Long time no see, Sight readers. Sorry for making you wait for so long – I had craploads to do, ran into quite a few personal issues, and hit a block with this, but my inspiration has returned. I hope this entry is enjoyable.

NOTE: I have some important things to say about this chapter and this story as a whole, so please take the time to read the author's note at the end.

Thank you, as always, and reviews are always appreciated.

Ch. 4: Newcomer

It took me a minute to react to the sudden handshake.

I quickly tore my hand away and tried to reinstate circulation in them. Christ, his grip was strong! Did he even notice how he was crushing my hand doing that?

"Sorry, did I do something wrong?" I heard him ask in a worried voice.

I tried to keep my tongue in check, because if I didn't watch myself I would probably say a whole bunch of things that I'd regret later. You probably noticed already, but I have a dirty mouth. If I get supremely upset I could launch into a whole tirade using all the words in the entire Derogatory Words and Phrases dictionary. (And before you ask – no, I never read it.) I tried to avoid doing that now because 1) I would probably get grounded for life if I did that in front of my grandpa, and 2) I didn't want to scare this guy away at the moment. This opportunity was golden; I couldn't let it slip away so quickly!

"No, no, no; it's okay; you just" – I opened and closed my hand several times – "have a pretty strong grip is all. Took me off-guard."

"Oh…sorry," he apologized again. "I didn't realize…"

"It's all good." I could feel my fingers again. My pinkie still throbbed a little. "Just…a little warning next time, okay? Yeesh…I'm surprised I can still feel my hand."

"Right, sorry."

"Quit apologizing already," I sighed impatiently. "I get it; you're sorry. Let's move on, alright?"

"Um, yeah," he stuttered as he shifted grass beneath his feet. "But, uh, move on to what?"

Ah, forgot to clarify that. Whoops.

"Sorry, should've been clearer," I said, tapping my cane onto the damp earth. "So, you said your name was Ventus?"

"Yep. Most people call me Ven, though."

"Ven, huh…mind if I call you that?"

"Sure, feel free," he said easily. "Nobody uses my full name anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Ven," I said. "Do you mind me asking…you know…why you were running in the first place?"

Things were silent for a minute, and I was starting to think that maybe he was trying to sneak away without me noticing. I wasn't gonna have that – not after he knocked me to the ground one week and used me as schmuck bait the next. I was going to get my dues whether he liked it or not.

"Hello?" I asked. "Still with me?"

"Er, uh, yeah," I heard him stammer. Judging by where his voice was coming from, he hadn't moved. "I just, uh – an unexpected question, you know –"

"Touchy topic?" I guessed. "Look, if it is, just say so."

"No, it isn't," he said quickly. "I just need to be careful about who I tell…it has to be somebody I can trust, and –"

"You don't trust me," I finished. "Because I'm some random stranger to you, right?"

No answer. Yep, thought so. Not that I was upset, mind you. Just a little, you know…disappointed. But then again, I should've known that just asking him personal questions like that wouldn't get me a whole lot of answers. Whatever the case may be, there's an important reason you're running away from people like that.

"Sorry," Ven said again. He sounded pretty somber this time. "I didn't think that you'd ask me something like that."

"I should've given you a warning myself," I said, putting my free hand in my pocket. "Well, if you can't answer that question, then I won't push you. How many people have you told your little secret, anyway?"

It was quiet again, and I was thinking that he was giving me that same silent treatment until he said suddenly replied, "No one."

That got a legitimate shock out of me. "No one?" I echoed in surprise. "Not friends, family members, acquaintances? You really didn't tell anybody?"

I could almost imagine him shaking his head here. "I don't have any friends. Never have. And there's no one to tell who already knows in my circle."

Okay, I was confused now. This guy had no friends…and his family already knew why this was going on? Was that what he was trying to tell me? But if that was true, why was his family not doing anything to stop this?

Man, from the few encounters I've had with this guy, it was hard to picture him as a loner. He just didn't seem the type…well, other than the whole "running away from scary people" bit, anyway. But with someone like me, it's very easy to see why I'm a loner. Him, though…I couldn't fathom the reason behind this.

"So…you don't have any friends?" I ventured.

He chuckled again, but it sounded bitter this time. "How could I? I'm probably the most sheltered kid on this whole planet. I have the most paranoid and overbearing parents in the history of man. How was I supposed make any friends while being locked away like that?"

