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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn	By : RotSeele Category: Kingdom Hearts > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3168 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
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Thirty-Three - Twilight Town

Kaoru hit the ground on his chest and stomach and cracked his chin into the floor. He curled up immediately, clutching at his face as pain radiated through his body. Rinally was immediately at his side, clutching his shoulder. Cool healing magic washed through him, easing the hurt and healing the small scrape on his chin. She helped him to his knees, and then helped him to stand. She looked into his eyes, her expression worried.
Kaoru gripped her tightly. “I saw her, Rin! I saw Tae!”
“Kaoru...” Rin started.
He looked past her to Kai. The redhead was staring at him with an odd expression, as if he couldn’t quite decide if Kaoru was crazy or not. “You saw her, didn’t you?” Kaoru asked, desperate.
Kai’s green eyes narrowed slightly. “I didn’t see anything but you rushing through the wall.”
Kaoru shivered. Was he really the only one to have seen Tae’s shade? He looked away from Kai, unable to stand being looked at like he was crazy. He didn’t dare look at Rinally, quite sure she was looking at him with a similar expression or at least one of pity. He stared at the floor beneath his hands and watched it waver as tears filled his eyes. He blinked them back, took a deep, steadying breath, and pushed himself up to stand.
“Kaoru...” Rin started.
He shook off her hand. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” Rinally scowled. “I’ve been with you from the beginning, idiot. I know when you’re faking it. You really saw her, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
Kaoru looked up at her, then nodded slowly. “She came through here. She was here.”
“I believe you.” Rin said. She turned away from Kaoru, looking back at the way they had come. “Looks like this was a hidden room. It was strange that the hallway looked so short.”
Kai moved past Kaoru and began to explore the room. After a moment, Kaoru followed him, as did Rinally. The room was square, and much larger than it seemed to be. There were three apparatuses that looked like lotus-shaped cocoons standing empty in one part of the room. They were worn and dusty with age, the glass cracked by years of disuse. Kaoru circled one, reaching out to touch it with his fingertips as gently as he dared. He passed Kai at one point, as the redhead circled one of the other cocoons, and glanced into Kai’s eyes. Kai returned the look, but his face remained expressionless. Before they separated, Kai reached to catch Kaoru’s hand and pull him to a stop.
Kaoru looked up at Kai, unsure of what the redhead wanted. Kai continued to stare down at him for a minute, then he reached to brush his thumb against Kaoru’s chin, where he still sported a faint bruise.
“This girl,” Kai started, “Tae. She’s someone you’re looking for?”
“Yeah.” Kaoru replied softly. “She’s my best friend. Almost like a sister. She’s also a Princess of Heart, or at least she was. I... I don’t know what I saw, Kai. I don’t know if it was an image of her or just something my heart dredged up, but... I felt it was real.” Kaoru looked down at the floor and pressed his fist against his heart.
Kai’s hand covered Kaoru’s. “I believe you.”
Kaoru looked up at him. “You’re not just saying that because Rin said it, are you?”
Kai scoffed. “Of course not. I didn’t see what you saw, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think you didn’t see it. You...” He stopped and ran a hand through his hair, as if the gesture would help him figure out his words. “You’re special, you know that? I’ve never met anyone like you before. The things you can do, the things you can inspire in people... You’re like a natural-born leader, even if you don’t think so.”
“But you thought I was crazy.”
“For a minute, yeah.”
Kaoru stared up at Kai, his lips a thin line. “Does it hurt you to be kind, Kai?”
Kai’s eyes narrowed in a scowl, hearing the snappish tone in Kaoru’s words. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious.” Kaoru persisted. He couldn’t understand why Kai said something nice and then, when given the opportunity to lie just to spare his feelings, didn’t. And so, being angry and hurt and wanting to lash out, Kaoru snapped at the one person he wasn’t afraid of provoking. “Does it make you die a little inside when you compliment people, so you have to say something mean to keep the status quo?”
Kai growled and pushed himself away from Kaoru for a moment, pacing away from him with every line of his body trembling with frustration and anger. Then he came back, pushed Kaoru up against one of the cocoons, and caged him within his arms. Their faces were so close that their noses were almost touching. “Being kind,” Kai bit out, “isn’t one of my strengths. I was trying to make you feel better. To show I really do care about you. I’m... I’m not good at this sort of crap, and you’re making fun of me for it!”
“What are you two doing over there? You better not be making out!”
