A/N: There's a glitch I'm guessing with the PMs and the alert e-mails…
Thanks you guys for the reviews!
I'm surprised I got this chapter up since my eyes have been killing me. I'll have the other chapter done by this weekend.
N.Neo thank you very much for your review, I like your story a lot though, I think it's way better than mines, I'm loving the plot on it all.
Princess Kaira of Mirana thank you very much. That glitch has been happening to me too so don't feel bad.
Matt-san thanks for the review! Hey I like Gabriel, he's not that much of a moron, well if he makes you laugh then… Oh yeah, you check your e-mail sometime too I sent you something yesterday.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Issue
"You want me to teach him?" Riku asked again for the fifth time, his brain still wasn't getting the picture. Yomigami rolled his eyes and answered again, in a rather annoyed tone this time. "I thought you and Amaterasu were going to teach us?"
"…I can't…" Yomigami said growling for a moment. "Don't play cute with me kid, you know why she can't…"
"Listen… Once Maleficent is gone, I'll teach him, how about that?" Riku said eying a sleeping figure from the corner of his eye. It was the girl, she was sound asleep on his couch, just sleeping the whole afternoon away. Yomigami noticed his sibling and looked back at Riku with a rather cold stare. "Kairi and Sora are with her… Relax…" Riku said looking back at Yomigami for a moment. "Fine, look, but if Amaterasu does get better by that time, I want her to teach us."
"Fair enough…" Yomigami said sighing. He looked back at the sky for a moment, wishing it would rain, he needed something to go with his mood, but sadly only clouds would loom over the area. "You pull anything funny while she's asleep, and I'll kill you." He said looking back at the silver haired teen.
"You have my word, I won't hurt her." Riku said bowing slightly. He looked back at Amaterasu who was still asleep while Kairi and Sora were watching T.V. in the same area. As he turned around he noticed he was alone again, Yomigami had left him talking to himself.
Riku closed the door and sighed again, slumping against the door looking up at the ceiling. 'I can't teach him…' he hung his head at the thought, and stared at the ground for a moment, watching a pair of black socks by his feet. It was Sora, extending his hand to his friend.
"We're getting ready to leave." Sora said looking back for a moment. "Ammi's still asleep, so don't wake her up."
Riku took his friend's hand and hoisted himself up. Kairi gave him a big smile and bowed as she and Sora were leaving. He saw the door close, and when the coast was clear he locked it and slumped back into the position he was in earlier. 'Amaterasu has more experience than I do, and would be a WAY better teacher than I could possibly ever be, that's for sure.'
The sleeping Amaterasu opened her eyes groggily, feeling a pain in her chest for the seventh time this day. 'Sleeping it off isn't working either,' she thought to herself closing her eyes again. 'But that's the last thing I can think of. This is more annoying than the paopu effect,' frowning for a moment at the thought. 'Which reminds me I only have four of those seeds left, I need to start planting them again… Ugh…' Her insides twitched again as darkness was forcing itself little by little into her heart.
It was impossible to block out the darkness, because her heart was for right now a running faucet of dark energy with no key, and shutting that off by force would most likely cause a mental instability, since the deceased Professor Hojo never did finish the last phase of the project, he was killed days before the final examination.
Amaterasu turned over to her side again staring at the cushions of the couch. She thought back to that day she found herself asleep in Riku's arms. 'Ugh, my face is getting all red,' she scrunched up her nose and thought of something else. 'We've been here for too long, we've got to start moving out again. We need to see the other worlds, sitting here isn't doing a damn thing. Heck I don't care of Gabriel comes with us along our journey, but we've got to get the rest of those spheres for right now.'
She heard shuffling in the distance and thought it was Riku moving about. She moved around slightly, to get a view of what it was he was doing. Riku flopped onto a kitchen chair and placed his head on the table, with his arms as cushions. At that point she decided it was best to sit up.
"Are you okay?" she asked softly, watching Riku turn his gaze toward hers. Amaterasu waited quietly for an answer, but she didn't get one right away. She sighed again watching him go back into his thoughts. "Riku…"
"I'm fine…" he said closing his eyes for a moment. He felt strange looking at her with these amber eyes. What Gabriel and his own Heartless said had got him thinking again, causing his heart to spilt again. "I'm just thinking."
