Welcome to Barely Beating. This is a Kingdom Hearts fanfic. There are no cannon characters in it except for maybe one or two. Most of them are created by me. I hope you enjoy it. All the names are Japanese, if you want to look up the meanings. I know this died before. It was a mistake on my part. I've got this chap and the next ready. I'll probably post the next tommorow or the day after but no later than Monday.
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Ren stands facing Kirai across the barren desert, the wind blowing sand into his face. His dark blue hair is pushed back from his face, revealing angry blue eyes. Kirai laughs maniacally at Ren, his spiky red-gold hair pushed into his face, casting it into shadow from the fiercely burning desert sun. He holds both his hands out to his sides and calls Keyblades to him from bursts of infernal light then swings them both to bare in front of him. “This is the end,” Kirai menaces.
Ren holds his hands out pulling two Keyblades from bursts of light hardened by anger. He rushes at Kirai and sweeps low with both Keyblades forcing him to jump then lands a hard kick on his chest knocking Kirai to the ground. Kirai rolls backwards and to his feet before slashing in a quick one-two slash. Ren ducks under the first slash and parries the second with his left Keyblade. He drags the right Keyblade around and drives it into Kirai’s chest before slamming him to the ground with his shoulder. Kirai falls to the ground, his breathing is labored as he glares up at Ren’ai. “You’re wrong.” Ren disagrees, “This will last forever. There will always be one of us to stop you.” Ren draws both Keyblades together and drives them down in Kirai’s chest. Kirai’s body is surrounded in light. As it eats away at him he chokes out, “You cannot lock the darkness away.”
Twenty years later...
“Ren’ai!”
Ren sits up to the call of his name and shakes his head clear of the fog of sleep. His mother calls him again and he shouts back, “I’m awake!” He tries to recall the dream he was having. A spiky haired boy with a Keyblade fighting a man in a black cloak with red swords.
“Ren’ai, come down and eat with the family for once. You know what today is, right? So come down,” his father queries from just outside his door.
“Yeah, just a moment let me get dressed,” Ren mutters and swings off the top bunk and drops to the floor with a soft thud. A moment later he steps into the kitchen dressed in a simple white t-shirt and white sweats that look gray in comparison to his bright blonde-gold hair and clear blue eyes.
“At least you remembered to dress properly,” Kea mutters to the air. She glares at him from under her cherry red bangs.
“Do you think I’m excited about this?” Ren replies quietly to his sister.
“Does it matter? You get to go before me,” she hisses at him as he takes his place at the table, his father beaming proudly and his mother looking concerned but happy. Ren groans inwardly and starts in on his plate in front of him.
“So, what do you want to find in the Rouhi?” his father asks.
Ren looks up from his scrambled eggs and shrugs, “I dunno.”
“There has to be something?” his mother presses.
Ren takes another bite of eggs then shrugs, “I guess I’d want to find something to fit my name.”
Everyone stops and stares at Ren, after a moment his sister breaks the silence, “A good goal, don’t you think so, mom?”
“Yeah, honey. It’s a good goal,”she murmurs quietly to nobody in particular.
“I should hurry up. I wanna stop by a friend’s house on the way,” Ren announces and stands up to leave.
Kea jumps up and clasps her arms around Ren, hugging him. “Be careful,” Kea whispers.
Ren detaches her and smiles before walking out the door. He pauses and looks around at the light brown buildings and sandy streets before taking a turn down a back street and running for his sanctuary. He takes another turn before coming into an empty district of houses with a court in the middle of them. A dry fountain lies crumbling in the center and a brown haired girl sits on the edge staring at Ren with hurt, brown eyes. Ren walks up to her and waves, “Hey, Ai. What’s up?”
“You don’t get it, do you? You think all this is a game,” Aijin accuses turning away with tears in her eyes.
“What? I didn’t say anything but hi! What’s wrong?” Ren panics, confused by the situation.
“I need something other than hi. You always say one thing but do another, don’t you ever be anything but a fake?” Ai shouts at him, her expression both hurt and wanting to hurt.
“What did I say?!” Ren shouts back, anger rising in his voice.
“You say you care about me but you only look after yourself,” Ai hisses at Ren.
“I’m here aren’t I?!” Ren shouts, gesturing around at the court. “Doesn’t that count for something?” he asks, almost beseeching.
“No, you never tried. Anyway, I found someone who actually does what he says,” Ai says angrily.
“Fine,” Ren mutters, “I’ll leave.” He turns and walks out of the court, heading for the western edge of town. His mind races as he walks, his anger at Aijin burning fiercely in the foremost thoughts creates a horrible reaction with his anxiousness at the Rite Of Rouhi Jouten. The mix of emotions creates an angry, confident emotion in his mind and drives him.
