Kaiko walked on her tiptoes, even though she knew there was no one out there to hear her. There was something about the silence of night that made you not want to break it, and she respected the night silence, so she did not do so. But some parts of nature don't care about the beauty of silence, and one of those things was the waterfall adorning Final Hours Falls.

She reached the waterfall, the loud noise not bothering her much. She came here often, so the roar had muted itself to her. Sometimes it disappeared altogether to her ears.

Kaiko took her brother's bunny slippers off her feet, a weird but essential part of muffling her steps in the forest, and wiggled her toes in the night air. She loved coming out at night to the falls, a secret activity that no one yet knew of. The lake was very shallow inside the blanket of mist that the waterfall's contact with the still water made, and many rocks stood up out of the water, making nice stepping stones. Slightly slippery stepping stones, but nice ones. Kaiko jumped across these, ignoring the mist that clung to her dark blue tee and gray sweatpants, and kept jumping. He hair was also getting soaked, so she pulled it into a ponytail with an elastic on her wrist. She reached a rock in the falling water that stuck out a ways, making Nature's umbrella over her head as she stopped.

Also beneath the rock's safety was a Kaiko-sized hole in the wall, and she squeezed into it and up a set of crude stairs. When she emerged back into the light, she was at the top of the waterfall, where a large rock shot up and outwards over and above the edge of the waterfall. The top was flat, and the set of stairs the blue-haired girl had just ascended were at the other end. She climbed skillfully to the top and sat with her feet dangling over the edge.

As she sat swinging her feet, she fingered the earring she wore in her left ear. She had a pair of earring holes for matching earrings (which were currently tiny silver hoops) and one earring that was always in her right ear - it was a deep blue sapphire the color of her hair, surrounded by tiny rhinestones the color of the sky in summer. They were all set on a white base. Kaito and Rin and a couple others were the only ones who knew why she wore it all the time.

She supposed she would have to tell Len soon enough too. But for now, she would just sit and enjoy how she could play with a limit.

Kaiko stared intently at the water in the lake under he feet. The water was still for a moment...

And then, the water started to dance.

It seemed that Akaito and Rei were the only ones of their ragtag group who had decent stamina. Rui was the first to give up, about two hours before sundown. Rei had offered to piggyback her, but she eventually became so tired that he had to carry her bridal-style and she was now almost asleep. Akaito would have teased him about it, but he could tell the smallest boy was having trouble supporting so much weight. His stamina was large, though, and he could probably easily outlast the redhead if he so chose to. Mikuo wasn't too long after her, and now Akaito had a sleepy teal-haired ten-year-old on his back while Rei carried the only female of the group unconscious in his arms.

It was almost comical.

Almost, because it was night. And the only light was a red and orange flame that was in Akaito's left hand while his right supported Mikuo. So most people looking at the scene would be thinking about why Akaito was holding fire instead of teasing them about who they carried.

The light of the fire chased away the mist, but it circled the group and kept trying to reach inside the ring of fire. Rei kept very close to Akaito, but even still the fog licked his backside and shoulders. He kept shivering and sneezing.

"A-Akaito? C-C-can we stop? Jus' f-for a min'te..." Rei asked the question through chattering teeth, visibly trembling. Akaito turned around and saw the boy shivering uncontrollably and, as if reacting to his sudden jolt of concern, the red and yellow flame in his hand got bigger and became orange and blue. It licked the hem of Mikuo's pants, and touched the tip of the redhead's finger, but it didn't seem to burn, just give warmth.

"Dude, you need to tell someone when you're getting sick! I'm younger than you and I know that!" Akaito complained, setting Mikuo gently down at the base of a tree trunk nearby. He then lightened Rei's weight by taking Rui and setting her next to the teal-haired boy, before breaking a few sticks from branches he could reach and making a haphazard fire with the flame on his finger. He blew it out the same way you'd blow out a candle afterwards.

As Rei sat next to the fire, Akaito ran his now-flame-free hand down his face in annoyance. "Rei... Seriously, now I have two sick kids and a girl to deal with... Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"'Was t-too busy wi' Ru-Rui," Rei shrugged, putting his hands literally into the flames. They wrapped around his skin and reached up his arms, but didn't burn him. In fact, he seemed completely unperturbed. As he pulled his arms out of the fire, one could see a large red symbol on his right wrist glowing from contact to the magic flames - the number 03, and underneath in capital letters, KAGENE REI. He looked at the letters as they shimmered like dying ashes, before going back to the passive red color.

"Akaito, where's yur Brand?" The black-haired boy asked, looking up at the other male.

"Right here," Akaito replied, lifting up his left pant leg. On his ankle was 06, and below that SHION AKAITO. The words glimmered and shined every few seconds like Rei's had from the fire, except his were less jumpy and constant. "It keeps glowing like dying embers because I can't hold my element very well."

"Ah, tha's why ya can use it w'out takin' off your Barrier," Rei sniffed, lying sideways. "G'night, Akai..."

Akaito kept looking into the mesmerizing dance of the flames. "'Night, Rei. Sleep well."

"Mmhmm..."

Akaito was the only one who didn't sleep that night.

...I dunno. I like older-brother-version of Akaito. It's just cooler to me. And as for Kaiko's part, well, she's Kaiko. Don't question it. Bye-bye.

RANDOM FACT: Well, it's not really a fact, but I cannot BELIEVE the FREAKING NUMBER of SoRiku and AkuRoku fics in the Kingdom Hearts base. I mean... Guys. Chill pills. Please. (I don't mind the SoRoku AU ones though. Hah.) Anyways.

Bai.

-Kara