Amaterasu leaned against the side of the couch watching the wrist band that hung loosely on his wrist. It reminded her of the gift she had bought for him. 'The ring…' she looked down at her own hand, noticing she decided to wear the ring today. 'I'll give him his ring later,' she thought looking up at a silver strand that seemed out of place.
Riku pushed back his hair for a moment, and placed a familiar ear piece on one ear. Amaterasu smiled for a moment, but then thought back to her own promise. 'I promised I'd keep his mom safe, crap… I wonder how Mrs. Fonovi is doing anyway? I hope she's all right. No… I know she's all right, that's much better…'
"No offence, but why were you sleeping for so long?" Riku said turning his gaze back to Amaterasu.
"I'm sleeping off this bug…" she said lying for a moment. There was a stabbing pain in her chest, and she forced a smile on her face.
At the same time, Riku was using the music as a way to escape the literal heartache he was facing as well. He still hadn't found his light, even though he believed his light was standing right in front of him, but some reason Gabriel's words from the other day seemed to make sense to him. That was the scary part for him. 'If I can't find my light, I can't save her or myself, but if she can't find her light she… No, even in the deepest darkness there's light…' he boosted up his moral just a bit and looked up as Amaterasu made her way into the kitchen.
Amaterasu was able to hear the song playing on her mp3 player and she hummed along side it moving her feet in rhythm. There was a small blush on Riku's face when he caught a glance of her dancing. It was driving him crazy, between Amaterasu and the darkness in his heart.
"You know…" she moved her hips a bit to the song, "we really should check on the other worlds. Knowing the person in charge, they'll start wreaking havoc all over our precious work." She stopped moving when Riku started to laugh a bit. She tilted her head a bit looking at him with a confused gaze.
"If I remember correctly, it's been Sora's hard work. Thanks to your affairs in the other worlds…" Riku said rubbing the back of his head, he didn't really want to put her down. "You were causing more problems." He said thinking back to the issue at Isla Cruces. "How the hell did that big Heartless get there anyway?"
Amaterasu sat down on the opposite side of the table and placed her head down for a moment, feeling her face scrunch up in pain from her heart. She cleared her throat and raised her head up a bit.
"Well I lured a couple of Heartless into the area, because this one guy, I forgot his name, he was a greedy guy, and you know how Heartless work. Anyway they started to go after the heart of that world, and thanks to their little entry point I found the darkness that was within the Keyhole of that place, but someone found me out, and the Heartless I brought turned against me…" she looked back down again feeling her chest about to explode, but nothing happened, it just ached more. Amaterasu looked back up at Riku for a moment and smiled again. "And then a week or so you guys came. I was hunting that big Heartless down for a couple of days."
Amaterasu decided to get up again and move about, taking the head phones away from Riku spinning around in small fashion. Amaterasu was teasing him this time with the headphones, sort of like when you tease a kitten with a string. At least for now they weren't so focused on their pain, but rather on the headphones, and each others movements.
"Let's get down, we've been waiting a long time…" Amaterasu couldn't help but sing that out. Riku had almost gotten the headphones from her hands. "Too slow, Riku…" she said sticking her tongue out like a little kid.
The two of them ended up going around the table, still bent on owning the headphones, and so far Amaterasu was winning by about a couple of seconds. Riku moved forward, but Amaterasu was ahead of him already, and she shook her head laughing. It seemed for that moment she was going to win, if Riku hadn't held her tight.
She growled squirming around in his arms. There was a look of displeasure scrunching up her face a bit. Riku stuck out his tongue in child like manner, and smiled at her for a moment. Riku reached around to grab the object, but his mouth gapped as he saw where Amaterasu placed it.
"Uh…"
"I win!" she said sounding rather pleased. "You're still too slow!" she said taking Riku's arms away from her. "Now… Unless if you're going to reach there…"
"Did you at least turn if off?"
"Of course I did, I don't want to waste the battery on it…" she said securing her pants back pocket. "So then, you're not going to even try?"
