Over the years Ansem had taken many risk, many of which he would latter dub unnecessary, but this… this was different. This was the only way he could think of to get what was needed. The precious life blood of the worlds. Knowledge.

"Where exactly are we going again?" Sora asked for the third time today. It wasn't that the boy kept forgetting, the problem was simply that he didn't believe it. Going directly to the former home of not one, but three members of organization XIII was not just dangerous, it was suicide.

The old man was following a hunch, something told him that he could trust Ienzo, but that something wasn't his head, it was his heart. Ansem didn't have very much experience in that area. Almost every move he has ever made has been meticulously calculated, with every risk and gain weighed. It frightened him that he was suddenly acting on impulse.

It was these frightening impulses that had sent the scientist and his companions on a five hour Gummi ride and another two hour hike through a rocky coastline and forest.

"We are going to the home of my youngest apprentice." He said, trying not to loose his patients' with the boy. He kept asking questions and he wouldn't shut up.

"Who's part of Origination XIII?"

"Yes."

The questions were getting to be a little more than annoying. Riku, Mickey, and Kairi had long ago stopped asking questions, for the man would rarely reply with more then a few words. Sora on the other hand, had an inability to simply shut up.

"And he has two brothers who are part of it too?"

"Yes.

Ansem was done being polite. He was sure to make it plenty evident that the boy was becoming more then annoying. Sora got the hint and their was several long, blissful moments of silence.

"So why did we have to park so far away?"

Lea had never liked the beach. It was just part of his nature as a pyrokinetic. His brother on the other hand loved it. The sea, the sun, and the wetness.

Oh god, the wetness. Not only did it go against Lea's very nature to be here, the salt water was murder on his hair. His pride, his joy, his sexy hair. It just totally flattened his spikes.

But that was okay, it was his brother's turn to choose how they would spend the afternoon and he choose the beach. Lea would get him back.

"Lea, don't get all worked up. Myde is enjoying himself. If you don't want to swim then you should at least work on your tan. You're looking a bit pale." Ienzo said with out even looking away from his book.

Lea shrugged. The kid had a point. If he must stay out here he might as well make the best of it. Taking his brothers advice, Lea striped down to his boxers and laid out on his stomach.

Ienzo shook his head. His brothers were too easy to shut up. All he wanted to do was sit on the beach and read, but with Lea's constant complaining it was impossible. So he offered a simple solution. Now, finally he could finish his book in peace.

"Hey Ienzo, want a drink?" An over chipper voice interrupted his thoughts again.

"No Myde I don't. Now can you please leave me the fuck alone!" The usually mild mannered boy shouted.

His brother's cursing caught Myde off guard for a moment, but only a moment. He was used to hearing that kind of langue from Lea all the time.

"Now that's just plain rude." He said, tossing the blue haired boy a can of root beer anyways. Despite his initial refusal, Ienzo caught the can in midair. He was half way through when he caught a whiff of something coming from near the boys' house. It was the sent of a group of people, most of whom he was familiar with in some way, shape, or form.

"Stay here I'll be back." Ienzo said, not really waiting for an answer. The dark haired boy then simply got up and walked away.

"Damn it. Why did he have to leave me alone with the idiot? Oh well, it's not my fault if he gets burned." Lea muttered into the sand, while a little smile tugged at his lips.

Soon Sora himself had begun to get board with his questions and finally shut up. This time supposedly for good. It was about time. It wasn't just Ansem's nerves he was testing. Everyone from the King to Kairi was about ready to hurt the fool.

Suddenly they heard a scream near by. In seconds a streak of pink followed. Someone was running as if hell its self was on their heals. Honestly, it wasn't that far from the truth.

Whoever it was quickly spotted the companions and decided that they would make a perfect hiding place.

"Hide me." He squeaked. Although he couldn't see who was hiding, Sora at least, recognized the voice. Demyx.

Sora didn't even have time to blink before he discovered exactly why he was running. Within seconds they heard another deafening scream, this time in rage rather then fear.

