Chapter 1: Tournament of Hearts

"But don't be afraid.

You hold the mightiest weapon of all."

(Rowan's POV)

The sun shone brightly down on my black and white clothes self. My bright white, over-sized shoes gleamed in the sun. I wore a pair of gray pants that went to a few inches below my knee, but not to my ankles. My shirt was pitch black with white edging and a zipper. The sleeves were white with black edging, and the hood of my shirt was black. My spiky, raven-black hair spilled over my eyes, guarding them from the bright sun- not that they needed to be guarded, as my eyes were closed.

The warmth that washed over me from the sun was perfect. With the light breeze that was sweeping through and the most comfortable grass in all of the galaxy to use as a bed- it was the perfect time and place for an afternoon nap. I was right on the edge of falling asleep when I heard that familiar giggle.

"Rowan, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing here." I opened my forest green eyes and rolled over on to my stomach to find my best friend's light gray eyes only a few feet from me. She looked confused, as if she didn't know why she'd said what she'd said, but it as quickly dismissed.

"C'mon, Shim. I wasn't sleeping." I yawned, not helping my case much. Shim giggled and her dark purple hair with bright purple tips spilled in to her face. Unconsciously I reached up with my hand, which was gloved in a big, fat, white glove, and brushed her hair back behind her ear and out of her face. She raised an eyebrow in question, and after a moment I blinked and shrugged.

Stuff like that had been happening a lot between us. Shim and I had been best friends since we'd met when we were six. We never liked each other in that way, y'know? But we'd always ended up saying or doing stuff that indicated that we did, when we didn't. It was weird. Most everybody never believed us, but that didn't matter for us. We'd always be just friends.

"Well, c'mon then." Shim smirked as she held out her light purple gloved hand. I took it and she helped me up. "Yin's waiting for us."

She unconsciously twiddled with the silver belt she wore. Shim wore a pair of black shorts that went a few inches above her knee with purple edging on the legs. She wore a silver belt with a crown as the belt buckle. Her shirt was a deep, purple tank top. She wore a black choker and then another necklace that was an amethyst set in a silver frame. I smirked lightly at it. I'd gotten her that necklace for her tenth birthday. I reached up and brushed the silver heart necklace I wore around my neck on a thin chain. She'd gotten me my necklace for my tenth birthday too.

"What's Yin waiting on us for?" I asked as I stretched my arms in to the air.

"You don't remember?" Shim gasped in mock horror. I had a horrible memory and she knew it.

"Just tell me." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"It's the Tournament of Hearts today!" Shim reminded me. I stood uncomprehendingly for a moment, before my eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my god! I'm gonna be late! Dammit! C'mon!" I shouted, grabbing Shim's hand and taking off through the forest I'd trekked through to get to our clearing. Shim protested the whole time, but my mind was set and I wasn't letting go. I was getting to that tournament.

You see, a couple of months ago when the tournament was announced, they informed us that there would be a huge prize. Yin, my only other best friend besides Shim, and I promised to enter it and to split the prize if one of us one. If the prize could be split of course.

Finally we broke out of the tree line, and found ourselves running at a huge castle. It was a bright white gigantic castle with multiple towers. The roofs of all of the towers where a bright blue, and there were golden flags on top of them. There was gold edging spread randomly on the walls of the castle. Overall it was beautiful, but I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"C'mon, Shim! Hurry up!" I said as I continued to drag her along.

"Let go of me, Rowan!" Shim protested.

I paused in front of the gigantic front gold doors, and knocked a certain knock. Upon recognition of the knock, the lock unlocked and a tiny portion opened up for us. We darted through and we welcomed in to a huge hall. The hall was deserted. As it would be. Everyone would be at the stadium for the tournament- including the King!

As we ran down the corridors, twisting and turning around corners to get to the stadium, Shim was still protesting. Finally, I just let go of her hand.

"All right, all right! I'll see you there!" I said as I turned around, hopping backwards as I talked to her, before turning right back around and running off.

Finally, I reached the stadium. There was a huge group of teenagers standing at the edge of a platform that was a large battlefield. There was a large chalkboard placed against the stadium wall at one end, a bunch of names written up. The stadium was surrounded with seats, just like a regular chalkboard.

