Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 3

Orin wasn't too pleased at the glare Riku was shooting him from across the room. But presently he was preoccupied with the questions he was being bombarded with from the other members of the group.

"Please... one at a time. You're making my head spin." Orin said as he held his head. He felt a migraine beginning to swell like a balloon in his skull. However before anyone could say anything a loud rumble echoed through the room.

Orin placed a hand on his stomach and gave his 'hosts' a nervous smile that seemed to add to his look of embarrassment. "Um, this is kinda embarrassing but do you have anything to eat? I'm kinda hungry."

"There's some Paopu fruit outside on one of the palm trees outside." Selphie said. "Other than that all the food we have here is fish, mushrooms, coconuts. Anything other than that is back in the house."

"Mushrooms? Ick..." Orin said, giving them a disgusted look. "I hate mushrooms. And I don't want to trouble you by asking you to gather a coconut and crack it open or catch and cook some fish so I'll ask for the easiest one. That 'Paopu fruit' you talked about."

"It's okay. I don't particularly like mushrooms either. Gimmie a second and I'll bring you one." With that Sora disappeared out the door and soon returned with a single Paopu fruit. The spiky haired youth tossed it to Orin, who caught it rather clumsily in his lap. "We don't eat those everyday. Paopu trees take a long time to bear fruit."

Orin nodded in acknowledgement and looked at the bizarre star shaped fruit that Sora had given him. He wasn't sure if he had to peel it like an orange or if he could just bite into it like an apple. But after beginning to feel uncomfortable from the amused looks of the islanders, who could see he wasn't sure how to eat what to them was a well known food Orin bit into one of the fleshy fruit's corners. The taste was like some kind of cross between an orange and a lemon, very sweet and sour at the same time. Orin felt the hairs on his head tingle as the strong taste overwhelmed his unwarned taste buds and made him shudder. He would've spat it out if he wasn't so hungry, besides Orin happened to like sour foods.

"So where are you from?" Sora asked. "I mean we've never seen you around here before."

Orin swallowed a mouthful of Paopu fruit and snorted. "Well I was born in a place called Radiant garden. Heh, in some sick way you could even say I born twice there."

"Don't you mean Hallow bastion?" Riku asked as he raised an eyebrow. Proving he had been listening to the conversation.

Sora shook his head. "No, after we destroyed the MCP Aerith and the others went back to calling the town by its original name, Radiant Garden."

Orin coughed on his second bite of Paopu fruit. "You've been there?"

"Yeah. Me, Riku, and Kairi were there just before we defeated Xehanort's Heartless." Sora said. "Then me and my friends Donald and Goofy went back there to find out Cloud, Cid, Aerith, Yuffie and all the others were working on restoring the town after the Heartless tore up."

Orin felt hurt at this news. Hearing that the same creatures that attacked him had wrecked his home town was something of a shock. Orin looked at the floor for s second before glaring at the cursed wiggling antennas that hung down in front of his face. They could be very distracting at times.

"Tell us a bit about yourself." Wakka said, trying to get things back in motion. "We don't get many visitors 'round here."

"Well... In my opinion self description is often very biased and therefore not very accurate but okay... I'm seventeen, I'm introverted, normally quiet and reserved but if around people I like I can open up." Orin ended with a weak smile. "Your turn, I've told you about me now I want to hear about you guys."

Kairi nodded and stood up. "Well, I'm Kairi and these are my friends. Me and Sora were the ones who found you on the beach and brought you back here to rest."

Orin gave Kairi a small smile. He barely knew her yet he could already tell she was a very nice person. Something he hadn't seen in what felt like a long time. Sora gave him a similar feeling but the Key blade that he wielded still made him nervous. The three who were sitting against the wall seemed nice but they looked as if they weren't sure about what to think about Orin, must've been his unique anatomy. Riku however still creeped him out with that those cold look in his eyes. Plus the fact that he had a Key blade made it even worse.

"Yeah," Sora said. "But at least you're okay. Even after being washed up in your shape and then being attacked by Heartless you're very lucky."

"Lucky? Not really." Orin stated flatly. Not looking at anyone except the floor. "I have no idea exactly where I am, I've been attacked by Heartless and the white haired guy, I've been set on fire, nearly drowned, I've got sand in my socks, my vest was the only thing hiding this damned mark on chest and it's ruined along with my hat and possibly worst of all my headphones are wrecked."

Riku flinched a little. Did he really come off THAT fierce?

"Oh wait a sec..." Sora dug around in his item pouch and pulled out the red headphones. "I picked these up after you left. They still work. By the way what song was it playing?"

Orin looked pleased that Sora had saved his headphones and gratefully took them back, placing them around his neck. "I dunno. I just downloaded a bunch of songs off the computer back at Radiant garden. I never looked at the names of the songs."

"Well I liked the one I heard." Sora said, glad to see Orin was cheered up by the return of his headphones.

"So why do you have... You know..." Sora asked, brining his fingers up to his forehead and imitating Orin's antennas with his index fingers.

Bad memories resurfaced in Orin's mind, he shook his head as if to shoo them away. "I'd rather not talk about it right now..."

Sora was about to push him to talk when Kairi shot him a look and shook her head, indicating he shouldn't. At least not now anyway.

"Okay then. Then tell us if why you're wearing the Heartless symbol." Riku asked, the harsh tone he used sent shivers down Orin's spine.

