Edit Sept 2016: Hey! Welcome to the start of Batch 2 Kairi Edits. For these first couple chapters all the edits are relatively tame, but check out the final final chapter of Dead Inside, where I'm storing a changelog for all the edits, if you wanna see what all is different!

Part 2

Running from the Past

or

Searching

Chapter 104: How long has it been?

"Twenty-niiiiiiine," Joseph whined. "I'm BOOOOOORED! And Toby's bored too! We've been bored, for like, the past three whole hours!"

Namine laughed a little under her breath, and sent a look at Riku. He didn't look nearly as amused with the situation as she was. Oh well. He could be a grump if he wanted to.

"Why don't you go to Twilight Town?" 29 suggested, calmly.

"We've been to Twilight Town, like, twenty times already!" Joseph argued, still whining.

"Have you showed Toby around Castle Oblivion?"

"Yes!" Joseph said, like that was obvious.

"Twice," Toby added. He was much quieter about it, like he always was.

29 sighed. There was a bit of exasperation in his tone. "And just what do you want me to do about it?"

Joseph broke into a grin. "Can we go to a different World?" he asked, totally chipper, and, like that's what he'd been planning all along.

Riku snorted. "Like that's gonna happen," he muttered.

Predictably, 29's eyes bulged. He stared at Joseph for a long moment. Took a deep breath.

"AWWW, PLEASE!" Joseph whined, clearly sensing the impending no.

Namine leaned closer to Riku, lowering her voice—Joseph was probably far enough away (somewhere around ten or twenty feet) that he wouldn't hear, but better safe than sorry.

"We could take them with us to Hollow Bastion," Namine said.

Riku jolted away from her. "What? Since when were we going to Hollow Bastion!"

"Um, since Aerith wanted to check on your hand." Namine sent a pointed look Riku's hand, which had lost the bandages Aerith had last wrapped it in a while ago. It looked fine, but how was she supposed to know? She wasn't a healer! And Aerith had been very clear.

"I—" Riku began to protest, but then stopped. He glared a little, slouching in his seat. "Oh yeah," he grumbled. "I forgot."

"What do you think?" Namine asked, now referring to taking Joseph and Toby with them.

"Well…. I don't know about Hollow Bastion…" Riku answered, slowly.

"Why not?"

"I mean, all the Heartless…"

Namine rolled her eyes. "Come on, with everyone there, it'd be safe for a few hours—it's not like we'd stay for that long!"

"Knowing our luck, though, there will be Heartless," Riku argued.

Namine supposed he had a point, but:

"You just don't want to spend the next few hours babysitting, huh?" she asked, somewhere between teasing and accusing.

"Nope."

Namine sighed. She wasn't sure that she could expect anything else, really, and supposed she couldn't blame him, either. Besides, maybe Aerith would mind? Namine kind of doubted it, but…

"I guess I could take them somewhere else, while you go to Hollow Bastion," Namine said.

Riku looked at her. "What? Where?" he asked. "Almost every world has Heartless, and you don't, well, exactly know how to—"

"Not every world," Namine protested, before he could finish. "I mean, home doesn't have any—oh no." Her good mood instantly vanished, along with all the color in her cheeks. "Riku- Riku how long has it been?"

Riku squinted. "What do you mean 'how long has it been'? Since when?"

"Since I got here!"

Riku shrugged. He clearly had no idea.

"I dunno," he said. "A week?" He nodded, satisfied, though Namine wasn't sure she trusted that. "I'd bet about a week, maybe a little more. Two tops."

"Are you sure?" Namine pressed.

"Uh, pretty sure," Riku said. He didn't sound pretty sure. He looked at Namine, though, confusion thick in his eyes. "Why?" he demanded.

"Because I left Kairi, that's why!" Namine answered, sending him a look like no freaking duh. Had he forgotten? At the rate he thought about Kairi—and, Sora, even, half the time—Namine wouldn't be surprised.

"Oh." Riku scowled.

Knowing well enough what that scowl was about, Namine rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to go with," she told him. "I mean, I'm sure Kairi would love to see you, but you need to go to Hollow Bastion and see Aerith, so it doesn't matter." And, I can just bring Kairi with me to Hollow Bastion, later, when you can't tell me it's a bad idea, Namine thought. Which, I kind of owe her, because I've been meaning to do this for like, forever now.

(She'd kept forgetting, too, but in her defense, there'd been a lot going on, and few moments to spare to embark on such a task.)

"Alright," Riku mumbled.

Namine broke into a grin.

"Well, if that's settled!" she said.

She got to her feet, and headed over to where Joseph and Toby and 29 were.

"Hellooo," she called at them, smiling brightly.

"Namine!" Joseph said, and he grinned. Behind him, Toby waved and mumbled a small hello of his own. Toby often spent his time hiding behind Joseph. "Thank goodness you're here. I'm so bored!"

"Well, it's a good thing I've got a solution for that, isn't it?" Namine asked. She bent down a little, not that she had to bend far, seeing Joseph was already almost her height. "How would you two like to go to Destiny Islands?"

Joseph's eyes lit up. "OHHH!" he exclaimed. "I forgot going was there was an option! Yeah, yeah! We'll go there!"

"Good, because, I have to see Kairi."

"Well, I'll let you do that," 29 said. He reached over to ruffle Joseph's hair, which Joseph did not look happy about. "Have fun! And… don't cause Namine and her friend too much trouble."

Joseph glared up at 29—or, maybe, at his hair. "Geeze, we won't!" he grumbled, running his fingers through his hair to try and… fix it? Namine assumed that's what he was trying to do, but it wasn't helping at all. She had to suppress the laugh that bubbled in her throat at the sight of Joseph fruitlessly trying anyway, especially since he was pouting like that.