Kaoru caught Kai’s arm before the redhead summoned Sanctuary and went to club Rinally with it. Kai looked at him sharply, as if he was considering braining Kaoru with his Keyblade instead. Kaoru felt a blush creeping across his cheeks and couldn’t bring himself to meet Kai’s eyes. So he simply said, “I’m sorry.”
Kai’s body remained rigid for a moment before it finally relaxed. Sanctuary glimmered before it vanished. Kai turned back to face Kaoru and placed his hand gently under Kaoru’s chin to tilt the smaller boy’s head up so their eyes met. Kai studied Kaoru’s face for a minute. Then he said, “I believe you.”
Kaoru felt his cheeks burn more. If Kai noticed, he didn’t say anything, but he continued to stare at Kaoru for a long moment. Then he leaned down and hesitated, his lips hovering so close to Kaoru’s that Kaoru could feel their heat against his own skin. Their eyes never broke the gaze they shared the entire time, but then Kai blinked and he drew back, leaving the air between him and Kaoru electrified and awkward.
Kaoru looked away from Kai, unsure of what to say. He was saved from it, either by chance or divine grace, when he spotted something glittering by one of the lotus-cocoons. He pulled out of Kai’s grip and hurried over to it, crouching down to grasp it in his hand. Kai followed a second after, and he heard Rinally approaching as well. He stood with the object clutched in his fist, uncertain if he wanted to look at it. If he did, he feared it would confirm something that he didn’t want to know as fact. Or, he feared it would mean something far worse than he could imagine.
He turned to face his friends, his closed fist held up between them. Kai and Rinally stared down at Kaoru’s hand expectantly. Slowly, Kaoru opened his fingers and the three stared down at the delicate silver chain coiled in his palm. The clasp was broken, as if it had been ripped off Tae’s neck. The charm, the one that came in three pieces, was bent, as if someone had grabbed the necklace by the charm and squeezed far too hard. The metal was still charged with Tae’s light, a familiar and comforting presence that made Kaoru’s heart relax. This was real. He wasn’t imagining this.
“Kaoru, whose is this?” Rinally asked.
“It’s Tae’s.” Kaoru replied. His voice sounded thick. Was he going to start crying again? He swallowed heavily, trying to keep the sadness at bay. “I made it for her. For her birthday. She was wearing it when Paradise City disappeared.”
Kai reached out toward Kaoru’s palm, then snatched his hand back with a hiss. Both Rin and Kaoru looked at him, concerned and confused. He shook his hand out, as if he’d gotten an electrical shock and was trying to get feeling back into his fingers. “It’s full of light. Powerful light, and pure. She really is a Princess of Heart, huh?”
Kaoru nodded. He closed his fingers around the charm and felt the metal dig into his skin. “She didn’t part with this willingly. Someone ripped this off her. Tae was here.”
“What did you see, Kaoru?” Kai asked. “What exactly did you see?”
Kaoru inhaled softly and told his friends what he’d seen. He spoke about the exact movements of Tae’s apparition, how she had entered this room willingly, but beyond that, he didn’t know. When he finished, Kai had a thoughtful look on his face, and Rin had folded her arms over her chest, her lips turned down into a frown.
“It’s obvious,” Rin started, “she trusted whoever she was with. It had to be someone she knew.”
“Either someone she’s known for a long time, or someone she recently met.” Kai added.
“But she wouldn’t part with this.” Kaoru lifted his fist slightly to indicate the necklace. “Not willingly.”
“Which means it’s the former.” Kai concluded. At Kaoru’s confused look, he added, “Only someone Tae’s known for a long time would know she had that necklace. Only that person would know how important it was to her. There was a reason it was taken from her, a reason why it was ripped off her so violently.”
Understanding dawned on Kaoru and he looked back at his closed fist. “Because the person knew who had given it to her.”
“Right.” Kai said. He pointed at Kaoru’s fist. “If I were trying to hide her, and I knew that she had something from the very person I was trying to hide her from, I’d be afraid that it could be used as a tracking device. I’d worry that the person might be able to home in on it and find her.”
“Kaoru?” Rin asked. “Do you know who might be with her?”
Kaoru nodded. His throat felt tight. It hurt when he spoke. “Hiromu. He’s the only person, besides me, who knew Tae had this necklace. He’s the only one she would trust. But... but I can’t believe he would do this... I can’t believe he would hurt her, or try to stop me from finding her.”