He comes to the open mesa overlooking the Rouhi. The hot sands of the Rouhi glare up at him and the others in his age group, reflecting the sun hanging high in the sky. All of his age group is dressed in the white clothes. A blue haired boy steps up to Ren and hisses quietly, “Guess who Ai found?”
Ren almost turns and throttles Juusan where he stands from the way he made the question sound almost innocent. Juusan seems to sense this and presses on, “Just because you have his name doesn’t mean you deserve it.”
The Horuda steps in front of the group and shouts, “Organize in a line facing me!”
There is a quick rustle of activity then all the students are in order and ready. Ren takes a deep breath as the Horuda clears his throat to speak and promptly expels it in a cough as Juusan’s elbow slams into his lungs. The Horuda pays no attention and announces, “Today will decide your future.”
Ren shoots a quick glare at Juusan before looking back to the Horuda, who continues, “You all know about the Rite Of Rouhi Jouten, you will travel into the Rouhi and find your symbol. After you find your symbol release your flare and you will be recovered. After three days you will all be forced to release your flares and be recovered, with or without your symbol. Step forward when your name is called and pick up your pack before leaving into the Rouhi. Understood?”
There is a scattered yes and a few nods. The Horuda ignores the lack of enthusiasm and looks down at the list and begins to call name in alpha order by last name. Juusan steps in front of Ren and glares at him mockingly, “What do you expect to find, Rouhi Rannayaju dung?”
Ren looks back at the Horuda for a moment then says, “No, your father will have ate it all.”
Ren gets slammed back into someone and Juusan stands in front of him, his fist at the ready. Ren stands back up and apologizes to the person he fell on. He steps back up to Juusan and glares for moment then hears, “Kogane, Ren’ai!” Ren turns back to the Horuda and walks forward, taking the proffered pack and stepping down onto the path to the Rouhi floor.
He gets to the bottom of the path as dusk begins to fall and he searches in his pack. A flare, a fire striker, a tent, and a power pack are all it contains. The power pack may be useful if he can find some mashi-n. Mashi-n were scattered across the Rouhi and buried in its sands. Ren glances around and slings the pack back over his shoulders before setting off towards the setting sun.
After walking for an hour the sun has finally gone down and Ren is sitting on a rock next to his tent. Fire wood lays in front of him but he is nervous about attracting attention. He could see lots of fires scattered across the dunes of the Rouhi. “Perhaps I could just blend in, he couldn’t ambush me on the first night,” Ren muses to himself. After another hour of debate with himself he decides to get inside the tent and sleep. He glances at the wall of the tent before setting his alarm watch and sees a flicker before the watches light goes out. He waits a moment and hears nothing before slipping asleep.
A blaring ring erupts into Ren’s mind and he jumps up. After a moment of fright he remembers the alarm and presses the off button. He steps out of the tent with his pack in hand and looks around at the barren wasteland and sees small dark figures moving around. He turns about and takes down the tent and sits down on a rock to gather his thoughts. As his mind wanders he begins to hear voices and looks around. He locates the sound’s origin and looks over the back of the dune he’s camped on. Three people, a member of his class and two teachers walk underneath laughing and having fun on their way back in the direction of Hallowed Garden. Their voices float up to Ren, “What did you find?”
“I found a mashi-n core and when I touched it the whole place lit up and a door opened into this huge underground hangar. It was empty though. I have the core with me.”
“Seems you’re gonna be a Mashi-n Teishu, we need one of those in the guard, you know?”
The girl looks up briefly, her green eyes lock on to Ren’s and he recognizes her. Kaizoe, the shy girl in his class who always stayed quiet and never did anything, no matter how much the others bothered her. She quickly looks away and continues on towards home with the teachers.
Ren thinks back to the day he met Juusan. He didn’t seem to bad then, but as they got older he got jealous of Ren’ai. <Just because of my name,> Ren thinks to himself. <Why was I named for him?>
This thought echoes in his head as he packs up and moves towards the west and away from the city.
He thinks randomly as he walks, <Juusan, he’s seems to want my namesake so badly. His father is well respect as a Rannayaju trainer. Why couldn’t he just hope to find a symbol of that?> Ren glances up in the sky and sees a hawk flash through the clear blue sky before snapping its wings closed and falling onto some invisible prey in the distance. On a whim Ren runs towards the hawk.
As he reaches the hawk, it turns to face and lets loose an ear splitting screech before launching itself up to wheel overhead. Ren walks over to where it had landed and kneeled down. Dropping the pack beside him he examined the sand, a gleam catching his eye. He reaches into the golden grains and clasps his hand around a metal object. He pulls it out and lets the sand pour from his hand until only the warm touch of metal is left. He looks down at the two keychains in his hand. A silver crown and a gray, four-pointed star.
