Disclaimer: I do not by any circumstances own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Authors (OMG I UPDATED!) Note: I finally got it typed up!! YAYYY!! Im so sorry for the horribly long, long, wait. It took me awhile to crank this out. But Hey Look! It's really long! Almost 12 pages! WOW! I have been working forever on this, thinking over the plot and planning out the chapters. (which helped SO much!) And TADA! Chapter 4 was created! But anyways I just want to clear something up that might be confusing some of you guys. When I refer to Ansem in my story, Im referring to the evil guy (Xehanort) that took over Riku in the first game. NOT THE GOOD ANSEM.

I also want to give a very big shoutout to Chyuouko No Miyuzu, who without her advice and ideas I would still be clueless and not knowing what to do. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

-4-

I breathed in the fresh tropical air as I left the building that I have been bound to for the past year, realizing that this would be the last time I would ever have to set foot in this school again.

"YEEAAHHH!" a voice screamed from behind me, making me jump quite noticeably.

Before being able to turn around to figure out where the voice came from, Selphie burst out of the school doors laughing and flinging papers into the air, Tidus, Wakka and Kairi walking out of the doors not too far behind her.

"SCHOOLS OUT!" Selphie screamed again, my left eye twitching slightly. God how I hated when she yelled like that.

"We got to celebrate!" Selphie declared happily, dancing around on the sidewalk like she just won the lottery, other kids around her either laughing and sharing her giddiness or pointing and making snide remarks.

"What did you have in mind?" Kairi asked Selphie as she jumped down the cement steps leading to the school, obviously happy to be rid of school as well, though showing it much differently than Selphie.

"Oh, I know!" Selphie squealed. "We should all go to the play island! Just the six of us, and we can build a campfire and hangout like old times!" Selphie pranced around, gesturing madly as she explained her brilliant idea. To tell the truth, it didn't sound half bad.

I couldn't help but mentally groan though as Selphie blabbed on and on about what we were going to do to celebrate, her words meshing together as she talked faster than anyone should be able to. Kairi was listening to her every word, nodding and smiling like she could actually understand her. Heh, maybe she could.

Uninterested and rather bored of trying to decipher Selphies rambling, I moved my gaze up to the sky, a small white cloud moving lazily across it. A tiny smile flitted across my face when a memory of when me and Sora were little replayed in my mind.

"Hey Riku, look!"

"Hmm?" I turn my head slowly and look sideways at the brunette boy laying by my side, he was pointing towards the sky with a bright smile on his young face.

My eyes followed to where Sora was pointing, one of my arms coming to rest on the side of my face as I tried to block out the suns blinding rays.

Sora giggled. "See it? It's a bunny."

A weird look passed my face as I scanned the sky. Bunny? The only thing I saw was a small puffy cloud.

"What bunny?"

Sora's smile faltered and he turned his head to look at me.

"You mean you don't see it?"

I kept looking across the blues and whites of the sky, trying to find what Sora was talking about. Where the heck did he see a bunny?

"No."

Sora shifted to rest on his elbows and scooted closer to me. He pressed his face against mine and pointed again towards the sky.

"See? Right there."

I followed Sora's finger and saw that he was pointing at the small white cloud I saw minutes ago. I still didn't see any bunny.

"Sora...that's a cloud." I sighed. "You would think a seven year old would know the difference between a cloud and a bunny."

WACK!

"Ow!" I exclaimed as my hand whipped up to cradle the back of my now aching head. "What was that for?"

Sora was know sitting cross legged, his arms over his chest as he glared at me with his bottom lip sticking out.

"I know that's a cloud, dummy!" Sora fumed, looking back up at the white fluff in the sky. "I'm talking about the shape!"

I stared at Sora for a couple minutes, watching the angry expression slowly melt off of his face.

I decided to try one more time. I looked back up at the cloud, squinting my eyes as I concentrated on a bunny.

I couldn't help but smile when I finally saw it. Long ears, giant feet, and a fluffy tail.

"Hey, a bunny." I said casually, still smiling.

Sora turned his head and looked at me, his face brightening when he realized I was seeing what he was seeing.