His friends were silent for a long time. He didn’t want to look up at them. He didn’t want to see the expressions on their faces. He wasn’t sure what he would see there - pity, probably - but it wouldn’t help his self-control, which wasn’t doing very well on its own anyway. Between the earlier disappointment of not finding anything in the rest of the mansion, then seeing Tae’s ghost, then Kai’s almost-kiss, and now this, Kaoru wasn’t sure if it would take much more before he broke down completely like Rinally had when they first arrived in Twilight Town.
“We’ll find him.” Kai said, his deep voice booming. He reached out and gripped Kaoru’s shoulder tightly, making the smaller boy look up into his eyes. “We’ll find Hiromu, and we’ll find Tae, and we’ll get an answer out of him.”
Rinally moved to Kaoru’s other side and draped her arm over his shoulders. She gave him a tight hug. “Kai’s right. We’ll get to the bottom of this. We’ll find Hiromu and Tae, and if need be, Kai and I can hold Hiromu while you punch.”
Despite himself, Kaoru laughed. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“But if it does.”
“Tae wouldn’t let it happen.”
“She might, if she’s a smart girl.” Rin winked at him.
Kaoru smiled. It didn’t last long as another thought occurred to him. “How, exactly, are we going to locate him? It’s not like we can get on a gummi ship and ask the pilot to take us around every single world in hopes they’ll be on one of them.”
“We won’t use gummi ships.” Kai held out his hand, palm up. “Give me her necklace. I have an idea.”
Kaoru hesitated, unsure if he wanted to give up Tae’s necklace so readily, especially since he didn’t know what Kai’s plan was. But he gently dropped the silver chain and bent charm into Kai’s waiting hand. “Don’t lose it,” he said softly.
“I won’t.” Kai released Kaoru’s shoulder and took two steps back. “If we’re right, Hiromu believed that this was your key to finding Tae, and that’s why he took it off her.”
“So what makes you think you can find her with it?” Rinally asked.
“Darkness naturally seeks out light, right? So, in theory, I should be able to sense where any powerful light might be. With Tae’s necklace, I’ll be able to focus exactly on her light to the exclusion of all else, even Kaoru’s. If I can do that, if, I might be able to open a Path directly to her.”
Kaoru felt a budding of hope begin to flicker in his heart. “Do you really think you can do that?”
Kai nodded. “I’m pretty sure I can do it. But we’re going to have to do it right away. Even though this feels powerful still, it’s an old trail. Maybe since before Sora came here.”
“Do you need anything?” Rinally asked.
Kai shook his head. “Just this and quiet. And you might want to stand behind me. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Kaoru and Rinally did as Kai asked, moving to stand behind Kai and give him room to work. Kaoru stood behind him on his left while Rin stood on his right. Both glanced at each other, nervous and unsure if Kai’s plan would even work. And if it did, where would they end up? Kai’s shoulders rose and fell as he inhaled deeply and let it out. Kaoru watched as Kai clenched his fist around Tae’s necklace, imagining that Kai had closed his eyes to be able to concentrate on feeling out Tae’s light. Silence reigned for long minutes, broken only by soft breathing and the rustle of clothing as one of the three shifted. Then, perhaps thirty minutes into Kai’s attempt, something began to happen.
Tendrils of darkness began to smoke up from the floor about five feet in front of them. They snaked around in the air, dancing around as if propelled by an invisible wind. They climbed higher and higher, multiplying by twos and threes until there stood a giant swirling mass of darkness before the three of them. Then Kai approached the darkness, and thrust the hand that held Tae’s necklace into the darkness. Kaoru’s heart leaped into his throat, afraid that Kai was going to be hurt, and afraid that Tae’s necklace would be ruined. Still, he didn’t move, trusting Kai to know what he was doing. Slowly, Kai pulled his hand out of the darkness, and as he did, the portal began to ripple and open, revealing a violet-hued path leading into a deeper, darker place.
Kai turned to look at Kaoru and Rinally, his eyes glowing black and gold. He held up his hand, letting Tae’s necklace dangle from his fingers. “I think I’ve got it. Ready?”
Kaoru reached to take hold of Tae’s necklace and held it tightly in his hand. Then he reached up to tie the chain around his headphones, knowing it was likely the only place where it would be safe, and he would never lose it. “I’m ready.”
Rinally nodded. “Me too.”
“Then let’s go.” Kai turned back to the portal and headed into the Paths Between with Rin and Kaoru at his back.
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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn