i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Kairi didn't leave until very, very late at night, keeping up her incessant chatter about who was going out with who and other seemingly trite and pointless topics. Not once did she ask how they'd been or what they'd been up to, or why Riku was acting the way he was (basically, emo), and Sora was glad that she didn't. If she had, he probably would have blurted out the truth for lack of something better to say.

But she finally left at about one in the morning, by which time Riku was curled up on the couch like a cat, fast asleep, and Sora was getting more entertainment out of counting how many times his vision blurred in a minute than actually listening Kairi's talk. (A.N. No, I don't like Kairi. She gets in the way of my yaoi. How dare she.)

Sora cast a blanket over Riku's sleeping form, smiling to himself. Interesting. He slept like a cat, and turned into a dog during the full moon.

'Wolf, wolf," he chided himself. 'Not dog, wolf."

Hopefully, some of the silverhair's pain would ebb as he slept. Sora was so worried about him, especially with Roxas gone. Well, not gone, per se…but as close to it as he could get.

But how was Sora to know that, over the next few days, it would become painfully evident that sleep was ineffective, and the pain was unbearable? He couldn't know about it. Al least, not yet. Not for a few days. But for now, he was content to get in a chair and watch over his slumbering best friend.

i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Roxas sat up in bed, the alarm clock shrill in his ears, even from the next room. Stretching, he yawned hugely and stumbled grudgingly out of the warm bed, trying to find his way without actually having to open his eyes.

He tripped into Sora's room, irritably slapping the alarm clock until its persevering shriek was finally cut off. Roxas looked blearily around the room, noticing that Sora wasn't there. He must not have come back from Riku's, which is where he had said that he was going.

"Hn," he grunted, shuffling back to his and Axel's borrowed room. The pyro hadn't even stirred, sleeping right through the alarm.

"Bastard," Roxas grumbled, collapsing back onto his own bed, falling back asleep. Well, he tried to, at least. He kind of hovered in between sleeping and waking…until a pillow was shoved over his head, and he was jerked fully awake. His arms and legs thrashed around against the smothering pressure. His panic increased as he started getting lightheaded, and he lashed out in a last-ditch attempt, and connected with something alive. He heard a grunt, and the pressure was released.

Roxas gasped for air, trying to blink the stars from his eyes. He scrambled up shaking his head to clear his ringing ears, his wide blue eyes casting around for whoever it was. When he caught sight of his attacker, his gaze widened even further.

"R…Riku?"

The silverhair glared back belligerently. "What, Roxas?" he spat.

The blonde couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Y-you…you…"

"Yes," Riku snarled, pissed. "Yes, I tried to kill you."

"B-but—"

"If I can't have you," Riku snapped, "no one can."

Roxas' eyes flickered to Axel, still out. But now there was something odd about his posture, the way that he was lying. Looking closer, the Nobody could see a circle of crimson beneath the red-haired man's head, and Roxas turned to the older boy furiously.

"What the hell?" he snapped. "What did you do to him?"

Riku smirked. "Don't worry. I didn't kill him."

Roxas opened his mouth to say something else, but something was bothering him, tugging at the back of his mind incessantly. Something wasn't quite right. And Roxas had an idea of just what it was.

"YOU BASTARD!" he yelled, launching himself at Riku, enraged. Riku leaned to the side, evading the blonde's swing at his face, but he wasn't quite fast enough as the Nobody spun. The silverhair staggered back as Roxas' foot hit him right in the stomach. He recovered quickly, and that was all that Roxas needed. He stood back, smiling triumphantly.

"You…you're not Riku," he said, and then with sarcasm and a sneer, "Nice try, though."

This time, it was the silverhair's turn to be at a loss for words. "Wh…" he started.

Roxas interrupted, giving his nose a flick. "You don't smell like him." He winked. "One of the perks of being a werewolf. But you don't smell like him." He scrunched up his nose. "You reek of darkness."

Riku glared. "Your rejection was enough to push me over the edge."

Roxas just smiled condescendingly. "And that excuse would have actually worked on me, except for the fact that the real Riku would have been seriously hurt by that kick to the stomach—considering that Sephiroth ran him through, that's not too surprising."

Riku tsked, disappearing in a swirl of darkness that engulfed his body, and Roxas felt his own sag with relief. So maybe it wasn't Riku, but whoever it had been probably could have done some serious damage.

