If the last chapter didn't make it obvious, yes, I am planning on making this into Riku/Kouichi shonen-ai, BUT, before you more conservative types hit the back button, know that it won't get any further than the mild shonen-ai level, i.e., cuddling, blushing and meaningful glances/conversation. You could probably look over it if you wanted to, and you'll probably want to, seeing as this chapter AND the next one have some VERY IMPORTANT main-storyline information in them.

Also, this chapter and the next one take place just after Xantha leaves Myotismon's company at the beginning of the Domino City event, but before the end of Pt. 2. It just seems longer because I'm putting it into two chapters for storytelling purposes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. I'm just a rather creative person with an overactive imagination.

Elemental Hearts - Inside/Outside

Chapter 7: Reflection

He looked around in the shadows, confused. It took him a while until the purple mist with its silvery lining struck him as familiar - this was a dream, in his own familiar dreamscape. This was where he normally saw her…that is, Miss Kairi, Riku's friend.

But tonight, she wasn't there. As he moved slowly through the darkness around him, he became aware that he was the only one. There was no sigh of anyone else, no Riku, no Kouji, and no sign of Miss Kairi…

"Looking for the Princess of Hearts, are you?"

He jumped and twisted, his head snapping this way and that in search of the voice, but there was no one there. In fact, it seemed as though he had imagined the voice, until it spoke again.

"You've never heard that title before? Well, I'm not surprised. Most of the Boys never do. They never understand who the strange girl is that they see in their dreams. Some even go crazy, thinking it's the love of their life, even though they could never pull themselves up to her level…"

"Who are you?" He demanded. "What do you want? What are you talking about?"

"The time is growing closer for you to know." Whispered the voice, and the darkness swirled around him, tightening, pulling him in close as though he was being embraced from behind. "Your Dark Heart is almost refined, nearly complete, ripening like a fruit. And yours is particularly more delicious than those I have set my sights on before…"

His breathing grew harsh, and he tried to move, he tried to struggle, but he found he couldn't move. "Let me go."

"You can't escape me." Laughed the voice, the hold tightening and drawing him back until he could hardly breathe. "I am always with you, within you, for longer than you know. And I will find you, no matter where you think to go…"

He twisted around, but the only thing he could see of his attacker was a blood-red mask…

Kouichi burst awake, gasping for breath. The gleaming not-light that lit the Worlds of Darkness during its 'days' gleamed into his eyes painfully, and his arms shot up to cover them.

"Easy, there." Riku's voice urged, clapping his younger friend on the shoulder to calm him. "Calm down. It was just a dream."

Kouichi pulled his arms away from his eyes and gave Riku an awkward sort of smile, shrugging. "Sorry. I was just a bit…startled…"

Riku nodded in understanding and pulled himself to his feet, stretching. They were actually in a city for once this time, or rather, a little town that would have been called 'pleasant' had its occupants not been entirely Heartless. The trio of travelers had taken shelter from the rain under the wooden outcrop of an abandoned shop's former display, and had eventually fallen asleep there on the cobblestone streets.

As Kouichi looked around, he realized that their 'trio' had somehow been reduced to a twosome, as their mouse-like King was nowhere to be found. "Where is Mickey-san?"

"Off looking for food or something of the like." Riku shrugged. "Didn't want to wake you, so he just told us to stay here…Keep an eye on each other, watch out for Heartless, the usual stuff."

Kouichi nodded absently. It was true that Mickey had a habit of disappearing for a day or so to scout out their next route or look for information, and he always left 'the boys' behind in a sort of protective, fatherly manner. (Kouichi suspected that he was poking through leads trying to find a Door to the Light and thought the paths in question too dangerous for the boys to follow him) But this was a bit of an odd position to leave them in…

"We're supposed to sit under an old fruit stand for the rest of the day?"

"Of course not." Riku grinned, reaching down to help the dark-haired boy to his feet. "C'mon. I say were look around a bit for ourselves."

Kouichi stumbled to his feet, dragging the Staff along with him as he did. "B-But what about Mickey-san?"

"You know he'll find us." Riku quietly flipped the Soul Stealer into his hand, letting the blade rest at his side somewhat cautiously. "Besides, we need food, for real. Or are you forgetting that we didn't eat last night?"

Kouichi's stomach growled - no, he couldn't forget that little face - and so, gripping the Staff in his hands and pulling the hood of the black cover over his head, he followed Riku out into the city of Heartless…

( - )

Mickey dashed through the town's most obscure and questionable parts, pausing only to bring his own golden Keyblade down on the Heartless who were trying to catch him. The route he was taking was dangerous, but it was the only real option now - reaching his destination in time was crucial.