"Finally, Rowan!" A gruff voice barked, and I gulped when I spotted Mr. Then, the instructor who was holding the tournament. The man was really tan, with huge muscles. He wore a pair of navy blue shorts and a white tank top shirt with a yellow sweatband over his bicep. He turned to the chalkboard, and began drawing lines between names.

"All right, Rowan, as penalty for being late-"

"It was only two minutes!" I protested.

"-you will be fighting first. Rowan, Watero; get up there." I grumbled in annoyance but stepped through the crowd of participating teenagers, and grabbed a hold of the edge of the ring. I jumped up and landed on top of the platform, smirking as I looked up at the stadium, the seats filled to the brim. I hoped Shim was there... or at least hurrying to get there.

Watero, a kid a few years older than me leaped in to the ring after I did. He was more muscular and a foot or so taller than me, but I didn't care. Everyone knew I was one of the fastest kids here. Yin was probably the only one here who could beat me when it came down to speed.

"All right, listen up!" Mr. Then shouted as he climbed in to the middle of the ring to announce the rules. "This goes for EVERYONE. No magic is to be used, got it? That's for another tournament. No magic is to be used. Fight fairly, any foul play will result in an automatic loss. You lose, your out for the entire tournament. There, got it? Any questions." He waited maybe a heartbeat for any questions before moving on. "Good." He walked over and leaped off the edge of the ring and stood by his chalkboard.

"Now, wielders, draw your weapons." He commanded. I smirked as I stared at Watero, holding my right hand. Instantly my Keyblade materialized in to my hand. The blade and handle were forest green. The tip was that of the original Keyblade that everyone starts off with. The hand guards were shallow, so that they guarded specifically my hand and wasted no other space. Those were light green. And also a light green aura was wrapping and twisting around my blade. As far as I knew it was completely for show. It wasn't any magic that I used, and it didn't seem to cause more damage to my enemy because of it. My Keyblade's key chain was a simple light green heart.

Watero drew his Keyblade, which was the shape of a large, red dragon's head. The blade was dark red with spiked 'teeth' razoring one side and a few at the tip of the other side. A gold line shot down the center of the blade on both sides. On both sides right before the blade split off in to two wings which were his hand guards, there were two dragon eyes. The handle he gripped was ridged as it was the dragon's tail, with a yellow tip at the end. His keyblade's key chain was a bright red flame that dangled off the end of his dragon's tail.

"Begin!"

Instantly Watero leaped at me, his keyblade drawn over his head in preparation for a powerful strike. I leaped back, slashing the air in front of me and clashing his keyblade with mine. They bounced back away from each other with incredible force. My arm was wrapped across my chest, so I followed it. I let the left side of my body follow the keyblade, before stopping and sending the momentum the other way as I swiped with my keyblade at Watero.

Watero's eyes widened, but he brought his keyblade up and placed his hand against the flat side of his blade, blocking my slash and holding it. My wrist locked, and so we stood there in a standoff for a few moments. It was then that I realized the entire stadium was silent. I was staring at Watero, who was staring right back at me. Suddenly he smirked, and swiped his keyblade forward and away, knocking me back.

I flew back down the ring a few feet, before smacking in to the ground and rolling to a halt. I groaned and slowly stood up, my keyblade still clutched in my hand. I looked up, before seeing that Watero was running at me with his keyblade raised, and was only a few feet away.

Instinctively, I leaped forward head over heels and dodge rolled to his left. I landed with my left knee on the ground and my right knee up. I spun around to see Watero slash the air where I had been, and quickly I shot to my feet and leaped in to the air. I brought my keyblade back behind me as I aimed at Watero's back, before slashing and slamming it in to his back- careful not to hit anything that would cause permanent damage.

Watero grunted and fell forward, falling off of the ring. I landed on the ground, and there was a moment's silence before the stadium broke out in to cheers as Watero stood up, rubbing his back as he let his keyblade disappear. There was a sour look on his face as he looked at me, before it broke in to a grin.

"Good job." He said as he nodded, and I smirked.

"Good fight." I replied. He nodded as he walked to a set of stairs that led in to the crowd. I joined the mass of teens again as my turn was over, before Mr. Then started calling off other pairs to fight.

Finally, after a few more rounds that I fought and won, there was only four of us left. Yin was one of the other three, but after I'd tried to get his attention he had ignored me. So I was ignoring him now too.

"Rowan! Padet! Get up there!"

I shrugged. Padet was the only girl who had made it past the top twenty, and she'd be quite a few of the tough guys. So I wasn't about to underestimate her. I leaped on to the platform and summoned my keyblade. A moment later she was up and had done the same thing. She had bright blue eyes with flaming red hair that went to her jawline. Her keyblade looked like it was on fire. But it wasn't, it was all with the keyblade's looks. It was spectacular. The blade split off in to two parts that looked like flames flying from a fire- they were her hand guards.

I smirked at her as she smirked at me. We were all just doing this for fun anyway.

"Begin!"

There was a moment's pause before we both ran at each other across the stage. I leaped up and brought my keyblade behind me, aiming to bring it down on her. As my free hand moved in front of me for whatever reason Padet slid to a halt and brought her keyblade around to her left side, preparing for a hit herself.

We slashed at each other at the same time and our keyblades collided. I was still in the air, so after the initial hit I did a front flip over Padet as she ducked to avoid me hitting her. As I landed something in me told me to block a hit that was coming my way. So as I spun around over my right shoulder, I brought my keyblade up and blocked a slash that had been aimed at my shoulder. The clash was louder than most of the clashes that day, and it earned a collective gasp from the audience.

Padet smirked and brought her keyblade back again before quickly lunging at me. I leaped back, before backing up across the arena. I stopped on my tiptoes, before running at her as I gripped my keyblade with both hands. As I came closer to her she didn't raise her keyblade. As I went to hit her she only ducked underneath my keyblade and brought her foot out, catching my feet as I was moving with the forward momentum, knocking me to the ground.

I hit the ground face first, my chest to the ground as I clutched on to my keyblade desperately. I pushed myself to my knees in an attempt to get away quickly, but I was knocked back to the ground as I felt a sharp smack to my back. I grunted but rolled to my right just as she went to hit my back again, causing her keyblade to stick in to the ground.

I groaned as I got to my feet painfully, before I went to swing at Padet. She managed to bring her keyblade out, and as she saw mine swinging for her she knew she was too late to deflect it. However she only leaned back and dodged the keyblade as it swung over. But instead of letting it go, she caught my keyblade with her free hand. I was so caught off guard that she'd caught it that she was able to yank it free from my hands. She chucked it over across the arena and brought her keyblade up, pointing the edge at my throat.

It was inches from my throat as I stared at it, before my mind went in to hyper-drive. I could blast her with some fire maybe- no... that was against the rules. Maybe I could spit in her face- no... that was against the rules too. What do I do? I clenched my teeth together as I tried to think of something, but couldn't think of anything at all. My shoulders went slack as I prepared to give up.

"Giving up already? C'mon, Sora, I thought you were stronger than that!" I heard Yin's voice call out to me with a bit of a chuckle. My head shot over to look at Yin. He was talking to Sora? The Sora? But, I'd thought he was dead! As I saw Yin, with his arms crossed over his chest, I found that he was staring at me. I blinked a few times. Had he just... had he just called me Sora? He seemed to realize then what he'd said, as he blinked rapidly a few times in confusion.

I turned back to Padet as something inside of me decided to keep fighting. I wasn't going to give up. My hands were slightly in front of me, and so I held my right one out, holding my palm so that it faced my keyblade. Padet didn't seem to notice, she was too busy staring at me smugly.

"Well?" She asked. "Are you going to surrender or not?" I focused as she talked, imagining my keyblade popping back to my hand. I'd heard of it happening, but I knew it didn't happen often. If this worked I couldn't rely on it hardly ever.

Thankfully, it did. As my keyblade disappeared in a puff of light and reappeared in my hand, there was a collective gasp from both the audience and Padet as I smacked her keyblade away, before bringing it back around and slamming it into her shoulder. She grunted as she fell to my right. She didn't drop her keyblade, but quickly I placed my foot over it so that she couldn't move it. I wasn't going to break it- that'd be sick- but I wasn't going to let her use it either. I then pointed my keyblade at her face as she looked up at me, her teeth clenched.

