Traverse Town

"Come off, damn it!" Riku yelled in frustration, waving his hand about. "Go in my pocket!" At last, the dark stuff slid into his pocket, no longer marring the sight of his glove.

Strangers just passing by looked at the young man curiously, some obviously questioning his sanity. One young girl had even paused to gawk.

"What are you looking at?" he demanded. He shot them all a look of such scorn that all the recipients of it felt a sudden urge to run away in shame. They suppressed this urge, of course, uncertain why this eerie teen had such an effect on them. Soon, however, they had all walked uncommonly quickly away, leaving Riku to his lonesome.

"Okay!" Riku clapped his hands together once, focusing himself. "If I were Sora where would I go?" His gaze scanned the surrounding area, pausing briefly on a nearby pub. "No, no! If I were Sora! Hmmm… I'd probably just wander aimlessly through the streets… hoping to run into somebody that might help me… yeah, that's what Sora would do."

Deciding on this plan of action, Riku proceeded to wander aimlessly through the streets. He even stopped at multiple alleyways, knowing Sora would probably not notice the fact that it dead-ended. However, each alley showed about as much sign of Sora having been there as the public areas. Nothing.

Finally, he came to a halt before a particularly elaborate building that seemed to be a shop of some sort. He was fed up with this pointless searching and decided to resort to a practice he almost never would even consider an option. He entered the shop to ask for help.

"Hey, are you the owner of this shop?"

"Nah, that guy decided to go on a coffee break or something," the clerk replied without glancing up. Her attention was wholly absorbed in a particularly bizarre piece of paper that seemed to have only rows of boxes and numbers written on it. "What'd you want to know? Maybe I could help."

"Well, I'm looking for a friend of mine. Goes by the name of Sora. Maybe a hair or two shorter than you are," Riku described. "He has a goofy-looking smile, brown, spiky hair, and should be holding this key-like blade-thing."

"Nah, man. Haven't seen anyone of that description around here lately. Sorry. But there are a lot of weirdoes just rolling in from lost worlds. Odds are he's around here somewhere."

"Well, thanks anyway… I guess." Riku left promptly. He could hear the clerk's excited glee as she filled in another box with a number behind him.

Feeling somewhat disappointed, he trudged over to a nearby café and dropped haphazardly into a chair. He held his face in his hands, elbows propped up on the table.

"Oh, you poor dear," a female voice crooned next to him. Riku looked up and saw a middle-aged woman looking down on him sweetly. "You look absolutely tuckered out. Would you care for a coffee? It's on the house."

"Yes, please," Riku sighed pitifully. As she shuffled off, he smiled inwardly. Women had always been like putty in his hands, falling for his long, silky hair, enchanting eyes, and pleasing form. Perhaps, if he really got into the act, she would even supply him with something more delectable than darkness.

"How's the mission going, puny teen?" a familiar voice asked.

"Bob? What are you doing here?" Riku whispered, trying not to attract too much attention. "Where are you?"

"Down here… yes, that's it. Now, look at the candle on your table. See the shadow? Yes, here we are!" Bob's drunken form, now the size of a baby's thumb, waved a wobbly hand at him.

"Here's your coffee, dear," the waitress cooed, setting the china cup and saucer before him. Her eyes twinkled down at him with a very subtle gleam of hunger. "Let me know if I can get you anything else."

"Umm… now that you mention it," Riku murmured meagerly.

"Yes?"

"Well, if it's no trouble for you…"

"No trouble at all, dear. Now, what would you like?"

"If it's okay, could I have a hotdog?"

"Why, of course you can! That's no problem at all!" Her smile widened cheerfully as the hunger in her eyes became more apparent. Riku, fearing what might happen if she were to hover about him much longer, sent her off with the humble request of ketchup on his hotdog.

"Ugh, that woman gives us the creeps," Bob shivered. "Now, Riku, how's the mission coming along?"

"I can't find Sora anywhere! For such an airhead, he's one tough kid to find!"

