Chapter2: Meetings

As the portal of darkness closed no one moved. Riku finally knelt down and shook the persons shoulder gently, a moan slipped out from under the hood. "Are you ok?" Riku asked.

"No I'm bloody well not ok, thank you" the muffled reply sounded tired and feminine.

"Well can you stand?" Sora asked over Riku's shoulder

"I don't know" the figure said and struggled into a sitting position with Riku's help. The face remained hidden by the hood and every inch of skin was shrouded in cloth.

"Who are you?" Kairi called from behind the two boys, though she moved closer. The only reply was a hissed word 'Shad'.

"What? Aren't you anything else? Like… oh… I don't know… AN ORGANISEATION MEMBER?" Namine almost screeched from beside Roxas.

The figure turned its head and replied "no I've just been in the darkness for too long" but the reply sounded rehearsed to Siffer.

"Liar you're a no-good trouble maker, I know your kind" he called as he strode toward them.

Shad raised her hand and pointed at Siffer, a blue grey light seeped from her hand and Siffer's gang hurried to catch up to him. Suddenly the shining light shot away from Shad and enveloped Siffer and his gang freezing them. "Better" said Shad as she stood. "Well all I came here to do was find him…" Shad whispered to herself then turned back to the stunned group "well… see ya!" and then she was gone.

As she disappeared from sight Siffer and his gang unfroze.

Shad ran down a back alley away from the people who had witnessed her come out of the portal of darkness and questioned her "damn locator! I wanted to find 'him' not people!" her angry mutterings were cut of as a portal of darkness closed over her.

Shad searched all of Twilight town until she stumbled to a halt in a back alley "argg he's not here! He's nowhere!" she was getting really pissed.

"Who are you looking for?" Sora and Roxas were standing not 5 meters away.

She turned to them when "IN COMING!" a blast of red filled Shads eyes and she crumpled to the floor unconscious "Sorry!" the voice called again and Leon came running down the street.

"Leon!" Sora called "you've knocked her out cold!"

Leon slowed down and looked at the crumpled form of Shad "I said sorry"

At first Shad's vision was blurry, until she noticed that she was still face down. She rolled onto her back and stood up. As she regained her balance she looked around spotting the two boys who had asked her who she looked for and a silver haired boy yelling at a young man with ruffled hair and a gun like sword "Leon you shouldn't just throw a light blast without warning! You of all people should know that!"

The silver haired boy looked around and noticed that Shad was standing albeit unsteadily. He strode over stopping in front of me "are you alright?" his voice was calm and kind, it infuriated me.

"No I'm not thank you very much! Must I watch over my shoulder at all times?" I didn't notice that I was yelling.

The silver haired boy backed up but then darted forward to catch me as I collapsed. He gently set me down. I shoved him away "why are you helping me?" I had lowered my voice "you don't know me, you don't know the horrible things I've done"

He looked at me sadly "1 because you collapsed, what else am I meant to do? And 2 I need to redeem myself, you're not the only one who's done bad things" he looked at me and tried to see past the hood.

"Leon" a dark haired girl ran down the street, she had black short hair. "Yuffie!" the young man I guessed was Leon called back.

"Who's the hood?" the girl asked as she slowed to a walk looking at me.

"That's Shad" the silver haired boy replied still kneeling in front of me "we met her earlier". My eyes drifted closed as I rocked back.

"Hey guy's!" a girls voice called as I rocked forward onto my feet standing up. I opened my eyes and spotted three girls running toward us. 1 wore a white plain dress, 1 wore a pink dress with zips and the third wore a pink dress with a large ribbon in her hair.

"That's Kairi, Namine and …" the cinnamon hair boy stopped short as he realized I had already stated the last girls name

"Arith!"

No one moved as they all stared at me then shock past over Arith's face "Shadow!" she cried out in shock "your alive!.

Anger boiled up in me "of coarse I'm alive!" I hissed "and guess who I'm looking for?" I didn't give her the opportunity to answer but kept talking "can't guess? The only person who knows me anymore, Him!" as I talked I pushed my hood back.

The person standing in the hood seemed to know Arith. The person pushed there hood back revealing a shock of ice blue 4inch hair and dull black eyes. "Calm down Shadow!" Arith interrupted the girl "have you asked if anyone has seen him?"

"Fine!" the girl cried out sounding almost hysterical "has anyone seen a guy with fire red hair named Lea?" she spun around looking for a reaction. "but then again everyone knows him as Axle don't they?" she cried.

"Lea!" Roxas hissed making Shadow set her eyes on him.

Recognition filled her eyes "Roxas! Or is it still 13?" she said sitting in her hip totally comfortable now "you remember Lea, where is he?"

Roxas looked at Sora "he's dead. He's dead fif… I mean Shadow." His words were rushed and tumbled over each other as he looked anywhere but at her.