Orin felt that the white haired guy wasn't going to try to make friends with him like the others were trying to do. Still he felt like he should give him an answer of some sort. Maybe that would make him stop giving him that look. "Why do you think I was hiding it under that vest?" Orin then pointed over to his scorched vest and hat that were lying on the floor in the corner.

Riku glanced over at the ruined garments then back at Orin. "Okay. But I still want to hear you say why you're wearing the symbol of the monsters that nearly shrouded all the worlds in darkness."

Orin sat up and rolled his eyes. "I guess I'll just have to show you." Orin took off his black T shirt, momentarily showing them all the burn mark Riku's Keyblade had made and flipped it around so he was wearing it backwards. The part of Orin's chest where the Heartless logo had been suddenly appeared in a red glow. Now the symbol was on both the front and back of his shirt.

Sora blinked in surprise. "Woah... That was kinda cool. So why didn't it appear on your vest when you had it zipped up?"

Orin quickly flipped his shirt back the other side and looked at Sora. "I dunno... My guess is it may have something to do with the zipper but that's a pure guess."

"Orin, if you were born in Radiant garden do you know our friends there?" Kairi asked.

Orin scratched his head, his antennas seemed to wiggle a little more than usual as he tried to remember his home. "Could you give me their names? That may help."

"Okay..." Sora picked up for Kairi, she hadn't met his friends there so he had to be the one to name them. "Well there's Aerith, Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, Leon, Tifa..."

"Yuffie and Aerith ring some bells..." Orin said, his eyes were closed as he tried to remember faces from his past. "Is Aerith a young girl with black hair and has the energy that could rival a hurricane?"

Sora laughed at that. "No that's Yuffie. Aerith is a real gentle young lady with long brown hair."

Orin flinched at his mistake. "I remember Aerith used to run a small flower shop, I used to live not far from it when I was a kid. She was always real nice."

Riku got up from his position at the "Okay that explains a little. But why are the Heartless back and why are they after you?"

Orin shook his head tiredly. "I don't know. I've been running from them for a long time now. But before I forget, I'm sorry I pushed you two."

"It's okay. No harm no foul. You were just scared that's all." Sora said. "Everyone gets scared once in a while."

Orin once more shook his head. "Yeah I was scared but I wasn't scared of you. I was scared of me."

There was a similar look of 'Huh?' among the islanders. The young man didn't make any sense with that last statement.

Orin could see from their puzzled looks that they didn't understand and were patiently waiting for him to explain. "You see, I don't know how but I can hear people's hearts. Like right now I can hear every heart in this room. No offence but there's a part of me that feels uncomfortable when I hear the sound of hearts beating."

Kairi blinked, beginning to understand Orin's actions at last. "And that's the reason you pushed us away and ran off?"

"Partially," Orin said, "but the main reason is I felt your heart beat when you patted my face Kairi... Hearing a heartbeat is bad enough but when someone touches me it's like something stirs inside me and makes me feel like attacking anything that has a heart. That's why I ran."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "So you ran because you didn't want to hurt Kairi?"

Orin nodded slowly. Orin knew that this was a mistake telling them all this but he couldn't stand keeping this information to himself anymore. He needed to tell someone these things or else he might explode. Running in fear had finally caught up with him as he felt tears beginning to form behind his yellow eyes.

"So as long no one touches you you're okay right?" Tidus asked.

Orin sniffed and wiped tears from his face, trying to regain a little composure at the very least. It felt good to let that out after locking up those thoughts and feelings for so long "Yeah, as long as the Heartless don't come back."

"Obviously," Riku said flatly. "But now I have a question. You said you could hear hearts. Can you hear yours?"

Orin looked over at Riku. The young man looked to be about his age but there was something about his eyes that made him appear much older. Only large amounts of mental woe, anguish, and suffering could age a man beyond his years. Could this be true in the case of with this 'Riku'? "Yes I can. I can hear a heart beating in my chest. But I seem to have gotten used to hearing the sound of at least one heart."

Riku thought about this. If he was telling the truth then the danger was small. But when it came to creatures of darkness like the Heartless there was always the possibility of deceit. However this young man didn't seem like a Heartless but at the same time he had many things in common with them. He had similar anatomy to the Heartless. The antennas on his head were like those of the Shadows, the weakest and most numerous of the Heartless. His eyes weren't round and blank like the Shadows but the iris's of Orin's eyes were just as yellow. Then there was the mark on his chest that refused to be hidden... There was much about this young man that didn't make sense.

Tidus yawned and got up. "Well dudes, you guys can decide on where he's gonna stay. I'm headed back to town before my mother kills me for being late... again."

Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie said their good byes and left as they headed for their homes. Each silently cursing that their parents had them under curfew at their age.

Orin looked out the window to see the sun was just about to set. The blue sky and the blue waters below were just now beginning to turn gold. Soon both sun and sea would be a dazzling sight of red, orange, and yellow. Orin looked forward to seeing it but at the same time dreaded the night that would follow.

To be continued...

A/N: two things I want to point out. On Sora's new outfit there are two red packs on each side of his pants. These are what I think Sora puts all his items he carries. But that's just what I think. The other thing is the song playing on Orin's headphones. If you want it named it's Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters'. An awesome song by an awesome band.