"Sh! Keep your voice down a bit! You wouldn't want that creepy woman back here, would you? As for Sora, Ansem's sure he's around here somewhere. You just haven't been looking hard enough. Be careful, though, there are two others also looking for him."

"Who?"

"Go by the name of Donald and Goofy. They're the king's right-hand men, his lackeys. Them finding Sora can only mean a lot of rough times ahead for the poor kid."

"Well, I better find him before they do then… However, I doubt they'll have any better luck finding him than I did. In fact, I'll probably be more successful if I just sit here and wait for him to find me."

"Hey, remember, this is just a spying expedition. You aren't supposed to make actual contact."

"Like hell. I don't give a damn about you and Ansem. Once Sora finds me, we can go back to the islands. Life out here sucks."

"And here's your hotdog!" the waitress declared ecstatically. She laid the plate on the table like a dish for royalty. "I hope your day improves, dear."

"Thank you, kind woman," Riku mumbled, pretending to appear somewhat shy. "I'm sure it will, thanks to your hospitality."

"Oh, you charmer," the woman responded, blushing slightly. She danced off to another corner of the room, still able to watch Riku's movements with perfect clarity.

"Ah! A hotdog!" Bob whined. "You humans have all the fun! What are we stuck with? The hearts of the corruptible! What we wouldn't give to be able to eat even a bite of that…"

"Really?" Riku teased. He took a delicate bite, chewing slowly and with more joy than realistic. "It's so good…"

"Now you're just being cruel… But we'd watch what you are doing if we were you," Bob chuckled with malicious delight. "That woman over there looks like she's about to enter Nirvana or something."

Riku swallowed quickly, his brows twitching with unease. He risked a glance over at the waitress, who was sitting on a chair in her corner, blatantly watching him. Her face appeared somewhat heated and red, her eyes slightly glazed over. A shiver trickled down Riku's spine.

He gulped the hotdog down hastily, drained his coffee cup, and thumped his chest heavily to force it all to go down smoothly. He stumbled out of his chair, knocking it over in his haste, and rushed out of the café.

When he felt a safe enough distance was between him and that disturbing woman, Riku paused to catch his breath.

"That was a riot, Riku!" Bob's recognizable laughed resounded from the darkness. "She looked away one minute to get orders from a young couple, looks hopefully back at your table, but you're gone! You should have seen the emotions that crossed her face! She looked ready to scour the entire town if her boss hadn't snapped at her! How narrowly you have escaped a horrible fate!"

"Shut up, Bob," Riku grumbled. Thoughts of that woman fading away, his mind refocused. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, we're supposed to supervise you. Ansem's orders."

"How did you get here?"

"We're always here. We're everywhere, remember, because we're darkness. Darkness is everywhere."

"Then what in the hell were you whining about back at the castle?"

"Well, we are everywhere, but it's like an extension of being… it's like you can feel an ant crawling across your foot, but all your attention is focused on reading… and so you know it's there but you don't know everything about it, you know?"

"I suppose."

"So… what are you going to do now?"

"I guess I'll make another round of the districts and then… I'll think of something when I get there. I'm sure Sora's looking for me, too. By that time, some people will have seen me and will have directed him."

"Yeah, there's one tiny, little flaw with that plan, brainiac."

"What's that?"

"Well, under Ansem's orders, mind you, we've kind of tweaked your appearance a little…"

"What do you mean "tweaked?" You making me look like an old man or something?"

"No, nothing like that. People will see you as you are, but they'll kind of… forget what you look like after you leave…"

"You're messing with people's memories?"

"No, not really… we just cloud you in a bit of darkness, you know… it's complicated…"

"Fine. So Sora won't be able to get directions from anyone?"

"Nope, afraid not. You two are like night and day, trying to find each other but can't."

"But night and day meet at twilight," Riku countered. "I'll find Sora in spite of your efforts, Bob."

"Let's see you try, pathetic teen."