'He must have been after something different,' he mused, going over to Axel to see if he was all right. 'But what?'

i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Riku snuffled quietly as the light hit his eyes, turning over grumpily away from the morning brightness that was so rudely shining in his eyes. He thought he heard a giggle, until a pair of hands pushed him off the couch. He tumbled through the air for a second before landing on his stomach hard, with a loud yelp of pain.

Sora heard the thump, waking up almost instantly and looking around blearily. He snapped into full consciousness when he saw Riku on his stomach on the floor and Kairi hopping onto his spot on the couch, stretching herself out full-length.

Sora swore silently, leaping to his feet and going to Riku, whose arms had curled under his stomach under his body. The brunette looked up, starting to lose his temper.

"What the hell was that for, Kairi?" he demanded of the redhead.

In response, she just giggled, making his fuse burn down a few more inches. "What?" she asked, airy, aloof, and innocent, waving a hand carelessly. "I've done it before."

"Can't you let him sleep for once?" Sora snapped, and she blinked in surprise, not expecting such a reaction from him. The blue-eyed teen started to say something else, but Riku poked him with an elbow, warning him not to say anything that would later demand an explanation. The silverhair got his knees under himself, pushing himself up, but keeping his front turned away from the redhead. It was obvious why he did this, Sora knew, as Riku was facing him instead. Blood trailed in a thin trickle down his chin and was slowly staining the front of his shirt, turning the blue a reddish-purple, and his cerulean eyes were half-closed and clouded over from the pain.

Sora winced, but knew that he couldn't really say anything else without getting Kairi suspicious. Still, he pulled the blanket around Riku's shoulders, partly against the early-morning chills, but mostly to hide the growing stain. "Geez, give him a break, Kairi," he grumbled. "He's sick, which is why I was here all night. Lay off, will ya?"

Kairi sat up. "Oh, geez," she said, worried. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

Sora sighed, shaking his head dramatically, but caught a glimmer of amusement in Riku's pain-filled eyes. Sora helped the silverhair to his feet, and Riku leaned over, supposedly to whisper something important in the brunette's ear. Instead, he just whispered, "She thinks she's sorry now, just wait till I get my hands on her later."

Sora groaned. "He has to go," he said vaguely, and Riku shuffled off, smiling to himself, leaving Sora and Kairi behind.

i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Well, that was a rousing success, now wasn't it."

"Shut it, asshole."

Smirk. "Aww, I fink someone's gwumpy."

"I said, shut up!"

Sigh. "Both of you shut up. Now, mind telling me what went wrong?"

Nod. "There was nothing wrong with the plan, but I made a few errors in the actual—"

"So you screwed up, Darkie." Interruption. "And all because of the way you smelled."

Through gritted teeth. "Better than smelling like a cheap hooker, with all that flowery crap. And anyways, you were the one that so conveniently failed to mention the hole in his stomach, Number XI."

"Don't you even try to blame this on me—"

"I will blame you, at least partly! He said himself that 'I could have gotten away with that excuse,' except for the hole in Riku's stomach."

Nod. "He's right, XI. That was quick thinking on his part, and you were the one who was supposed to have retrieved the brat's memories."

Sputter. "I thought he already knew!"

"Did you already know?"

Silence.

"Exactly."

Grumble. "Well, what are we going to do now?"

Silence again.

Mocking. "Exactly."

Growl. "Marluxia…"

Indignant. "What? It's not like we have any other choice."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sigh. "We just have to kill them all, one by one."

Snort. "Yeah, getting them alone will be real easy."

"Shut up!"

Pondering. "Yeah, I seriously doubt that that's even possible."

"Well, we're going to have to come up with something."

"And soon."

Nod. "Yeah. Real soon."

i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

A.N. All righty then. This is the last chapter that Kim will write up for me. Maybe. At least for now, because I'm getting back on track, what with school and everything else that's going on right now. But I have to find a way to sync the new version of Microsoft Word, because it doesn't let me update with it. Oh, well, I'll figure it out eventually.

Anyways, so I wrote this chapter a long, long, time ago. So yeah, I don't really know what to make of it, but there ya go. Give me your opinion, because I need your insight on this. I'm very very lost, and I have no idea where this is going right now, so I need reviews and ideas and DON'T WORRY, Roxas and Riku will probably end up together. I really don't want to have to change that pairing, but I don't have very much control over that right now. Some characters just do what they want. Or who they want. Either way, things might change.

Post. Review. Whatever. But I need help, and I need it now.