And I'm back! With a new chapter! I had it ready earlier, but... I ran out of computer time. D:

Disclaimer- I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

ONWARD!

Chapter 2

Pink petals fell from the sky over the town. The petals were what Radiant Gardens was named for. Sora exited the gummi ship and quickly located Leon's house. He knocked on the door quickly, and Yuffie answered the door promptly.

"Hey, Sora!" she said with a wide smile. Yuffie's hair was filled with silver shocks and was tied back in a bun. Her headband was held back her stray hairs instead of being wrapped around her forehead, "You're looking old, pal!" Sora snorted in amusement.

"As are you, Yuffie," he replied with a smile. Aerith sat at the table in the main room, smiling widely. Her long hair hung freely about her face, and Sora waved to her and everyone else in the room, "Hey, guys." Cloud was there, still acting like the angsty guy he'd been years ago, while Leon was sleeping at the table and snoring rather loudly. Cid, the oldest of them all, looked surprisingly young for his age, which Tifa complained endlessly about.

Though Sora found it great to see them all again and even listen to all their simple everyday problems, he felt that it was truly no time for small talk. He knew that the darkness was back, and they had to do something about it. No questions asked.

"Alright, you guys," Sora began calmly, "You all know why I'm really here, right?" Aerith gave him a small nod of encouragement, her gentle smile never disappearing despite the seriousness that glowed in her eyes.

"Sadly, we do," Tifa answered for the group.

"The darkness is back in action again," Yuffie said with finality.

"I'm afraid so," Sora sighed in a quiet voice. His ocean blue eyes flickered, revealing his great sense of responsibility, "We have to do something." Cid shook his head, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his chair.

"Sora, we're all too old for this. The darkness isn't going anywhere anytime soon," Cid pointed out to him solemnly. Sora stared at him in shock, his lips hanging open slightly. Aerith nodded her agreement, as did Tifa and Yuffie. Cloud looked a bit annoyed by their unwillingness to fight.

"Then who will fight them!?" Sora asked, slamming his hands down on the table. A glass shook, and Leon jumped slightly, but remained asleep. Cloud seemed to agree from that stand point, but didn't make a move to argue or reveal his opinion.

"The new generation," Tifa answered easily, her eyes hard with seriousness.

"I, the Great Ninja Yuffie, trained my daughter into the Second Great Ninja Amatha!" Yuffie smirked, pride glittering in her eyes despite her daughter's absence. Sora sighed, sinking into his chair. Leon shook and finally rose into wakefulness. He wiped his mouth then looked at Sora with a bewildered expression.

"Oh, hey Sora," Leon said after a couple seconds and settled back into his chair. Sora nodded to him in recognition.

"So have we briefed him about the returning darkness?" Leon asked. The rest of his companions groaned loudly in annoyance.

"Leon!" Tifa snapped angrily, causing a silence to settle over the group.

…

Sai stared at the crayon drawing for a long time before looking away from it and beginning to peruse through the scattered pieces of information. Most of it made little to no sense at all. His father's handwriting was sometimes in a frenzied scrawl, thus impossible to decipher into anything near a word. Those he quickly tossed aside, knowing that he probably didn't have much time until his father returned from his rather sudden trip. Some words jumped out at him as if by instinct he saw them.

Heartless

Organization XIII

The Darkness

Ansem

Nobodies

Somehow, Sai felt no remorse for snooping through his father's things. He barely understood a word of it anyway. It was too much to take in at any one time regardless, but he was curious. What did it all mean? It just didn't make any sense to him. The papers seemed so revered by the way his father was so preoccupied by it in his every waking moment. Sometimes it made Sai wonder how they kept alive. From what he saw, his father never worked.

The matter that defined Sora caused a part of their lives to fall apart. Sai sometimes hated to be home. His mother had left Sora and wanted Sai to go with her. For some reason, he hadn't wanted to. So, he was sitting there in the midst of papers. His father's entire life was scrawled onto those sheets of paper. Sai then realized that he was intruding. He stood up and turned off the lamp.

Naminé

The name flickered through his mind for a brief moment, and then he left the room. Too many thoughts and uncertainties had filled Sai's mind. Would it have been better if he had left with his mother? He would never know, yet the possibilities were still curious to him. His blue eyes flickered with ambivalence. With a sigh, he dismissed his thoughts. Since when did he start thinking like that?

Sai trudged up the creaking stairs to his room. He was proud of who his father was. Sora was strong and responsible, though easily distracted and a bit head strong. That wasn't bad at all though. In fact, he hoped that he reflected such characteristics as well. Sai flopped onto his bed with a sigh and stared at the ceiling in silence.

I want to be like my father.

…

Gray eyes flickered over the metal contraption before them admiringly. A black gloved hand reached out and ran over the shining metal.

"What a beautiful job," she whispered to herself, dark, navy blue stands of hair falling into her eyes. The metal contraption had the sort of likeness of a dog.

"Now, let's boot ya up," she said. She reached over the robot's back and connected a couple of wires. Her goggles protected her eyes from the potential danger that came with electrical working. When she shut the back, a green light flickered on, coming from the eyes on the robot dog's face. Its body shuttered and a scratchy bark erupted into the air. The girl smiled and clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Alright! Raz: Model 3 is a success!" she cheered. She spared a moment to a pair of charred, broken bots that had been swept into a corner. The other two had been failures. The dog swung its head toward her, recognizing its name.

"Hey, Raz. My name is Dementia," she whispered to the robot. Its eyes flickered blue, saving the information. Dementia removed her goggles, allowing them to take residence upon the top of her head. Raz barked again, its spring tail wiggling a bit almost as if it were wagging its tail.

"Come on," she told Raz. The two left the warehouse, entering one of the districts in Traverse Town. Raz's eyes flashed blue for a moment. Dementia didn't notice what the robot had seen. A strange black creature snuck around a corner.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter~ Reviews would be nice. I would be very happy to hear your thoughts!

I am accepting pairing requests now, since you've been sort of introduced to the main crop of characters. So, if you see a pairing you like, review with your choice of pairing (yaoi/yuri included, bring on your thoughts). I will consider them and maybe even give the couple moments.

~Anarchy