He was going to meet a Nobody - that is, the mind and body remains of someone who had been taken by the Heartless. This Nobody had once been someone he knew, a teenaged boy not much older than Riku who had lived in a small, backwater world on the very edges of the interworldly web. Unfortunately, said world had been descended on by the Heartless a while ago, long enough that Mickey had heard of it just barely before entering the Worlds of Darkness.

Now, however, whatever was left of his old 'friend' had contacted him here and asked to meet, alone. So the King had left his young charges (part of him had to grin at thinking that, but as he was technically the only 'adult' in the group, he felt somewhat responsible for the boys' safety) in the care of each other and set out alone for the final meeting place.

Which turned out to be little more than an abandoned shop, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Even if they were Kings.

Mickey stepped into the small door, pushing aside the meager, raggedy cloth that kept the cold air out of the doorless little shack. Apparently, the shop used to be the home of a fortune teller, as there were many kinds of dark-colored draperies hanging on the walls, a few posters, and a single round table with two chairs. Where there normally would have once been a crystal ball or a Ouji board, a tea set for two had been set out, and where the exotic woman would have set, there was now a boy.

He was older than Mickey remembered him being, but it had been several years since the two had seen each other, and only one since his world had been destroyed. He was now closer in age to Leon or Cloud or one of the other young men living in Hollow Bastion. The boy's appearance had changed as well - when Mickey had met him, he'd sported dark red hair swept up in gentle spikes, deep green eyes, and freckles. Now his hair had turned a sort of sea foam green, his eyes a pale sort of gray, and the freckles were gone. He now wore a white linen shirt with long, white sleeves whose cuffs seemed to have been dipped in ink, underneath a heavy black vest with dark silver lining on the zipper and collar, and loose black pants that flared out around his black boots. He sat cross-legged in the chair, staring dead ahead, and didn't look up when Mickey entered.

"Ah," He said, staring straight at the wall to Mickey's left, "welcome, Your Majesty. It's been so long."

Mickey sighed at the familiar voice. "Osen."

"I prefer the name Xenos now, if you would." The boy motioned to the chair opposite of him. "Please, sit down, and we'll have a spot of tea, the way were used to."

Mickey smiled a bit and put the Keyblade away, moving to hop into the chair, but he remained cautious. He knew very well that Nobodies were not the same as their whole counterparts, and they often had some very, very drastic changes in their personality. Without any personality, heart or guilt, they would focus only on their goals and do anything to reach them.

They were not to be trusted.

"It really has been too long, my old friend." Osen…no, Xenos, poured a steaming cup of hot tea into the free cup and sliding it over to Mickey. "I had hoped that you would contact me first, but, as you had said many years before, there are times when one must grab the bull by the horns."

"Understood." Mickey leaned forward and accepted the cup, taking a long sip. "However, I can't risk being here to long, I have friends to worry about. You claimed you had important information."

"Indeed I do." Xenos took a long, deep sip of his tea. "However, it is not what you are hoping for. What I have to say is far more important to the safety of the Worlds as a whole."

Mickey narrowed his black eyes just a bit. "What do you mean?"

"I see things now," Xenos looked at him with dead eyes and chuckled. "Not literally, of course, as you know, this body will be forever incapable of sight in the normal convention, but now that I am without Heart of my own to limit my mind's abilities, I can see things that others can not. I can view events dozens of miles away, hours in future, through the minds of others. I see the ties that no one else can, the binds of Hitsuzen, of destiny, that tie us all together…

"Tell me, do you know why my world was attacked by the Heartless?"

Mickey was surprised, but shook his head no. Xenos chuckled softly, crossing his arms hands in front of him. "Do you, by any chance, remember my friend Morpheo? A little younger than me, nice boy, quiet and refined?"

"Well, yes." Mickey nodded, as the name had instantly conjured the image of a blonde boy whose company he'd enjoyed very much. "Why?"

"You see, he is the reason the Heartless came to tiny, backwater world so far from the darkness they craved."

Mickey frowned, disbelieving. "Just Morpheo?"

"Just Morpheo." Xenos nodded, a mysterious sort of grin crossing his face. "I trust that Your Majesty is familiar with the ladies known as the Seven Princesses of Heart?"

"Yes, of course…"

"And you know that the Heartless are able to exist in this world because there is a necessary working of the universe itself that requires that there always be a balance between the light and the darkness?"

Mickey's frown deepened again, almost in annoyance. "Where are you going with this, Xenos?"

"Where am I going?" Xenos laughed softly, setting down his cup of tea and leaning back in his seat. "Where are we all going? Where will we all end up? That is a question for those who can not See. The question for those who can is: what will you do with what you have been shown?"

He leaned over the table, a snake-like smile sliding over his face. "You know more of the Light than most ever have the opportunity to discover. Now, my Sight will show you the Darkness…"

( - )

"I don't think this was such a good idea, Riku-kun."