A few moments passed as we stared at each other, before she sighed.

"I give. You win." I smirked and sent my keyblade away. I stepped away from her keyblade, before reaching down and holding my hand out to her. As she took I helped her to her feet and smiled widely at her.

"That was an awesome fight." I said. She nodded.

"You were great. Just win it out so I don't feel too bad, okay?" I nodded and laughed as she did, before we hopped off of the ring. I looked at Yin as he passed me, before leaping in to the ring himself. As his battle started, I rolled my eyes and went to go get some water. By the time I'd gone to the bathroom, gotten some water, and came back, the crowd was roaring with cheers. Apparently Yin had just won his battle.

I gulped as I stepped out and leaped on to the platform as Yin was standing there alone now. It was our turn. We were going for first and second. I smirked at Yin as I summoned my keyblade. Yin's bright blue eyes stared back at me. He didn't smirk like he normally would have. What was his deal today? He wore a pair of blue jeans like normal. His shirt was black with white sleeves and a white graphic print. He had a chain clipped to his belt loop that hung down at his side and led to his wallet. He also wore a black sweatband around his right wrist, a silver ring on his left hand, and a teardrop shaped necklace around his neck. He'd never told me where he'd gotten the necklace. Just that he'd gotten it when he was little.

His keyblade was pitch black. The edge was in the shape of a bird flying out, but it was pitch black. His hand guards were normal block bars that were also pitch black. However surrounding the entire blade was a dark purple aura. It was amazing. Around the blade it swirled up and down. It was, quite frankly, beautiful.

"Begin!"

I went to leap at Yin, but suddenly I found that it wasn't Yin standing there anymore. Suddenly it was a different boy. A boy with long, silver hair that went passed his shoulders. He had bright blue eyes and an expression of mystery. He wore a white vest that had a zipper and the collar was yellow. His pants were a pair of blue jeans that were baggy- only being held up by his studded black leather belt. He wore a pair of white and yellow tennis shoes and a white arm warmer-thing on his left hand. I didn't know who it was.

I blinked my eyes closed, and as I opened them I found Yin was already lunging at me. My eyes widened in shock as I brought my keyblade up to block it, putting my hand against the blade to help it. Yin only glared at me, before he spun around and went to hit my side. I leaped back, smacking Yin's arm as it went out. Yin hissed in pain, before he turned his keyblade and stabbed it in to my stomach.

I grunted and bent over as my left hand clutched my stomach, glaring at Yin as I gasped for breath. Yin went to hit me with a slash across my chest. I brought my keyblade up weakly to block it, but instead of blocking it was only smacked back over to my right side, leaving my chest open. I had finally caught my breath as Yin began to try and hit me with his keyblade again.

However, I misjudged it. I thought he was aiming higher than he was, so I ducked... expecting it to go over my head. However I was rudely answered by having his keyblade hit the right side of my head. There was a loud gasp from the audience as I tipped over to my left and then spilled on to the floor.

My vision was fuzzy. I was blinking rapidly, trying to get my vision under control... but nothing was helping. My keyblade was only a foot in front of me as I'd let it go after I'd fallen to the ground. I glanced at Yin... or what I hoped was the real Yin. I grabbed my keyblade quickly and made to slash at his legs, but Yin's fuzzy form leaped over my keyblade, and landed back in his original spot afterwords. I groaned and grabbed my head with my left hand as Yin's blurry form went to smash down on my chest with his keyblade.

I rolled to my left and got to my legs shakily. I wasn't giving up. Not yet. This wasn't over yet. Hoping I wouldn't pass out, I began a multitude of strikes at Yin. All of them were blocked of course, but I didn't stop the assault. There was a moment's pause between my assault, in which Yin began one of his own. Unconsciously, I was backing up with each of Yin's hits. Then, as Yin's still blurry image reeled his arm back with what I knew was going to be a big hit, I began running back as far as I could.