“What did you find, dung eater?” A cold, mocking voice inquires from behind Ren.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ren stands facing Kirai across the barren desert, the wind blowing sand into his face. His dark blue hair is pushed back from his face, revealing angry blue eyes. Kirai laughs maniacally at Ren, his spiky red-gold hair pushed into his face, casting it into shadow from the fiercely burning desert sun. He holds both his hands out to his sides and calls Keyblades to him from bursts of infernal light then swings them both to bare in front of him. “This is the end,” Kirai menaces.
Ren holds his hands out pulling two Keyblades from bursts of light hardened by anger. He rushes at Kirai and sweeps low with both Keyblades forcing him to jump then lands a hard kick on his chest knocking Kirai to the ground. Kirai rolls backwards and to his feet before slashing in a quick one-two slash. Ren ducks under the first slash and parries the second with his left Keyblade. He drags the right Keyblade around and drives it into Kirai’s chest before slamming him to the ground with his shoulder. Kirai falls to the ground, his breathing is labored as he glares up at Ren’ai. “You’re wrong.” Ren disagrees, “This will last forever. There will always be one of us to stop you.” Ren draws both Keyblades together and drives them down in Kirai’s chest. Kirai’s body is surrounded in light. As it eats away at him he chokes out, “You cannot lock the darkness away.”
Twenty years later...
“Ren’ai!”
Ren sits up to the call of his name and shakes his head clear of the fog of sleep. His mother calls him again and he shouts back, “I’m awake!” He tries to recall the dream he was having. A spiky haired boy with a Keyblade fighting a man in a black cloak with red swords.
“Ren’ai, come down and eat with the family for once. You know what today is, right? So come down,” his father queries from just outside his door.
“Yeah, just a moment let me get dressed,” Ren mutters and swings off the top bunk and drops to the floor with a soft thud. A moment later he steps into the kitchen dressed in a simple white t-shirt and white sweats that look gray in comparison to his bright blonde-gold hair and clear blue eyes.
“At least you remembered to dress properly,” Kea mutters to the air. She glares at him from under her cherry red bangs.
“Do you think I’m excited about this?” Ren replies quietly to his sister.
“Does it matter? You get to go before me,” she hisses at him as he takes his place at the table, his father beaming proudly and his mother looking concerned but happy. Ren groans inwardly and starts in on his plate in front of him.
“So, what do you want to find in the Rouhi?” his father asks.
Ren looks up from his scrambled eggs and shrugs, “I dunno.”
“There has to be something?” his mother presses.
Ren takes another bite of eggs then shrugs, “I guess I’d want to find something to fit my name.”
Everyone stops and stares at Ren, after a moment his sister breaks the silence, “A good goal, don’t you think so, mom?”
“Yeah, honey. It’s a good goal,”she murmurs quietly to nobody in particular.
“I should hurry up. I wanna stop by a friend’s house on the way,” Ren announces and stands up to leave.
Kea jumps up and clasps her arms around Ren, hugging him. “Be careful,” Kea whispers.
Ren detaches her and smiles before walking out the door. He pauses and looks around at the light brown buildings and sandy streets before taking a turn down a back street and running for his sanctuary. He takes another turn before coming into an empty district of houses with a court in the middle of them. A dry fountain lies crumbling in the center and a brown haired girl sits on the edge staring at Ren with hurt, brown eyes. Ren walks up to her and waves, “Hey, Ai. What’s up?”
“You don’t get it, do you? You think all this is a game,” Aijin accuses turning away with tears in her eyes.
“What? I didn’t say anything but hi! What’s wrong?” Ren panics, confused by the situation.
“I need something other than hi. You always say one thing but do another, don’t you ever be anything but a fake?” Ai shouts at him, her expression both hurt and wanting to hurt.
“What did I say?!” Ren shouts back, anger rising in his voice.
“You say you care about me but you only look after yourself,” Ai hisses at Ren.
“I’m here aren’t I?!” Ren shouts, gesturing around at the court. “Doesn’t that count for something?” he asks, almost beseeching.
“No, you never tried. Anyway, I found someone who actually does what he says,” Ai says angrily.
“Fine,” Ren mutters, “I’ll leave.” He turns and walks out of the court, heading for the western edge of town. His mind races as he walks, his anger at Aijin burning fiercely in the foremost thoughts creates a horrible reaction with his anxiousness at the Rite Of Rouhi Jouten. The mix of emotions creates an angry, confident emotion in his mind and drives him.
He comes to the open mesa overlooking the Rouhi. The hot sands of the Rouhi glare up at him and the others in his age group, reflecting the sun hanging high in the sky. All of his age group is dressed in the white clothes. A blue haired boy steps up to Ren and hisses quietly, “Guess who Ai found?”
Ren almost turns and throttles Juusan where he stands from the way he made the question sound almost innocent. Juusan seems to sense this and presses on, “Just because you have his name doesn’t mean you deserve it.”
The Horuda steps in front of the group and shouts, “Organize in a line facing me!”
There is a quick rustle of activity then all the students are in order and ready. Ren takes a deep breath as the Horuda clears his throat to speak and promptly expels it in a cough as Juusan’s elbow slams into his lungs. The Horuda pays no attention and announces, “Today will decide your future.”
Ren shoots a quick glare at Juusan before looking back to the Horuda, who continues, “You all know about the Rite Of Rouhi Jouten, you will travel into the Rouhi and find your symbol. After you find your symbol release your flare and you will be recovered. After three days you will all be forced to release your flares and be recovered, with or without your symbol. Step forward when your name is called and pick up your pack before leaving into the Rouhi. Understood?”
There is a scattered yes and a few nods. The Horuda ignores the lack of enthusiasm and looks down at the list and begins to call name in alpha order by last name. Juusan steps in front of Ren and glares at him mockingly, “What do you expect to find, Rouhi Rannayaju dung?”
Ren looks back at the Horuda for a moment then says, “No, your father will have ate it all.”
Ren gets slammed back into someone and Juusan stands in front of him, his fist at the ready. Ren stands back up and apologizes to the person he fell on. He steps back up to Juusan and glares for moment then hears, “Kogane, Ren’ai!” Ren turns back to the Horuda and walks forward, taking the proffered pack and stepping down onto the path to the Rouhi floor.
He gets to the bottom of the path as dusk begins to fall and he searches in his pack. A flare, a fire striker, a tent, and a power pack are all it contains. The power pack may be useful if he can find some mashi-n. Mashi-n were scattered across the Rouhi and buried in its sands. Ren glances around and slings the pack back over his shoulders before setting off towards the setting sun.
After walking for an hour the sun has finally gone down and Ren is sitting on a rock next to his tent. Fire wood lays in front of him but he is nervous about attracting attention. He could see lots of fires scattered across the dunes of the Rouhi. “Perhaps I could just blend in, he couldn’t ambush me on the first night,” Ren muses to himself. After another hour of debate with himself he decides to get inside the tent and sleep. He glances at the wall of the tent before setting his alarm watch and sees a flicker before the watches light goes out. He waits a moment and hears nothing before slipping asleep.
A blaring ring erupts into Ren’s mind and he jumps up. After a moment of fright he remembers the alarm and presses the off button. He steps out of the tent with his pack in hand and looks around at the barren wasteland and sees small dark figures moving around. He turns about and takes down the tent and sits down on a rock to gather his thoughts. As his mind wanders he begins to hear voices and looks around. He locates the sound’s origin and looks over the back of the dune he’s camped on. Three people, a member of his class and two teachers walk underneath laughing and having fun on their way back in the direction of Hallowed Garden. Their voices float up to Ren, “What did you find?”
“I found a mashi-n core and when I touched it the whole place lit up and a door opened into this huge underground hangar. It was empty though. I have the core with me.”
“Seems you’re gonna be a Mashi-n Teishu, we need one of those in the guard, you know?”
The girl looks up briefly, her green eyes lock on to Ren’s and he recognizes her. Kaizoe, the shy girl in his class who always stayed quiet and never did anything, no matter how much the others bothered her. She quickly looks away and continues on towards home with the teachers.
Ren thinks back to the day he met Juusan. He didn’t seem to bad then, but as they got older he got jealous of Ren’ai. <Just because of my name,> Ren thinks to himself. <Why was I named for him?>
This thought echoes in his head as he packs up and moves towards the west and away from the city.
He thinks randomly as he walks, <Juusan, he’s seems to want my namesake so badly. His father is well respect as a Rannayaju trainer. Why couldn’t he just hope to find a symbol of that?> Ren glances up in the sky and sees a hawk flash through the clear blue sky before snapping its wings closed and falling onto some invisible prey in the distance. On a whim Ren runs towards the hawk.
As he reaches the hawk, it turns to face and lets loose an ear splitting screech before launching itself up to wheel overhead. Ren walks over to where it had landed and kneeled down. Dropping the pack beside him he examined the sand, a gleam catching his eye. He reaches into the golden grains and clasps his hand around a metal object. He pulls it out and lets the sand pour from his hand until only the warm touch of metal is left. He looks down at the two keychains in his hand. A silver crown and a gray, four-pointed star.
“What did you find, dung eater?” A cold, mocking voice inquires from behind Ren.
D