"Thank you," 29 told Namine. He headed off.

"Okay!" Joseph declared. Either his hair was satisfactory now, or he was giving up. He looked up at Namine. "We going?"

Namine shook her head and started heading back to where Riku was.

"I… I need to grab my sketchbook," she said, thinking that, maybe, she should have done that first. Then again, she still had to say goodbye to Riku, so it didn't really matter. "And, I also have to say goodbye to Riku," she told Joseph and Toby, so they were on the same page.

"Wait, what?" Joseph stopped in his tracks. "Riku's not coming?"

He sounded a little disappointed.

"I have to go to Hollow Bastion," Riku said, getting to his feet. He didn't seem very thrilled about the idea, but Namine ignored that as she gathered her things. He'd have to go and survive without her!

"What for?" Joseph asked, almost accusing. His arms were folded over his chest and everything. Toby shuffled awkwardly beside him.

Riku held up his hand and wiggled his fingers.

"Aerith wanted to check on my hand, make sure it was healing alright, or whatever."

Joseph pouted. "Oh," he said. Then something seemed to occur to him. He rounded on Namine. "Wait, why can't we go to Hollow Bastion!"

"Heartless," Riku argued.

Joseph pouted even harder.

"It's probably for the best," Toby muttered.

"Well, be careful, Riku," Namine said. She set her bag down on the couch so she could hug him.

Riku kept the hug short, and was stepping back all too soon to laugh and send that cocky and all-too-confident grin of his at Namine.

"Come on," he laughed. "What's the worst that can happen?"

He opened a dark corridor behind him and backed through, grinning the whole way.

Once he was gone, Namine looked to Joseph, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Don't worry," she told him. "I'm planning on just getting Kairi, and then heading to Hollow Bastion anyway. So you'll still get to go."

Joseph burst into a wide grin. He looked significantly happier now.

"Oh, NEAT!" he shouted.

Toby didn't looked thrilled or upset either way.

Namine picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Are you ready?" she asked, looking at Joseph and Toby.

Joseph nodded. "Uh-huh! It's not like I have to grab anything, so…"

"I'm ready too," Toby said.

"Okay then!"

Namine opened a dark corridor.

The dark corridor let out onto the play island, which Namine was not exactly surprised about. It was good to smell the ocean air again, and see the sky and the sun high above the waves. Namine didn't focus long on the feeling, though, scanning around for Kairi.

She'd opened the dark corridor to take her straight to Kairi, so Kairi should be…

There! A figure, standing up in the waves. Sun gleamed off her red hair. And… Uh-oh.

"Hey, there's Kairi!" Joseph said, grinning and pointing. Then he paused, grin faltering. "Uhh, Namine, why does she look so mad?"

Namine swallowed hard. Kairi was marching out of the ocean, looking absolute furious. Namine could think of quite a few reasons why she looked that way.

"Well…" Namine began.

"Namine?" Joseph asked, leaning to look at her.

"NAMINE WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"Oh." Joseph said.

Namine coughed and braced herself a little. She hadn't necessarily expected this, but now that it was happening, she wasn't that surprised. And, she couldn't blame Kairi for being that mad.

"Um," she began.

"It's been, like, a month Namine!" Kairi said. She'd gotten close enough that she didn't need to shout, though she was still speaking at a much louder volume then she needed to. "I was worried SICK about you!"

"S- Sorry," Namine said. That was really all she could think to say. "I was, um, busy?"

Kairi stared at her with a very clear like-that's-any-excuse? look, hands on her hips. "And you didn't even THINK to drop by for, like, ten seconds to let me know you were okay!? Come on, what's more important than your best friend!"

"Kairi, I'm serious I meant to come back I just…"

Kairi noticed Joseph and Toby now, and frowned at the both of them.

"Who's…?" she began.

"Oh!" Grateful for a moment of distraction—and to get her thoughts in order—Namine turned to the two boys, preparing to introduce them. "This is Joseph," she said, gesturing at him.

Kairi nodded. Recognition lit in her eyes. "Oh, yeah," she said. "We've met."

Joseph beamed at her. "Hi again!" he said, waving.

"And… this is Toby," Namine said, pointing at him.

Toby smiled uneasily up at Kairi, though from the looks of it, he'd prefer to look anywhere else. Namine licked her lips, feeling the tension in her chest. The boys must've felt it too. Kairi still looked incredibly sour, and was tapping bare toes against the sand.

"Well, hey!" Joseph said, still grinning. It seemed a bit forced now, though. "It sure looks like you two have a lot to talk about! Yeah! So, um." He quickly turned to Toby. "Toby you wanna swim?"

Toby looked disgusted at the suggestion. "No way!"

"What? Why not—ohhhh." Joseph sighed a little. "You don't like water."

"Pretty much my mortal enemy," Toby agreed.

"Well! Let's…" Joseph's eyes darted around quickly, then settled something on the other end of the island. "UHH LOOK I SEE SOMETHING COOL OVER THERE LET'S GO CHECK IT OUT! BYE WE WON'T GET LOST PROMISE!"

With that, he grabbed Toby by the hand and ran off.

Kairi watched them go for just a second, then looked to Namine.

"Okay, seriously Namine," she said. She was still scowling, and sounded a pretty upset, but she wasn't yelling, and looked much more willing to listen. "Where have you been?"

"Um… It's, well... It's a long story," Namine said. "Here, let's…" She gestured towards the ground, then made to sit down.

Once Kairi had sat down too, Namine took a deep breath, and began to explain.