Kouichi's voice made Riku wince. It couldn't really be that bad, the younger boy was just being cautious, everything was going to be okay…and he was lying to himself. They were in a pickle.

The fact of the matter is, they were lost. Wandering too far from the safety of their over-turned veggie cart, the boys had found themselves in the middle of a Heartless marketplace and completely lost track of where they might have been going before. Lost in the crowd and unable to find their way back, the only thing that kept them from being set upon by mobs of Heartless was the layer of darkness carefully folded around each of their hearts, a precaution Mickey had gotten Riku (who had an odd sort of talent for such things after tempering the darkness in his own heart) to set up before they entered the town and the black cloaks that let them blend into the shadows subtly.

"Don't worry so much." Riku sighed, trying to dispel both the younger boy's fears and his own. "You'll see, everything's going to be fine…just fine…"

"I wouldn't count on that."

Both boys jumped, Riku yanking the Soul Stealer from its place and Kouichi sliding back to lift his staff into position. The figure standing before them laughed, brushing back his long, dark hair and blowing a small clump of lavender bangs out of his amethyst-gray eyes. He tossed the club he held in one hand into the air and caught it again by its grip after it spun a few times.

Riku gritted his teeth with a low growl, taking a step to the left to put himself between the stranger and Kouichi. This newcomer had a strange sort of sent with him, a musty, dead sort of smell that he didn't like at all. "Who are you?"

"Nobody, in particular." The other boy smirked. "Just a traveler, with an interest in a certain…commodity."

Kouichi took in a sharp breath and dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Riku, look."

Riku looked. The Heartless mob around them was clearing, moving away to form a sort of oval, like an arena that they couldn't have gotten out of if they had wanted to. The shadows lined every edge of this elipse, keeping them in, facing the stranger, chattering wildly.

Riku turned his eyes back to the stranger and growled. "What kind of 'commodity'?"

The young man in front of them smirked. "The two of you."

And then he lunged into the awaited attack. The Heartless around them began to cheer.

( - )

Xenos raised an interested eyebrow, looking out into the darkness with a light noise, "Oh."

Mickey's head shot up, not liking the boy's tone of voice. "What is it?"

"I'm seeing something new. Not to far from here…in the city itself." Xenos looked very contemplative and a bit amused at the same time. "Two…no, three boys… fighting, or rather, two of them are fighting while one give his support as best he can, not a particularly strong lad but an interesting sort of Heart, seems very caring in his own sort of way."

Mickey frowned worriedly, recognizing the description that fit his youngest companion all too easily. But then, if Riku was fighting, who was the third one…?

"One of the fighting boys is a Nobody, I can see that, but I don't recognize him. Seems formidable, though. The other, hm… Silver hair, a mixed heart, the darkness within has been very refined, a weapon of sorts. He seems determined to take this Nobody on but, oh dear…"

"What?" Mickey demanded, his voice rising to a worried pitch. "What is it?"

Xenos clicked his tongue. "Seems this Nobody lad has his eyes on the other one… the Healing-boy. And it seems to me that he won't stop at anything to get his hands on him. He would go straight through his opponent in order to get to his target, and from the looks of things, he is perfectly capable of doing just that…"

Mickey drew in a sharp breath. "Riku. Kouichi."

He spun on his heels and took off out the door again, the Keyblade ready to rip through the Heartless until he reached his charges. Xenos smirked to himself, raising one hand to wave after him belatedly.

"Good luck, Your Majesty…"

TBC…

Nobodies - The new villain-creatures of KH2. When a person with a strong Heart yields to the Darkness, their heart is lost and becomes as Heartless. This leaves behind the victim's body and mind, which begin to act with a will of their own and become a creature called a Nobody. Nobodies can also be created through the action of removing a heart without creating a Heartless, so that the Nobody is a creature completely separate from their original, though they are different in that they do not have the memories of their 'Other'. Normally, the body of the Nobodies deteriorate and fade away to become monsters like the Heartless (var.: Dusks, Dancers, Gamblers, Samurai, etc.) but some keep their human form and are gifted with unique abilities. All of the (cannon) known Human-shaped Nobodies are members of Organization XIII, except for the memory-witch, Ná mine. Xenos, like Xantha, is of my own creation and a plot-point. Heh heh.

Hollow Bastion - Formerly known as 'Radiant Garden', this once-beautiful world was nearly destroyed by the Heartless and the fine castle of its King, Ansem the Wise, was warped by Maleficent. Now its rightful residents have returned, including Yuffie, Cid, Aerith and other characters of Final Fantasy, most, I believe, in their mid-twenties/early thirties.

Hitsuzen - A word I borrowed fro xxxHolic by Clamp. It is defined in the Kondansha Japanese Desk Dictionary as, "A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A results which can only be obtained by a single causality, and other causalities would necessarily create different results." In other words, destiny.