Taking the same route Demyx had, a tall, lean figure came running towards the boy. It was Axel clad only in a pair of soaked black and red boxers. The fact that he was completely covered in water made it clear, to Sora at least, that he had been swimming.

"Come on Myde, you're the one who wanted a fight. Why are you being such a coward?" He asked. It was clear by his murderous tone that Demyx, or Myde, hadn't really asked for a friendly spar.

"Oh come on Lea, quit being such a party pooper. It was just a little water." Myde whimpered, sticking his head out over Ansem's shoulder.

The comment just seemed to make Axel madder.

"Just a little water? It was a freaking thirty foot wave, and you know how much I hate getting wet." He huffed. Water was slowly dripping from his hair and landed on his chest while it rose and fell. Although Myde knew that it would probably get him into some real trouble if he agitated the red head any further, he couldn't resist the opportunity for some witty banter.

"Yea, you hate it so much you won't even take a bath." Myde muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear, causing Sora, Riku, and Kairi to giggle.

"You little…" He suddenly stopped and noticed his guest for the first time. Lea leaned against a tree with his arms crossed.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat coughed up. What are you doing here Ansem?" The red head asked.

Ansem sighed. Now it was time to see exactly what side these boys were on. Honestly Ansem had hoped that they wouldn't be home. Then he could search the boy's house for information and not have to run the risk of encountering any of Organization XIII. But apparently they weren't that lucky.

"I am looking for your brother." Ansem said, careful to keep his emotions under wraps. Sora, Riku and the outers kept quite for they knew that it was best to let him handle this.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're not talking about the idiot hiding behind you." He said with a hint of a smile.

"Ienzo went ahead to the house. If you want to you can come with us. It's about time for us to go in anyway." He offered.

"It could be a trap." Riku whispered in his ear. The blond boy had a bad feeling about this. If the boys were on their side it would be too easy. They could be walking into a trap.

"It could be." The old man muttered back, but he knew that it wasn't.

Lea led the way through the final few hundred yards of trees. All the while Kairi was having trouble keeping her eyes to herself. It wasn't everyday that she was following a dripping wet half naked man, with a great body.

'Get a grip girl, you like Sora.' She thought.

'Yea and? Just because your taken doesn't mean you're dead or blind. So what he's cute? It's not like you're going to dump Sora for some other hottie, no pun intended.'

Kairi was going continue this conversation with herself when they came across a cottage on the rocks. It was good sized and looked neat and well loved. It came across as a very homely place, which was odd. If like Ansem said, three teenage boys lived there wouldn't it be…well, a pig sty?

Apparently Axel could see what she was thinking, because he leaned a little closer to her and offered a simple explanation.

"Ienzo's a bit of a neat freak." He said with a smirk.

"A Bit?" His brother asked.

"Just a little bit." Axel replied, causing both boys to bust out laughing at some private joke.

Kairi found it a little unnerving to be around them. Now they didn't seam so bad, but she couldn't shake what she had seen from before and the stories she had heard.

"Ienzo!" Axel called as he opened the large oak door.

"Kitchen!" A deep, intelligent voice called back.

Following the bother, Sora and company were led through the big house and into a medium sized kitchen that was, if at all possible, cleaner and more neat then the rest of the house.

Standing in front of the stove was a boy no older then Riku. He was wearing black pants and a white button down shirt that accented his well built frame.

'Damn,' Kairi thought, 'another cutie.'

"Are you staying for dinner?" Ienzo asked without even looking over his shoulder.

"Of course we're staying." His blond brother supplied, causing the purple haired kid to just shake his head.

"I wasn't talking to you." Ienzo replied, and although Myde had known that in the first place he insisted on continuing the banter.

"I'm sure if you ask Lea he'll say the same thing."

"Just go get dressed. Lea, you too. Just because you can't tell the difference between a pair of underwear and swim trunks doesn't mean that no one else can." The gray haired boy said, causing his brother to look down, shrug and walk out the door.

"So Ansem, are you staying for dinner?" He asked, still not taking his eyes off the stove.