"Told you sooo."

"That's perfect!"

Closing my eyes, I sighed, trying to block out the excited squeals coming from Selphie and Kairi. I was never a person that liked big crowds, and even just Selphies antics were starting to irritate me.

I opened my eyes, not surprised in the least to find Selphie still jumping around and chatting to Kairi about the night of 'fun' we were going to have. In all the mix of words pouring from her mouth like a broken dam, one of them I understood clearly.

"Speaking of Sora, where is he?" Tidus spoke up.

I was startled out of my own thoughts when I heard the new voice break into the conversation. I almost forgot about Tidus and Wakka. They must have been watching Selphie and Kairi plan out the celebration as well.

Selphie stopped mid-sentence and looked all around her.

"He left awhile ago man," Wakka's accented voice commented, he was twirling his beloved blitzball on one of his fingers like always.

Taking a look around, I noticed that Wakka was speaking the truth. There was no sign of any spiky brown hair anywhere. Sora wasn't here.

Wait a minute. I was standing here for how long, enduring Selphies mindless rambling when I could of left at any time?! If Sora left, which he obviously did, then I'm leaving too.

With that thought in mind, I slung my book-bag over my shoulder and started walking away from the group in a fast pace, not bothering to say good-bye.

"Hey, Riku where are you going?!" I heard Selphie whine from behind me, probably upset that I wasn't going to finish listening to her perfect impression of an auctioneer.

"Home," was my short and simple reply as I flicked my wrist in a short wave, continuing on my way down the sidewalk and off of the school grounds.

----

Once I was sure I was far enough away from the school, I let out a content sigh, indulging myself in the quiet. The only sounds coming from the trees above my head as the sea breeze blew across the island.

Continuing on my way home, the events from last night replayed in my head.

Did all that actually happen? Or was it just a hallucination? I wanted to make myself believe that this was just my minds sick way of playing a trick on me, but I couldn't help feeling like something bad was going to happen. Like something was just around the corner.

As if on cue, right when I turned a corner onto a residential neighborhood, I heard loud rustling coming from one of the large bushes on the edge of the sidewalk.

Jeez, I didn't mean literally.

Even though my mind wanted to be sarcastic, I felt my spine start to prickle and I lost all color in my face. Flashes and pictures of Ansem and the darkness started to swarm my mind as the leaves moved and parted.

I felt my heart start pumping faster as my common sense told me to run away.

My legs weren't listening though as I stayed locked in place as the leaves of the bush parted to reveal.......brown spiky hair?

I gaped at the form climbing out of the bush as the constriction in my throat released itself and my heart calmed down to it's normal rhythm.

"Wha?..How?....Sora?!" Were the few words I was able to stutter out.

Sora finished climbing out of the bushes, shaking his head violently to rid himself of the few leaves and branches stuck in his hair.

"Hey Riku." Sora smiled.

He had the nerve to actually smile at me after almost giving me a heart attack?!

I breathed deeply and willed myself to be calm as I forced a mask of indifference onto my still slightly pale face.

"Why were you in a bush?"

Sora flicked his gaze up to meet mine and he immediately turned a bright red.

"Well..Uh..I.." Sora fumbled with his words as he snaked one of his hands up to tug on one of his spikes.

I kept watching as Sora tried to find the right words to say. He obviously was trying to think of a good enough lie.

He was so easy to read.

Sora stopped tripping over his words when he looked back up at me.

I was now staring at him doubtfully with an expression that clearly said 'don't lie to me'.

Sighing, Sora averted his gaze and let the hand that was abusing his poor scalp drop back down to his side.

"Selphie get's annoying sometimes." he mumbled.

I couldn't help but laugh when I heard him say this with guilt. I clutched my sides as I doubled over in pure enjoyment.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows and glared at me.

"Why is that funny?"

I took in a much needed gulp of air and straightened up.

"So you were hiding in the bushes?" I chuckled, soaking up the cute look on Sora's face.

"Well..I heard you coming around the corner and I thought you were Selphie or Kairi..so I hid in the bushes." Sora explained with a shrug, though there still was a faint blush painted on his cheeks.

