A/N: Phew, well this certainly was time consuming. I don't know how, but I've managed to spit out at least three different chapters/stories in four days. For some reason, this chapter took the longest out of all of them. Well, at least I'm finally done now. And before I forget, I'd like to thank feralfairy and surxi25 for reviewing as well as everybody else who put this on their alert list. Well, that's enough blabbing for now. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, its plot, nor any of its characters. Crazy, isn't it?


"Well, that wasn't so bad,"Alec admitted as he pushed away his plate. It had been a simple dinner, but one nonetheless.

"Yeah, but I'll still have to go out for the groceries I lost," Runa said, wincing at the thought of marching through the snow again. If anything, it was going to be colder by the way the snow seemed to be building up. "I'll probably have to start running errands again so we can get some more munny too…"

"Sis, why don't you let me do that for once?" her brother asked. "You're always working hard to keep up the place for Cid, and you take care of me. I know how tired you are when you get home. Why can't I do some of the work for once?" At hearing these words, Runa gave a small smirk. Most normal sisters would never dare to think that their little brothers would ever say such things. Then again, the two of them weren't exactly what the world called 'normal'.

"Wait a little longer Alec, then we'll talk about it," she said, smiling at her brother over their small table.

"… Hey Runa?"

"Hm?"

"What'd you say the guy's name was again?" Alec asked as he stuffed a large piece of bread in his mouth.

"…Saix," she muttered, giving her food an extra-sharp stab with her fork. As always, simply recalling that arrogant smirk of his sent shivers down her spine. Honestly, she didn't know what was the cause of those shivers, but Runa was willing to bet all the munny in her wallet that it came from pure annoyance. The man was impossible to understand. One moment he's trying to kill her, the other he's mocking every aspect of her. And after that, he just ran into one of his… portal-thingys. 'One of these days, he's not going to be able to run away so easily,' she thought. 'And when that day comes… he's going to get the longest lecture of his life.' A malicious smile crossing her face for a while, Runa contented herself with imagining Saix tied to a chair, forced to listen to her every word. Oh, that would be the day.

"Sis …Sis!!!" Alec suddenly shouted.

"I'm sorry Alec, what were you saying?" she asked, reluctantly snapping out of her daydream.

"It's just… you looked…" 'Kinda scary for a second.' "… Never mind, it's nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

"If you insist then," Runa shrugged, turning back to her food. Little did she know that once she had turned her attention away from Alec, he continued to watch her to see if she would make that scary face again. It was very rare that Runa got herself worked up about something, and Alec was curious to know what kind of person this Saix to have put his sister in such a grumpy mood. Hiding his grin behind his cup as he sipped, Alec remembered the day that she had first come storming in, ranting about some "blue-haired she-male". It took quite a bit to make his sister get this mad, but when somebody was stupid enough to actually accomplish that… it was never pretty. His sister was definitely a force to be reckoned with when she was angry, to say the least.


Hearing a knock on the library door, Saix shot a menacing glare toward the noise before snapping his book shut and walking toward the door. As he predicted, it was none other than Axel. For a while, the two of them simply stood there, glaring at each other. Well, to be specific, Saix was glaring and Axel was wearing his usual smirk.

"What do you want Axel?" Saix sighed, turning his back on the flame-haired Nobody as he walked back to his book. "Surely you have missions to keep you occupied."

"Yeah, but they can wait," Axel replied, shutting the door behind him. "Right now, I want some answers."

"Answers to what, pray tell?" he sneered.

"Well, for starters, who was that girl you were hanging around? You said her name was Runa… or something like that."

Feeling his body stiffen at the very mention of her, Saix was barely able to suppress a low growl in time. "And what about her?"

"Oh nothing. It just seems that you've built up an unusual sense of tolerance for her. Well, that's the way it looks like to me at least," he said as he reclined on a couch in a feline manner. And that's just what he seemed like to Saix. A cat, waiting patiently for the opportune moment to pounce. Giving a low chuckle at the thought, Saix moved to the shelves to take out another book.

"You are gravely mistaken Axel," he said as he skimmed through the book's pages. "I hold absolutely no tolerance for her insolence."

"Then why is she still alive?" Axel asked, smirking to himself.

"The Superior seems to think that… she is valuable to our cause."

"Oh really? In what way?"

"… I do not know," Saix admitted reluctantly. "But it is only a matter of time until I force the answer out of her."

At that statement, Axel couldn't hold back a laugh. Narrowing his eyes, Saix muttered, "And just what is so funny?"

"Absolutely nothing," Axel sniggered. "But there are better ways to get information out of a woman. I'm sure you could think of a few."