"How do we know that this isn't a trap?" Riku demanded before Ansem even had an opportunity to reply.

Ienzo turned his head to the left to get a good look at Riku, who was glaring at him. It was obvious that the blond boy didn't trust him. Good. That trait would serve him well in life.

The former number six raised his eyebrow at the question.

"You don't." He said simply, not bothering to add that there was no way to prove it anyway.

"But it's not." Ansem commented, causing Ienzo to whip his entire body around in surprise. This man had no reason to trust him. No reason to want to see the good in him, and yet here he was, taking an unbelievable chance on Ienzo's humanity.

"You're right, it's not." He replied, his mouth forming one of his few true smiles.

"Sora." A voice from the door way called, causing the boy to turn. It was Lea, who just signaled for the boy to follow him.

Sora met him just outside the door way.

"Listen, this is going to be awkward enough as is. They have a lot to say to each other and no one wants to be the one to say it. The last thing they need is an audience.

"Myde has an ass load of video games and movies in the den. Why don't you see if your friends want to play." Lea said, while rubbing a towel through his sopping hair.

"Riku's right, this could be a trap. Why should I trust you?" He asked. Being too trusting had gotten him in trouble before, he wasn't going to just walk into a trap.

Lea got a hardened look in his eyes. It wasn't so much that he was mad, it was more that he didn't want to answer that question, but he would.

"As a nobody I was the last of my brothers to die. Each time one of them was destroyed, I felt nothing, and that scared me. Can you imagine Riku or Kairi dieing and not feeling sad? I don't want to be like that. Not again, not ever again.

"He may not show it, but Ienzo does feel guilty. He's not the kind of person who wears his heart on his sleeve, so if he's going to work through this, it isn't going to be with an audience."

Lea had put so much emotion into his voice that their was no doubt in Sora's mind that he meant every word.

It was several moment before either Ansem or Ienzo said anything. It was only after Sora left that Ienzo found the ability to speak.

"I had no intention of apologizing," Ienzo said, "but intentions do change."

Ansem sighed. It was time to ask the question that had consumed him ever since Kairi had put it into his head.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, his voice soft as if he were almost afraid of the answer.

"He told me that if I didn't he would be forced to use Lea and Myde in the experiments instead. I knew he would do it, and I couldn't fight him. I figured that it was them or me. I chose them but he didn't keep his side of the bargain, and by them I didn't care." Ienzo explained, gripping the side of the counter.

"You could have told me. I would have helped you." The man said, his voice cracking partway from shock and partway from guilt. All this had been going on right under his nose and he had not seen it. He had done nothing but blame the one person who had been like a second son to him for all those years.

"I did tell you! Who do you think it was that left those files on your desk? You had always taught us to be so careful, to put everything back exactly where it was found. Did you honestly believe that they were left out by mistake? And what would you have been able to do anyways? Xehanort had this meticulously planned. You wouldn't have been able to stop him if you tried. " Ienzo asked, as if this was truly that impossible.

"I…I could-" The old man stammered.

Ienzo sighed and bowed his head. He shook it from side to side for a moment before raising it again. The look he gave Ansem filled the scientist with dread. It was clear that the boy had something to say, but it was equally clear that he detested having to be the one to say it.

"Don't tell me you haven't guessed? You're smarter then this." He sighed.

"If you take out the "X" in Xehanort and rearrange the remaining letters, what do you get?" Ienzo continued.

"Thanroe." Ansem breathed. It would make perfect science.

Ansem was about to ask for more information but they were interrupted.

"Ienzo, when's dinner?" Myde asked from the door way.

"In about a minute," He answered, "and why are you wearing my shirt?"

You wouldn't believe the hustle I had to go through to get this out today.

Two things have been brought to my attention in reviews. I'll briefly explain things here but it be explained in detail latter in the story. (sorry no spoilers)

The light in KHII didn't kill Ansem. There are pathways through the light, just like the dark. He was just sent through one of them back to Radiant Garden.

I know Kairi lived with her grandmother in Radiant Garden, but that doesn't mean that that was the only member of her family she lived with.

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