I was stunned beyond comprehensible words. This guy was the total opposite of me. He wanted to get out and meet people, but his parents forced him to stay inside, whereas I was forced to go outside when I just wanted to be alone at home. All of a sudden I understood why my old man said that I would be running into this guy a lot. He definitely knew what he was talking about.

…Which only made things even more irritating. It just felt like he lived to prove me wrong at every turn.

Not that I had much time to moan about that right now; there was a seriously deprived kid over here. Pretty soon I found myself saying the words I never thought would come out of my mouth.

"Want to come inside?" I asked him.

There was a stunned silence in the air, which I really couldn't blame him for – I was pretty surprised myself. Never in my entire life did I ever foresee a situation where I'd say something like this.

It took him a minute, but soon I heard him say, "Really?" in an incredulous voice, like he'd never been offered that before (which, to be fair, was probably the case). "Is that really okay?"

"Yeah. Plus, I really can't focus while I'm out in the cold because…" Case in point, another wave of nausea hit me right then – pretty hard this time, since I'd been so focused on talking to this guy that I hadn't noticed it building up. I actually stumbled a little, but I managed to keep my balance. "Ugh, yeah…because of that."

"You okay?" he asked me in his concerned tone again. His hand was on my shoulder now, but he wasn't squeezing, at the very least.

"I'm fine," I said shortly, brushing his hand off. "It's just something I have to deal with. You coming in or not?"

"What about your parents, though?"

Okay, this conversation was going into some seriously dangerous territory here. I mean, not that I expected him to know or anything, but still. It just was, and I cursed my luck for forcing me into a situation where I'd have to talk about my parents to this nobody.

But it was cold, I was still dizzy, and I wanted to be somewhere where it was warmer so I'd stop feeling so sick, so forgive me for my lack of prudence here, okay? Just once. Blame the cold, okay? It was pretty bad for it being the onset of autumn.

"Don't have any," I said simply, taking several steps forward until my feet hit concrete. "I live with someone else."

"Oh…who?"

He was really pushing it. "Look, I'll explain some other time, but seriously, just come inside," I ordered him more harshly than I'd meant to. "I feel like utter crap out in the cold, and I want to talk with you without feeling nauseated. So just come on."

The edge in my voice must've tipped him off, because he quickly agreed. I probably should've felt bad, but I was so anxious to get inside that I didn't really give that much thought.

Still, the guy had it in him to throw me one more question before we could escape the frigid wind.

"Sorry, but can I ask you one last thing?" he requested swiftly.

I suppressed a withering retort as I prompted him with a flat, "What?" as I massaged my temples. Dude, did you not see my dizzy spell earlier? I need to get inside before the cold makes me pass out, damn it! "Make it quick."

"Not to be rude or anything," he went on, a clear edge in his voice, "but why do you want to talk to me this badly, anyway?"

My hand froze on the door handle briefly before answering.

"Because," I said without mincing words, sliding the door open and stepping inside, "the person I'm living with told me I'd be running into you a lot. Best to get properly acquainted if that'll be the case, right?"

I hate irony.

The world is just full of surprises waiting to ambush me, isn't it? I run into a strange guy twice in two weeks. I let said strange guy into my house. And it turns out that he is familiar with my grandpa.

…

What? Waiting for me to flip it on you? I'm telling the truth here, people. Hey, just because I said that I was a good liar doesn't mean I do it all the time. Sheesh. C'mon, you guys can see, right? You have faith that I don't have, so put some it to some use!

In the meantime, I'll just be over here being rightly pissed off at my grandpa for keeping this secret from me. I mean, seriously! He was hanging this over my head? He knew this weirdo kid personally, didn't tell me on purpose, and when they recognize each other right in front of me he just explains the circumstances like it's nothing? What the hell! That is first-class bullshit; he'd been playing me this whole time! Goddamn it!

Ugh…okay, I need to calm down about this; I just…just why, Gramps? Why? Why would you do this to me?!

In order for you to understand my utter incredulity and sheer rage at this, you're going to need a rundown. So I'll give you one.

When I stepped into the house, it was still warm, but not stifling like last time, so I just assumed that my grandpa had either turned down the heater or turned it off completely. The house was surprisingly well-insulated; the warmth in the air was stagnant, and it was enough so that my nausea cleared away in a matter of minutes.

"Decent place you've got here," I heard Ven say as I heard the sliding door close behind me.

I stretched and breathed in the musky scent of the house. "You think so? Well, I guess Gramps did something right with the interior design."