"Why would you hide from them?" I asked curiously, one of my eyebrows raising slightly above the other.

"I was afraid they were gonna try to talk me into going to that celebration thingy they were planning," Sora said as he turned back towards the bush he was hiding in and reached in and grabbed something.

After a few tugs on Sora's part, a book-bag almost identical to mine was pulled out of the bush, Sora slinging the strap onto his shoulder carelessly.

As Sora started walking down the sidewalk, I followed closely beside him.

"Wait. Your not going?" I asked confused.

"Nope!" Sora said simply. "I was kinda thinking we could do something else.."

"We?"

Sora stopped walking abruptly and turned around to where he was facing me.

Stopping as well, I looked down at Sora as he put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels like he wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"Hey Riku?" Sora looked up at me, his blue eyes boring into my own aqua colored ones. "Want to go to the play island?"

Wait, what? My fore-head creased in confusion. Isn't that exactly what Selphie wanted to do?

"I thought you didn't want to go there," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. Why did he have to be so confusing lately?

"No, I didn't want to go with them." Sora explained. "I'm saying we should go to the play island, just the two of us."

My eyes widened slightly in surprise as I felt my cheeks heat up. Was I hearing him correctly?

I turned my head sideways and hoped that my hair was covering the blush that I knew was making itself present on my face. Just the two of us. How long have I been wishing for a moment with just the two of us?

Sora took my silence as an awkward 'Why?' so he continued his explanation hurriedly.

"I mean...uh..we never get to hang out like we used to awhile back you know? It's always the whole group now. I thought it would be nice if we just hung out with each other."

I glanced back over at Sora and smiled at him warmly. A genuine smile that I didn't give out to many people, a smile that was reserved for only him.

"Well then, let's get going!"

I almost laughed when I saw Sora's expression brighten almost instantly.

----

The sound of a seagull carried itself through the humid air as I laid peacefully on the warm sand with my eyes closed. The gentle splash of the waves near my feet lulling me into a comforting daze.

I began opening my eyes slowly, ready for the harsh rays of the sun to momentarily blind me, but was pleasantly surprised when I found out there were no harsh beams of sunlight to burn my eyes like usual.

Sitting up and stretching widely, I looked towards the horizon and saw the sun beginning to set. Wow, has it really been that long?

After I agreed to go with Sora to the play island, we rowed out together on his little wooden boat that by now was much to small for the both of us, and we did what we used to do when it was just us together on the play island.

Racing across the old bridge, sparring down by the beach, and anything else we could think of at the moment.

It was heaven. I couldn't tell you how much I've missed doing these things, as childish as they are. I did them with Sora.

I smiled warmly to nothing in particular in my moment of bliss. So much in my own little world I didn't even notice the large shadow creeping its way over the sand, slowly covering my whole body in shade.

After a couple minutes of my mindless happiness, I snapped back into reality and saw the giant shadow looming above me. Realizing that there was something behind me I started turning slowly, but sadly, I realized too late.

"GOTCHA!"

"Argh, Sora!" I struggled under the body that collapsed onto mine, pinning me beneath them.

Sora was laughing as I kept trying to push him off of me, I tried desperately to keep my face out of the sand as Sora crushed his weight onto me.

I thought he was light.

"Sora get off!" I growled, using all my strength to throw Sora off my back. This time it worked.

I quickly sat up on my knees and turned towards Sora who was now sprawled out on his back on the sand, a challenging smile on his face.

Oh...It's so on.

Without any warning, I dived towards Sora and had him pinned beneath me in a matter of seconds.

He squawked in surprise and tried wiggling his way out of my grasp. Heh, no way was he gonna get away easily.

For a good five minutes we wrestled with each other on the beach, both us of trying to gain the upper hand and neither of us really succeeding.

Realizing that neither of us was really winning, I decided to try a different method.

I looked at Sora for only a moment and grinned evilly before snaking my hand towards his side. I saw his eyes widen in horror as he started struggling even more, begging for my mercy.

I wasn't feeling very merciful.

Howl's of laughter pealed out of Sora's throat as I tickled his sides relentlessly, his legs thrashing back and forth as he tried to kick me off.