"DEAD! He is not dead!" her face was filled with rage "you of all people should remember that if we meet again!" she walked up to him her anger steadying her legs. She griped his chin and made him look into her eyes "got it memorized?" she tuned away and suddenly her hair changed! Seeping from the roots each strand turned green! In front of her Riku saw her eyes close and darted forward a seconded time as she stumbled and collapsed. As he helped her to the ground Shadow opened her eyes. Slowly as silence fell on the ally way she reached into her left sleeve and a beeping resonated in the silence. Her cloak shimmered and split into thousands of digital squares that hovered around her skin tight body suit. A few more beeps and suddenly she knelt in front of them in skin tight pants, a long sleeved turtle neck shirt and vest that continued to shimmer for a few more seconds till it settled with twin stripes down the front that were the same color as her hair.

"That was so… COOL!" Kairi didn't seem to notice that everyone was now looking at her.

Shadow stood up and walked out of the group then stopped about ten meters away and turned back to them "so before I leave, you all know my name but I don't know many of yours" she looked at everyone in turn but no one spoke.

The silence stretched on. Slowly the silver haired boy stepped forward "I'm Riku, that's Sora, Kairi, Leon, Namine, Yuffie, Roxas and you know Arith." He called out the names as each person nodded.

"Very well then" Shadow nodded once then turned to walk away.

"Skinny retard" Shadow froze then looked over her shoulder at Leon.

"What did you call me?" her voice had lowered threateningly "you wanna fight or something?" her hands were already drifting to the small of her back.

He laughed "you fight? You couldn't hurt a fly let alone throw a punch!" as he slid his gun handled sword out the words 'Gun blade' went through the group; he smiled and took a ready stance.

With ease I pulled from the small of my back two black steal 13inch Sai and slid into a ready stance "these are no ordinary Sai boy" I hissed and confusion crossed his face and I smiled sweetly at him "they are Sai-Knives, you'll find out soon enough and I wouldn't think twice about killing you with them" the atmosphere went cold and my hair went under a radical change. First it shortened to half an inch, then spiked and finally turned as black as my eyes.

Leon ran forward and I stood straight, drew back my right hand and threw the Sai. Leon twisted and I lunged. Suddenly he went stock still and my left hand Sai hovered at his throat. Blood dripped from his shoulder as the Sai I had thrown quivered lodged in the wall behind him. He walked back a few steps and so did I, I raised my right hand and from the wall the Sai disappeared and reappeared in my hand.

Leon reached up and touched the cut on his shoulder, I pointed at it and green light knitted the skin back together. He looked at me confused as I settled into a ready stance then he copied me. I smiled at him and slid my thumbs around one of the shorter prongs (one on each Sai) and pulled. They flipped and curved over the handles, with a flash of blue light I slammed the handles together and then I was standing with a 4 foot long sword that resembled a Sai.

"You win" Leon looked impressed and we both seethed our weapons (me reverting it back to two Sai first)

Riku watched as Shadow seethed her weapon and leant against a wall. Namine walked forward "you ok?" she looked at Shad a little less hostile. "Fine" Shad said bluntly and the stripes on her vest went aqua and her hair lengthened and changed to a silvery blue. Namine nodded and walked back over to Kairi. Riku turned to Roxas and Sora "Roxas you know her?" he asked and Roxas looked away.

"I used to… I think" he said trying to avoid a direct answer, Sora nudged at him and indicated for him to explain "well she's… she used to be… number 15." Riku jerked as if stung 'that meant she WAS a Nobody' "I thought she had died!" he seemed scared not to explain "she only communicated with Lea and no one knew why"

"So she is a Nobody?" Sora asked confused.

"No I'm not" Shadow had come up behind them, her vest was purple and her hair reached the middle of her back was violet "and neither was Axle" her eyes had been light purple now darkened.

"Wait Axle was a Nobody!" Roxas said looking hurt.

"No he wasn't. See the nobodies are attracted when somebody looses their heart or… their light. Axle had a girlfriend who died; he lost his heart because he was so sad. I lost mine that day too." She turned away and looked at the setting sun that could be seen over the tops of the houses. "I lost everything, including my light, but Axle, Lea, he kept some and that's how he can control fire, and that's why I can tell his alive. I can still feel the light in his heart." She walked away and turned into the sandlot Riku, Roxas and Sora followed.

"Where are you going to go?" Riku asked as a black hole opened up with swirling purple mist, a portal of darkness.

"To find Axle. I'll start at the place 'Betwixt and Between'. That ok with you silver?" she pulled out her Sai, checked them over then replaced them in there seethe at the small of her back.

"Silver? My name is Riku" he replied as beeping issued from her left wrist and watched as her outfit changed back into an organization cloak, though it had purple highlights this time.

"Whatever. Anyway…" she threw a whistle at Roxas's feet "if you need me 13, just whistle" at this she smiled from under the hood then disappeared.