"Yeah, he did," he said as he moved somewhere to my left. He almost sounded wistful. "It's got a nice feel to it…it's so homey."

"Yeah, it's nice when my old man doesn't troll me for fun in his spare time," I said off-handedly as I removed my jacket and hung it on the nearest chair I could find.

"He what?"

I groaned. "Never mind. He's just annoying. Leave it at that."

"Well, okay." He still sounded confused. Man, when he'd said that he was sheltered, he hadn't been mincing a freaking word. Next he'd be asking me why I call people who avidly indulge in what they like fans.

"You'll see what I mean later," I said, and no sooner than that last word had left my mouth came the familiar gruff voice calling from somewhere in the house, "Is that you, Vanitas? Are you back inside already?"

People and their stupid questions, I swear. Of course I was in the house; he couldn't hear me otherwise. And I lived alone with him, so what was the point in saying that? Unless he heard Ven's voice, too – then it'd make some sense.

"Yeah, I am," I called back into the house. "And I've got a guest with me, too."

"Oh, so that was the other voice, eh? Alright, I'll be out in a moment!"

A couple seconds of silence; then Ven comes with, "Was that your grandpa?"

Do these people even have functioning brains by this point? "Yeah, that was him. He'll be out in a minute."

"Huh…he sounds like someone I used to know," he said in a musing tone.

"He does?" I scoffed. "Do I feel sorry for you. Hope he wasn't half as annoying as he was."

"No, he was actually pretty funny."

"You don't say."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence then. To be honest, this was my first time holding an extended conversation with anyone, even my own grandpa, so don't blame me for this sudden impasse.

"Uh…want to sit down somewhere?" I asked him to get rid of the uncomfortable air. "Unless you are already, I mean…"

"Oh, I'm not – I mean, I wasn't –" He caught himself at the last minute and gave me a stuttered, "Um, I mean…yeah, sure. I'd like that."

Before I could take him anywhere, though, I heard shuffling footsteps somewhere slightly to my right, and I knew that my grandpa was now in on the scene. For once, I was grateful for his intrusion – I wasn't sure how much longer I'd have been able to hold out without feeling extremely stupid.

But that fleeting gratitude faded away as soon as I heard the first words out of his mouth.

"Good to see you again, Ventus!" my grandpa greeted jovially. "Slippery as always, I see!"

Yeah, that was where I flipped my lid – when my suspicions had been confirmed; he did know Ventus from somewhere. Which in itself severely ticked me off, but what really threw me was that he didn't give a damn about acting like this where I could hear him. After going through all that to avoid telling me anything about this guy, he just up and blurts that right in front of me once he actually sees him with me? Was that even normal behavior? For anyone?

It took a minute for that to sink in in real-time.

"You…" I could barely talk in a coherent sentence. "Y-you can't be serious, Gramps. You have got to be kidding me!"

"Oh, settle down, Vanitas," he chided me like this was just some ordinary lecture. "Didn't I tell you already that I knew him?"

"I don't care about that!" I snapped. "What I care about is that you've been keeping this from me for all this time, only to spill it like it's nothing! Seriously, what is wrong with you?!"

"There's no need for you to take it like this," he admonished me sternly. "I just thought it'd be an experience for you to figure this out on your own."

"Which I did!" I smacked myself in the nose with the handle of my cane as I did a face-palm, forgetting that I had it in my hand at that moment. "But couldn't you have, I don't know, let me down gently with this? Was that really too much to ask?"

My grandpa actually had the gall to chuckle at my rant. "Doesn't that defeat the very purpose of this exercise?"

I had no response to that. How do I always manage to corner myself in my conversations with him? That just made this situation even more infuriating!

I was only snapped out of it by Ven's reaction.

"No way…" he breathed. "Is that really you, Grandpa Xehanort?"

Whoa, backtrack. Grandpa Xehanort?

"W-wait a minute…" I muttered slowly. "What did you just call him?"

"I said that he's –"

"Oh, don't mind him." I felt a hand ruffle my already-messy hair (that's just what I assumed, anyway; combing my hair is next to impossible) as the old man cut in. "We're just well-acquainted. I've known his family for a long while years ago. That's where he got that nickname for me."

Ven tried to cut in, "But I thought –"

"No need to worry! I'm sure you two will get along quite nicely!" My grandpa gave me a hearty slap on the back, and I could only assume that he did the same thing to Ven because I heard another slap and a surprised, "Ow!" right next to me. "Why don't you boys get to know each other, eh? Take him to the living room so you can have a comfortable chat. I'll be fixing up a meal in the meantime."