I joined in the laughing as I kept attacking Sora's sides, listening to Soras gasps of breathe and loud bubbly laughter.

"I....give, I give!" Sora managed to choke out between laughs.

Smiling, I was about to give Sora a break and make him admit that I won when I saw a shadow move quickly across the sand just above our heads.

I stopped the tickling immediately and got off of Sora, whipping my head towards where I thought I saw the shadow.

I know it was there.

Sora was now lying on his back gasping for air, taking in greedy gulps as he smiled.

"Okay....you won." Sora breathed as he slowly sat up, his smile disappeared when he saw my expression though and he immediately knew something was off.

"Riku?" he asked, scooting towards me, confused concern sketched onto his face.

I didn't hear his words though. My whole body felt like ice. I stared wide-eyed past him, past the waterfall.

Right there, by the entrance to the Secret Place was Ansem. My arms and legs felt like lead and all the color drained from my face. He was right there.

"Riku!"

I darted my gaze back to Sora who was now beginning to panic. He was leaning towards me, one of his hands grasping my knee tightly.

"Riku! Whats wrong?"

I could hear fear in Sora's voice.

My gaze went past him again as I looked back at the entrance to the secret place.

No way. Ansem was gone.

A look of confusion passed over my face as I slowly got up off the ground, small gritty pieces of sand falling off of my clothes.

"Riku?! Why aren't you answering me?" Sora's voice was now bordering hysterical.

I snapped out of my thoughts and actually looked at Sora. His face was full of fear, his blue eyes swirling with confusion as he knelt on the sandy ground.

I reached my hand towards Sora.

"Nevermind, come on."

Sora hesitantly grabbed my hand and let me help him up, brushing off the back of his pants once he was standing.

"Riku, what's going on?"

I didn't dare to meet Sora's eyes but instead fixed my gaze to where I saw Ansem last, which I knew that I did.

Should I answer him? Hell, even I don't know whats going on. Coming to a decision, I started walking off across the beach, towards the wooden steps that led up toward the waterfall and the Secret Place.

"I'm going to check out the Secret Place." I say as I continue on walking.

I hear hurried footsteps on the sand from behind me and know that Sora is following close behind. I'm glad he didn't question why.

When I reach the overgrown bush that's covering the entrance to the hidden cave, I feel my heart starting to beat faster. He has to be in there, where else could he have gone?

I feel a warm hand grab onto mine, making me jolt in sudden surprise. I turn my head and glance over my shoulder and see Sora standing close behind me. I feel my hands shaking against Soras warm ones. When did I start shaking? Why was I so freaking scared?!

I looked into Sora's clear blue eyes and he smiled gently, almost knowingly, moving his hand to grasp my shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Gently pushing me away from the entrance Sora whispered "I'll go first."

I let him step in front of me and push himself through the entrance, leaving me alone staring back at the bush.

Without anymore hesitation, I pushed myself through the entrance and passed the overgrown bush, feeling my way through the small, pitch black tunnel, that was way smaller than I remembered it.

As I kept going on through the tunnel it kept getting narrower, forcing me to get down onto my hands and knees, crawling across the earthen floor.

I heard scuffling and rocks shifting ahead of me, telling me that Sora was also crawling blindly in front of me.

When I started thinking the tunnel would never-end, I saw a faint light coming into view quickly. And I noticed that the tunnel was gradually getting bigger again. Thank god.

When I finally reached the end of the long tunnel, I climbed up off of my knees and brushed them off. Fear creeping itself back into my body as I noticed that it was unusually cold. Ice cold.

Straightening up, I took a large gulp of air as I waited for the worst. But nothing happened. I looked around carefully, my eyes slowly scanning the whole cave.

Nothing.

Nothing?!

I let the air that I've been holding in escape and I glanced about the cave again.

No one was here. No Ansem. Just Sora and him.

Speaking of Sora, he was now walking around the cave slowly, looking at each drawing that was sketched onto the cold rock walls.

I furrowed my eyebrows. I could've sworn that....I rethought this. Did I really see Ansem? Did I?