Yin had stopped his attack as he saw that I was across the arena now. Yin reeled his arm back from where he was, and instantly I knew he was going to throw his keyblade at me. I closed my eyes as I dodge rolled to my right. As I rolled to my feet and opened my eyes, I was answered by seeing the blurry image of Yin not three feet from me. He had run towards where he knew I would land, and shoved his keyblade in to the ground. He then used it as a propeller and was now in midair, leaning against it, and his legs were shooting out at me.

I grunted as both of Yin's feet slammed in to my chest, and sent me flying back. I smacked the arena floor with a loud thud, and slid across the floor. I felt my head going over the edge of the platform, and dug the nails of my left hand in to the ground along with the heels of my feet and the hilt of my keyblade. I made to get up,but was answered by a sharp point digging in to my neck. I cursed under my breath as I saw Yin's blurry form towering over me.

I smirked lightly. "Guess you're still the better fighter..." I muttered. Yin didn't reply. A wave of dizziness washed over me.

"Well? Do you give up?" Yin asked roughly. I waited a few more moments, and sighed in defeat.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm done." I said as I dismissed my keyblade.

Yin's keyblade disappeared, and I only saw his hand sticking out towards me. As I grabbed it and he helped me to my feet, my legs began to buckle underneath me. I groaned as I grabbed my head, but Yin caught me with a light laugh.

"Sorry 'bout that... but it was your fault." Yin laughed. I smirked as he was back to his normal self. He must've decided to be weird because of the tournament.

I laughed. "Yeah... it was my fault."

Mr. Then was standing in front of us then, and it was then that I realized how loud the audience was screaming. I motioned for Yin to let go of me, and as he did so (slowly might I add) I found that I could stand. For the time being anyway. Mr. Then stepped in between us and grabbed my right arm and Yin's left arm.

"Second place!" He shouted as he held my arm high up in the air. The audience roared with appraisal. I blinked a few times, trying to focus my eyesight so that I could find Shim, but it was impossible.

"First place!" He shouted as he put my arm down and shot Yin's in to the air. If possible, the audience began screaming and cheering even louder.

After a few moments Mr. Then let go of our arms. Yin instantly threw my arm over his shoulder and we headed to our dorms. We shared a room together, so thank god for that. When we got to our room Yin wouldn't let me sleep the way I wanted to. He made me sit in a chair in the bathroom as he inspected my head, apparently looking for any cuts for anything. He then made me watch his finger or something weird, shoved some bright light in my eyes, I don't know. It was annoying and weird and I just wanted to sleep.

"Looks like you have a concussion." He said. "But a mild one."

"Good for me! I'm going to bed now." I said. Quickly, before Yin could protest I darted out of the bathroom and leaped on to my bed, shoving my head on to my pillow.

I heard Yin chuckle. "You never change, Sora."

"Shut up, Riku."

I looked at Yin in confusion, and he did the same to me. What was going on? Sure, this had happened a few times, but never as much as it had been lately. Yin turned the light to the bathroom off and crashed on to his own bed. Guess it was time for an afternoon nap. I hoped to find Shim soon after we woke up.

Oh, yeah. Maybe I should explain some things to you. Unlike in Sora's time, it was common for us to have the couple hundred keyblade wielders that we had. Why had so many keyblade wielders turned up all of a sudden? Hell if I know. But they had. So one of The King Mickey's descendants opened up a sort of 'academy' at his castle. Mainly it was just a place for us to train and learn about Heartless and Nobodies, as they were still around. Eventually, if the current King found you capable enough, he'd place you in a team to go out on missions and destroy masses of heartless and what not.

I hoped to be put on a team soon. It was my dream. All I wanted to do was rid the worlds once and for all of Heartless.

A/N: Hope you liked it! I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney! Soo yeah! Please review, it'd mean a lot!

Also, I probably won't use many (if any) quotes from Birth by Sleep; as I haven't played it yet :/ I might use some, however, if I end up getting a PSP and playing it before this story is over. So yeah!

Also, I might not be able to update this story as quickly as I'd like. I have two other stories going that I refuse to abandon just to keep this one going. However I will try to update this one as much as possible. I am currently going to shoot for a chapter a week!

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