"But –" Ven began to say, but he was interrupted again.

"No need to worry, my boy. Those hoodlums won't be expecting you to be here, thanks to Vanitas. He portrayed the image of a helpless blind boy quite well."

His footsteps receded into where I assumed was the kitchen, leaving the two of us alone in whatever room we were currently in (probably the dining room; I kind of lost track in the earlier tumult of emotion). If I could only see Ven's expression right about now; maybe then I would feel less embarrassed and pissed off. Helpless blind boy?

"So," I prompted in a controlled tone after about a minute of silence aside from the plates clinking in the distant kitchen, "was that the person you were talking about?"

I didn't get a response for a couple seconds. Then he said, "Uh, yeah."

I shook my head and sighed. "You were nodding, weren't you?"

"Sorry," he apologized. He sounded self-conscious – with good reason, too. He was the one who noticed I was blind before I had to tell him, after all.

"Never mind," I muttered. "Let's just go to the living room before he comes out and finds us here."

"Yeah, okay."

I picked my way around the dining table and worked my way into another room until I could feel my cane bouncing off of a couch. I traced the length of it, and I found that I was a two-seater. After getting myself properly in place, I collapsed on it, feeling the rough nylon rub against my skin. Geez, for a day that had started off mediocre, I found myself tired within less than an hour.

I heard the sound of Ven falling into another couch to my left – probably the armchair – as I adjusted myself into a more comfortable position to recline.

I didn't beat around the bush this time around, and cut straight to the chase. "So, do you mind telling me what the story behind all that was?" I asked without missing a beat. "How do you know my grandpa?"

"Well…" I heard him shuffle in his seat a bit. "It's like he said. We've known each other for a long time now…or at least, he and my father did. It's so crazy, though…he's your grandfather, of all people. Don't you realize how amazing that is?"

Okay, good for you, buddy. That doesn't tell me anything. "Alright, so what's so amazing about it? How do he and your dad know each other?"

"I'm not too sure of the details, actually," he confessed. "He's just been around for as long as I can remember, but then he suddenly stopped showing up. It's been years since I last saw him."

Huh, so my old man had been leading some sort of double life behind my back? This sort of thing actually happens in real life? Life was just round-housing me left and right today.

"You're serious? What was he, your babysitter?"

That got a laugh out of him. "He might as well have been. He was around so much it was like he was another member of the family." His voice dropped to a lower tone as he continued, "Well, the most family-like person I've ever had in my so-called family, anyway."

"Right…" Why did he have to keep going into that tangent? That just made this conversation even more awkward than it had to be. "Let's just get to the part why he being my grandpa is so amazing."

"It's just –" He stopped himself, then he went on carefully, "I mean…I guess I'm just…you know, jealous."

I wasn't sure I had heard that correctly. "Jealous?" I repeated in shock. "Really? Jealous of who?"

"Well…you." I heard him shifting position again. "Because you're his grandson and all…your grandfather was basically my replacement parent for half my life."

Yeah, I'll admit – that was pretty crazy. What were the odds of this happening, really? I'd just effectively earned myself an unofficial foster brother in the span of two minutes.

And seriously – replacement parent? What the heck were this kid's real parents doing for him to warrant such a term, anyway? Neglectful, much?

"Yeah…that old coot is definitely good at filling in that role," I said with a wistful chuckle. "No doubt about that."

"No kidding?" he asked curiously.

I nodded. "Ever since I lost my parents, he's been watching me, too. He may be annoying and smart-aleck as all hell sometimes, but he's still a really good guardian underneath it all." I leaned back on the backrest of the couch so that my face was tilted upward. I could feel an incredulous smile tugging at my lips. "Man…I can't believe I just said that. I'm gonna have to wash my mouth out later."

"Isn't that a bit much?" he asked me with a nervous laugh.

I waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, he can handle it. He's been doing it for nine years."

We both laughed a bit more, and then lapsed into a brief silence. Then Ven broke the silence with, "Sorry about your parents though." He sounded sympathetic – which annoyed me a little, but I could see where he was coming from. It was understandable hearing words of sympathy from this guy, judging from all that I'd inferred about his own parents – who were very much alive but pretty much ignoring him, so the effect was about the same, maybe even worse.

I didn't feel like going into my parents too much, but I guess I couldn't leave him hanging forever.