"What? You want me too?" Riku said arching an eyebrow.
"Of course not…" she said shaking her head. Riku let out a big sigh still trying to think of something else to say. Amaterasu pulled the object back out and smiled tossing it into the air. "You wanna try again?" as she caught it she yawned covering her mouth. "Ugh… I'm getting tired already…" she said to herself looking back at her other hand, nerves caused one of her fingers to twitch, and she closed her hand quickly.
Riku eyed her carefully, not missing a second of what he saw, still he kept it to himself not thinking anything of it. He heard Amaterasu hum something from her playlist, which he remembered was called 'the Look of Love' for both the song and the playlist.
"You've heard this one haven't you?" she asked hearing Riku hum for a couple of seconds. "A look that time can't erase… tonight, tonight let this just be the start of many nights like this…" she couldn't help but laugh at the lyrics for a moment. Amaterasu sighed looking back at Riku's amber eyes for a moment and a big smile etched onto her facial expression.
"What's so funny?" he asked pulling up a chair from the table. She shook her head and smiled again. "Come on, spill it…" he said eyeing her suspiciously. Again she didn't say anything and laughed again leaning against the table from the kitchen. Riku found his eyes wandering around finding small curves on her body.
"Hey!" she said sharply. "I'm up here…" she said grabbing his face, placing her hands against his cheek. "Up here, not anywhere else…" Amaterasu said a bit ticked off. "Honestly guys are all alike." The girl was pleased the embarrassed look on his face. She let him go and flopped back onto the opposite seat of the table. Riku scratched his cheek for a moment and laughed weakly feeling a bit uneasy now.
Pride Lands
"Aw Sora, cut the crappy walk…"
"Can some one tell me why we brought him?" Sora asked annoyed.
Gabriel let out a small growl, and if he wanted to he would've pounced on the dark brown lion cub. Sora was in charge of Gabriel since he was the only one who could break off the chains from his ankles and wrist, which were now his paws. Gabriel's hair was in his eyes and he growled again blowing it out of his face.
"Because you're in charge of him…" Kairi said stretching her lion form for a moment. Her mahogany fur made her stick out like a sore thumb. Her blue eyes looked back at the others that were walking forward.
"It's going to be hard fighting like this…" Amaterasu and her remaining siblings said looking at each other for a moment. Amaterasu's crimson and amber eyes looked back at Riku for a moment watching his slightly silver mane for a moment, it reminded her of bird feathers for some reason.
"Hey…" Yomigami said walking in front of her. "We've got a job to do you know." Amaterasu stumbled backwards falling down on her backside. "Don't get distracted." Gekigami's form looked almost similar to Sora's, but Gekigami didn't have a necklace with him, and his eyes weren't blue. "Let's get going…" Yomigami said watching Amaterasu and Gekigami for a moment.
Amaterasu walked alongside Gabriel, hearing her necklace clink against her chest with each step she took. Her fur color was of a light brown tinge, with amber eyes for now in this world. Gabriel looked back at her for a moment and smiled at his ex-comrade.
"You seem to be in a better mood." Gabriel said looking at Amaterasu for a slight second. "Could it have something to do with that Riku kid?" Amaterasu let out a low defensive growl. "Hey, come on, let me just joke around for a while. I know you like him, hell it's pretty obvious… He's just like him, you know, he fits the bill…" at that point he stopped noticing the look in Amaterasu's eyes. "Fine, I'll let it go, Jesus…" he said hit tail drooped in defeat. "Hey, Sora! Can you loosen the chains on these things!?"
"No…" Sora said looking back at Gabriel. "Just keep walking come on you guys. We've got to check up on this place."
"Knowing our luck it's going to be all messed up again…" Gabriel said looking back at Amaterasu. "Right, partner?"
"Keep walking…" she said not looking at him.
Deeper inside the Pride Lands
"Remind me to kill you later Gabriel…" Yomigami said protecting the chained lion.
Heartless were crawling about after a weird looking lion had showed up.
"I don't think so, I like my life thank you very much…" Gabriel said summoning another Magnet spell on the surrounding Heartless.