"I am not interested in whatever method your twisted mind has produced," Saix said stiffly as he opened yet another book.

Giving a small sigh, Axel began to stare dully at the ceiling. "What the hell are you looking for anyway?"

"More information regarding the keyblade masters."

"More?"

"Yes, more. I need to see if their hearts have any weaknesses similar to normal hearts."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that they still die if you stab them there," Axel muttered sarcastically.

"I need more details than that Axel," Saix replied, running his fingers across the book's pages.

"… Where's Zexion anyway? He's usually hanging around here."

"He's currently preparing for the Castle Oblivion mission. As you should be doing."

"Work, work, work. That's all you ever think about, isn't it?" Axel chuckled. "… Honestly though, if you're trying to find some answers from her, just try to be nice. A bit of compassion never hurt anyone." Getting up from his seat, he clapped Saix lightly on the shoulder. "It was never difficult for you when we were Somebodies." And with that, he left the room.

Turning the book's page, Saix murmured, "You forgot Lea… We no longer have any hearts to even feel compassion anymore." Snapping yet another book shut, the blue-haired Nobody exited the library to prepare the assignments for the Castel Oblivion team.


"Hey Alec," Runa said, pulling a jacket over her shirt. "I'm gonna head outside for a while. Could you stay inside while I'm gone?"

"Sure sis. Be back soon 'k?" he smiled, green eyes sparkling as he watched Runa open the door that lead to their home.

"Sure thing," she said, shutting the door behind her. Suddenly the door flew open again. "Oh and Alec, if you're going to practice with your Keyblade, please do it here. I think it'd be a good idea to be running around with it with all these guys around." Taking her brother's grumbling as a yes, Runa flashed him a quick smile before shutting the door once again. Her footsteps echoing through the corridors of Ansem's castle, she rubbed her hands against her arms as she felt a slight chill. It had stopped snowing only a while ago, but the snow had stuck, making the slopes of Hollow Bastion even more slippery than usual. Lucky for Runa, she wasn't planning on going anywhere near those slopes. No sir, all she wanted to do was to get the groceries, and be back home in the span of twenty minutes. And if she wanted that to happen, there was no room in her schedule for a certain blue-haired man. Nope, absolutely no room at all.

Hurriedly counting the small amount of munny in her hand, Runa gave a small sigh. There was barely enough for a week's worth of supplies in that small pouch. Of course, there was plenty of munny that Ansem had left the two of them in his vaults, but she did not like to use that munny except in emergencies. Which would probably be in the near future, seeing as about half of her own had been wasted yesterday on the supplies that Saix had caused her to spill. Now that some time had passed, Runa had forgiven him for that small ordeal. But what continued to infuriate her was how he had almost killed her! "Frickin' psychopath," she murmured underneath her breath.

"Well that certainly was rude," a monotone voice rang out as the customary portal appeared before her.

Giving a loud groan, Runa muttered, "Please not today Saix. Hell, you can come back tomorrow, but please… not today."

Stepping out of the portal, he raised a blue eyebrow at her statement. "Oh? And what's so special about today?"

Glaring up at him, she said, "Because I do not feel like putting up with arrogant snot-heads today, that's why. Why are you here anyway? I would think that you're tired of this place by now."

Truth be told, Saix had absolutely no idea what he was doing back in Hollow Bastion. It was almost as if his feet had gotten a mind of their own which was quite strange for anybody, let alone Saix. "You can say it was because of boredom," he said casually.

"Boredom?" Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"Are you saying that I'm a liar?" Already this girl was beginning to madden him. It was unbelievable how childish she was. "You are being quite rude today Runa," he growled. "Even more so than usual."

"Rude? Rude?! I've never been anything but polite to you Saix!" she yelled, ignoring the fact that he had used her name yet again. "You're the one that's trying to kill me! You're the one that's caused all this… this… this foolishness here in the first place!"

"Really?" he murmured in a purr-like growl, walking slowly towards her. "And would you care to remember how our first meeting went? Would you care to remember who introduced themselves by throwing rocks at my person?" Thrusting an arm behind him, Saix opened another portal a few feet away. As he shot one last glare at her, the Nobody threw a small pouch at her feet. "Be sure you think before making such claims next time."

Slightly shocked from the (normally) stoic man's tirade, Runa cautiously bent down to pick up the pouch. Gasping at its contents, she discovered that Saix had left her the same amount of munny that she had spent on the previous day's supplies. And as she turned around to thank the man, she found that he had already disappeared.


A/N: Yeah, not much of a cliffhanger this time. To be honest though, I'm really happy to finally reach this point. I've got some big plans for the next few chapters... *maniacal laughter* And remember kids, encouragement is appreciated!