God I felt like such an idiot! Here I was getting all freaked out and scared by something that wasn't there.

I sighed loudly and resisted smacking my hand against my face.

Sora heard me and turned from one of the many doodles on the wall, he cocked his head to the side and stared at me thoughtfully.

"You were scaring me." he commented softly.

I sigh again and try to give him a reassuring smile, trying to convince him that I'm alright now.

"Yea, sorry." I walk towards him.

"There's something wrong."

I stop walking and look deeply into his eyes. His eyes were filled with tons of mixed emotions, most of them too hard to decipher.

I could pick out a couple though, but I didn't like what they were.

Fear and confusion.

As I stood and looked into his eyes everything was quiet in the cave. So quiet, I could even hear the rushing sound of the waterfall all the way from outside, it's echoes bouncing around the cave.

Thats when I heard it. A small sound, barely audible above the echoes of the waterfall. A tiny splintering sound, like a piece of wood was cracking.

I slowly turned my head towards the tiny sound, Sora following my gaze.

The door.

Tons of memories rushed through my head, all of them filled with dark thoughts and deeds that I've tried to forget forever.

But here they were, resurfacing and making themselves replay in my mind like a torturous movie that I didn't pay to see.

I stared at the tall, dark brown wood of the door. The door that caused their lives to be forever changed, the door that caused all the chaos.

As I looked closer now at the door, examining it's detail, I realized something.

Horror filled my being and undoubtedly showed on my face.

Cracks. Tons of small splintering cracks marred the glossy surface of the knob-less door. All of them slowly getting bigger, and new ones forming.

I noticed one especially large crack running through the middle of the door, splintered wood surrounding it.

I walked slowly towards the door, not noticing the flickering shadows that were now dancing around the cave or how it seemed like the temperature dropped another ten degrees.

Instead I focused solely on the door.

I didn't see Sora behind me, starting to back up slowly. And I didn't see the shadows becoming bigger.

When I reached the door I brought out my hand and brushed it along the wood, avoiding the many splinters that were now covering almost every inch of its wooden surface.

My hand stopped at the large crack and I stared at it, ignoring the loud beating of my own heart.

Bending over slightly, I pressed my face towards the large crack, and tried peering through.

I couldn't see anything on the other side, just endless darkness.

"Riku....."

The uncertain voice startled me and I turned away from the door.

Sora was standing at the opposite end of the cave, looking around frantically as the large shadows seemed to pop out of the walls. I noticed that he had his keyblade in his hand.

crrraaack

I froze as I heard the loud sound resonate throughout the cave.

Turning back I saw the door, it's small cracks now growing to the size of the one large one.

The door was breaking.

I started backing up slowly to where Sora was standing, watching with panic stricken eyes as the door continued to crack continuously, splinters of wood flying off the door.

Through all the haze of panic and confusion in my mind I managed one coherent thought.

RUN.

"Sora we got to get out of here!" I yelled over the now ear splitting sounds of splintering wood.

The cave was getting darker, the shadows slowly engulfing everything in sight, even us.

I rushed over to where Sora was frozen, grabbing his clammy hand and trying to pull him towards the entrance.

We didn't even make it towards the entrance though.

A loud BOOM crashed through the entire cave, sending a small shockwave across the ground, throwing Sora and I against one of the caves cold walls, its shadows clinging on to us.

I pulled Sora closer to me and wrapped him in my arms, closing my eyes tightly. The only thing I could do.

I didn't stop holding onto Sora and I never once opened my eyes for what seemed like forever. The sounds of the splintering wood had ceased a long time ago, and now there was nothing but silence.

I decided to chance it and slowly opened my eyes.

A gasped aloud, not believing what I was seeing.

I looked all around me frantically, arms flailing out in front of me. Well at least I thought they were..I couldn't even see them.

I was in nothing but pitch black. Everywhere I looked, all I saw was darkness.

And Sora was gone.

*gasps* Oh noes! SORAAA! Sorry about the cliffhanger guys! :( I'll try and update as soon as i can!! (Don't worry, it's not going to be as long as it took me to update last time.) ---HOPE YOU LIKED IT! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!---