Gekigami sent out a Blizzard spell around the Heartless that were in front of him. Kairi and Sora managed to hold off fine on their own. Riku backed up Amaterasu and Yomigami, since this wasn't their best effort when it came to fighting on all fours.
"It was…" Sora held on tight to the Keyblade in his mouth as he slashed through a pair of Heartless. "…Pete…" he finally managed to say once he got rid of the Heartless on his side.
Riku charged ahead, knowing some Heartless into the air, while Yomigami and Amaterasu placed Fire spells on the descending bodies of the Heartless. The weird looking lion, known as Pete now, didn't place that many Heartless, since he had already got what he came for, no doubt it was one of those memory spheres.
"I thought he was gone…" Kairi said casting Reflect on herself. She tossed a Heartless into the air and watched it hit the ground and disappear.
"I guess not…" Riku said. He dodged an attack from a flying Heartless, and used a technique called 'Rapid Blow' tossing himself at the enemy, knocking them out, and watching them fall to the ground.
"Well we should've came here earlier…" Gabriel said not really caring what the others said. "Now Pete's going to get all the credit for this little find…"
Gekigami and Yomigami looked back at Gabriel with a rather sour look and growled at him, but Gabriel didn't flinch at the sight.
The Heartless were starting to retreat, something, or someone in this case was calling them back, and at least for now they could rest at ease for a couple of minutes or so. Riku looked back at Gabriel and growled slightly in disgust, what he had told him still bothered him and he wasn't going to let that go, not by a long shot.
"What places haven't you guys taken…?" Sora said in a rather commanding tone, to Gabriel it was funny watching the Keyblade's 'Chosen One' get upset like that. "Tell me, Gabriel." He said again.
"Ok, ok…" Gabriel said clearing his throat. "First of all, you're still a cream puff in my eyes kid… Anyway, why should I tell you?" He noticed the sudden movement Riku made and smirked slightly. "You know that place with the Pumpkin King? There's that one…" he was going to add more, but stopped himself. "Well that's all I'll tell you for right now."
Amaterasu sighed heavily and looked back at Yomigami, there wasn't anything they could do about it, since it was Gabriel they were talking about after all. Gekigami looked back at Kairi for a moment and shook his head. It was better that they take that one bit of information, or else they'd have a harder time getting the rest of the stuff out of him. Sora more or less did seem satisfied with that one bit, but not Riku.
"Just let if go…" Amaterasu said softly looking back at him. "That's all you'll get out of him."
"But Ammi…" his tail drooped slightly in defeat and he looked back at Gabriel with a cold stare.
"Once we're done here…" Sora said looking back at the others. "We're going off to visit Jack Skellington."
Pete and Maleficent
Pete gasped for air as he finally made it up to the tower where Maleficent was waiting for him. He didn't like going in there, but he had to deliver some news to her, and the memory sphere from the Pride Lands. The good thing was that Sora and the others didn't have enough time to chase him down.
"I gotcha that memory sphere, Maleficent…" he said watching a shadowy figure by the window, it didn't move. "Oh… Yeah, I saw Gabriel with them too… I think he got captured by those guys…"
"He's doing his part just fine then," the witch said. Her voice sent chills down Pete's spine. "Go and put the sphere with the others. We still need the ones from Radiant Garden. If Gabriel does his part right, we'll have them in no time."
Pete didn't ask again for the plan Gabriel had to do, or else he'd get yelled at again like last time, when Xemnas was off creating havoc and everything. For right now he was glad he didn't die, or lose his heart, helping Sora fend off those attacks in the World that Never Was. Still, he hoped that Gabriel didn't turn on them, he was by far one of Maleficent's more efficient and capable 'puppets' as he could put it.
His simple manner was what caught everyone off guard, including Maleficent when she found him. Still for right now the only thing Pete could do was just get the memory spheres and wait for Gabriel to come back. Gabriel the 'moron' as Leana had once called him, and the remaining Chasers knew what to do with the memory spheres.
"I just hope he comes back soon…" Pete said leaving Maleficent alone in the room of hers. "I didn't get yelled at this time…" he sighed in relief.
A/N: You know what to do, one review please.