"Yeah, well…I wasn't all that close to them at that point," I said with a half-hearted shrug. "I didn't know them well enough to really miss them when they kicked the bucket."

"Oh…" was his only response. I honestly would've been surprised if his response had been something else, though I was a bit confused at the fact that he didn't ask how my parents had died. Maybe he was just considerate like that.

I nodded anyway. "Yeah. It was honestly not that much of a loss to me in that sense. But let's not talk about that."

"Right…okay."

"Mind if I ask you something now?"

"Um, it's cool," he consented, sounding somewhat surprised. "Why're you asking permission, though?"

I tapped my cane against the coffee table in front of me. "Oh, you know…because it's that question."

I took a second for that to sink into his brain. "Oh, that question. The one you asked earlier."

"Yeah. That. Are we still strangers, or are we well-acquainted enough?"

His answer came much more quickly than I'd expected. "Yeah. I trust you. Since you're his grandson and all."

Excuse me for being at least a little shocked at those words. That was quick. Not even a brief period of musing? He just decided to up and trust me because his 'Grandpa Xehanort' was my real grandpa?

"You sure you're not making a mistake?" I asked him cautiously. "I mean, sure he's my grandpa and all, but…"

He chuckled quietly. "Sure I'm sure. You just told me something pretty important, right? That tells me I can trust you."

Damn, I didn't know where this kid picked up his social skills, but I sure as hell wasn't gonna complain about it here.

"Well, whatever you say," I relented. "But before that, let me ask you one other thing."

"Man, you really are full of questions."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Anyway, does my old man know the answer to this question already? And if he doesn't, do you want me to keep my mouth shut about it?"

"Oh, he knows," he assured me. His tone of voice as he said that was…strange, to say the very least. "You're not really going to have anyone to spill this to – that's another reason why I'm telling you."

"Glad that you trust me so much," I said acerbically. "I'm touched."

"Well, it's not just a matter of trust, believe me," he said, his voice full if reproach. "I've got my reasons, you know."

I exhaled sharply. Okay, one thing was official – even after talking to him, this kid was definitely weird.

"Yeah, got it," I said wearily. "You're free to answer now."

We then sat there in silence for another couple seconds (this was starting to look like some kind of trend now), and then he finally spoke.

"The people chasing me…" He sighed in resignation before going on. "They're my bodyguards."

Whoa, wait a minute. Bodyguards? "H-hold on, back up a sec. What?"

"Bodyguards. You know, people that –"

"I know what a bodyguard is, Einstein. What I'm wondering here is why the heck I'm even hearing that word come out of your mouth."

"Um…because it's true?" he said in a confused tone. "I wouldn't say I had bodyguards if I didn't."

Oh, for the love of God was this guy difficult to talk to. "That's not what I mean. Why the hell do you have bodyguards at all; that's my question!"

"I'd think you would have figured that one out already," he pointed out, completely deadpan. "Did you already forget what I said about paranoid and overbearing parents?"

"I was sort of hoping that wasn't true," I admitted. "But bodyguards? Really? God, 'paranoid' is understating it."

I didn't really have any idea what his response would be to my remark, but his next words actually gave me a pretty huge kick in the chest.

"Well," he went on in a bitter tone, "it's not really an understatement when your dad's a CEO."

Okay, like I mentioned at the beginning, there are very important things I need to discuss with this chapter. But before we start, I sincerely hoped that you enjoyed reading this update. You've waited about a month for an update that is barely 5K, and I'm truly sorry for the delay. I hope that this still satisfies in some way. Like I said, I ran into quite a few problems while writing this, so I hope you guys have it in you to forgive me.

Now, let me start with the confession that I was kind of insecure about this entry to the story. Some of you may be wondering why I revealed so much crucial information so soon. It might seem like I'm completely giving away the meat of the story with this chapter, and well, I don't blame you for thinking so. It definitely seems that way.

But I'll be brutally honest right now that this story is above all focused on the characters, what they go through, and what lessons are learned – by both you, the readers, and the characters themselves – so this reveal will ultimately contribute to the story more overall and give me more to work with. So you as the third-party audience reading this, I hope that this will give you a deeper understanding of what the characters will be forced to deal with in this story, and empathize with their decisions and their character as a whole. It may not seem like it now, but things will get ugly, and I want to get the most out of that now that I've written this. I just want you as readers to know and hopefully understand why I decided to spill important plot points this early on. Believe me, it wasn't an easy decision.

As always, thank you for reading and reviewing. See you next update.