wounds-one in the arm and one in the shoulder. Both long, bleeding gashes.
But the knight shook her head stubbornly. "They're just flesh wounds. I'll be fine. Stay safe, okay? I'll be right back."
Before anyone could respond, she headed back to the battlefield.
-----
"We're here."
Yukiro looked up. "Hm?"
"We're here," Vincent repeated.
"Oh…"
Red glanced curiously up at the young prince. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"…Just thinkin' of old times," Yukiro replied simply. He glanced over at Barret. "I trust you know how to install the new engine yourself," he said.
"Of course I can! …Just gimme an hour," Barret said.
Yukiro nodded. "All right."
Author's Note-Heh. Of course, I couldn't do Jungle Book without putting Kaa somewhere in there. Um...to some of you who are a bit confused about the description of a four bladed sword (Gekido)...geez, this is gonna be tough to explain... It's like a double sided sword, only it's got a hilt before those, two blades, and then a hilt in the middle. If I can get my friend to draw a picture of it, I'll try to somehow get it scanned and give you guys the address so you can see it (cause my friend's a really good artist.)All right, considering that I have finished CoM, I will now hopefully have a little bit more time to write and update. I'm also still wondering if anybody would be interested in reading the prologue of what happened in Gaia before Dark Rain. Let me know if you are. Anyways, this fanfic will hopefully be updated soon. Now, please review. Ja ne!