Author's Note: This chapter is pretty slow. Actually, the whole beginning has been, hasn't it? Well, this one might seem uninteresting, but there's some pretty important stuff in it anyway. So…yeah. Enjoy?

Also, I took a few liberties with existing Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy magic/techniques/spells/blah blah blah. So please don't point out any incongruities with the games, because they're purposeful.

Masquerade

Chapter Three: "Sanctuary"

Riku watched carefully as the thief disappeared into the crowd once more, his hand wandering to the small but heavy pouch she'd somehow slipped into his pocket as they were eating. He really disliked how easily she glided past his defenses. Yesterday he hadn't even noticed her presence until she'd been right in front of him. Now she was handing off little gifts without tripping any wires. He'd reached into his pocket to retrieve a small sum for her, as a thank you, and there had been her handiwork.

She'd winked at him then, saying there was no need for payment – she owed Cid a favor, after all. The blonde also mentioned that she'd taken a little extra, just in case.

Riku removed a handful of this extra and placed it neatly on the table. Without counting he knew it was more than enough to cover his bill and tip. He shrugged. Kairi probably deserved it after having to deal with him and his vagabond company two days in a row.

Rising, he exited the bistro slowly, nodding a farewell to Aerith and ignoring her questioning glance.

"Turn right ahead," a sullen, female voice whispered as he passed through the door. Careful to keep the appearance of looking straight ahead, he quickly scanned the crowd. A tall, stern woman with crimson eyes and messy, tarnished hair was leaning against the wall of Red Roses.

Under any other circumstances Riku would have found a way to inconspicuously double back, several times, and assess her. Now, however, he was expecting something like this. Rikku had told him about a cousin who was a healer, said she could get him a discount.

"Someone will be waiting outside for you. She'll show you where Yunnie's place is," the blonde had whispered before getting up to leave the restaurant.

So when the suspicious woman, barely clad in black and red leather with shining silver accents, whispered her directions, he followed them.

He turned right onto a smaller side street and walked straight for a long while, waiting patiently for her next instruction. When he approached a thin alleyway, he found her standing near its mouth, arms folded impatiently across her chest. He briefly wondered how she'd gotten there without him noticing, and if all of Rikku's friends were this sneaky and scarcely clothed.

They locked eyes, and Riku shivered at the unnatural color of hers. She nodded in the direction of the alley before slipping into its shadows. He followed her slowly until she stopped in front of a rusting door and motioned for him to enter.

"Thanks," he muttered as he passed by her, tensing slightly as the distance between them closed.

"No problem," she replied gravely, turning to leave him.

Riku took a deep breath before entering the building. With a location like this, and safe-keepers like that red-eyed girl and Rikku, he was beginning to question this Yunnie's quality as a healer.

True, Rikku had said her cousin was one of the best healers in the city, but how trustworthy was the word of a thief? And what right did an assassin have to wonder about trustworthiness?

The door swung shut with a heavy, metallic grind behind him, leaving him to climb a narrow, dimly lit staircase. He raised an eyebrow at the ornate door that waited for him at the top, painted in gold with bright red patterns around the edges.

Reaching out to knock, he sighed, knowing Cid and Leon would be upset with him for consulting an unknown healer without talking to them about it first. Then again, Cid would never have sent Rikku to see him if there was even the slightest possibility that she'd lead him to danger.

The door opened slowly to reveal a brown-haired young woman, her green and blue eyes watching him nervously. He was glad to see that she was properly dressed, fully covered by a white top and long, indigo skirt.

The skirt was decorated with light blue, threaded flowers, and a yellow, heavily embroidered belt, the intricacy of which indicated that she was very highly paid. Which obviously meant her work demanded it. Rikku hadn't been kidding, after all.

"Yunnie?" he asked, hating how childish the name sounded. It didn't fit the girl at all.

"Yuna, please," she said softly, stepping back to allow him to enter. The room's walls were draped with pale golden fabric, and a white-clothed table sat in the center. A shelf with various, brightly coloured vials stood to his right.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"It's quite alright. Yunnie is Rikku's nickname for me. To be honest, I don't really like it all that much." She laughed quietly, closing the door and motioning towards the table. "Please, take a seat and we'll get right to work."

The way Yuna spoke, quiet yet sure, reminded him of Aerith, and long sleeping impulses told him to trust her based on this resemblance alone. But honed instincts snarled and snapped, and his usual detachment set in.

"Rikku says you've been wounded fairly seriously. The injury is on your left side, correct?"

"How did she - " Riku began, suspicion hovering above him.

"I'm sure Cid must have explained the situation to her. As for me, I noticed that you're favoring your left a little when you walk," Yuna explained as the silver haired man hoisted himself onto the table in the center of the room.

"Yeah. It's a dagger wound. It refuses to close up. Leon suspected poisoning for a while, but Cloud didn't pick up anything when he scanned the wound."

"Let me see it?" the brunette asked calmly, her tone brimming with courtesy.

Riku nodded and removed his two zip-up vests, revealing a gaping wound just above his left hip. Yuna's eyebrows knit together in sympathy as she placed a hand in the air just over the wound. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.

"You've got a few lingering protection spells on the wound. I can't seem to break past the barriers they've created."

"Not even for a scan?"

"No. It seems whoever built these spells put up a specific protection against scanning. Best not to let enemies know your weaknesses, right?" She smiled softly and crossed the room to grab a bright green vial. To Riku's surprise, rather than offering it to him, she uncorked it and swallowed the contents herself.

"A Libra potion," she explained. "It strengthens my scanning."

She returned her hand to its position, hovering above his side, and within seconds had found something.

"Whoever attacked you placed an enchantment on their dagger. They cast a sapping spell on it, so that any wounds it leaves will slowly drain away your health. Luckily you managed to get enough healing spells on it quickly, so it didn't take too much away from you," the girl muttered apologetically. "Right now it's still in effect, but it's slowed down enough so that all it does is leave the wound open. Your body's natural healing process is currently at the same rate as the sapping."

"You can remove it, right?" Riku asked, concerned by this Sap spell. It sounded like he would have been in a lot of trouble if Cloud hadn't acted so quickly. He was suddenly very glad that he'd asked Leon and the blonde to come along on that last job.

"Unfortunately, no. The only thing that can remove Sap is time. I can, however, apply a regeneration spell."

The assassin nodded curtly as Yuna continued, a small frown puckering her lips.

"This will boost your natural healing so that the wound can finally close. It will wear off with time, but will last long enough so that the sapping spell will have lost effect long before Regen does."

"Sounds good."

"You should," the brunette warned, "scan yourself every once in a while, especially in your line of work, and especially for Sap. For whatever reason, the spell seems to have a stronger effect on you than it usually does on others."

Riku frowned. "For whatever reason? Could you be a little more specific than that?"

"Some people are just more vulnerable to certain magic. Keep that in mind," she winked, and he found it to be a tad out of character. "A careful scan can reveal these weaknesses to anyone who wants to know."


When Riku returned to his headquarters, Leon and Cid were waiting to lecture him, as expected. After a few moments of hearing the both of them complain about his carelessness, he'd gained enough strength to counter. He had a feeling that the nausea and fatigue he was experiencing was due in some part to the large amount of magic his body had been exposed to recently.

"She was a good healer, okay?" he snapped lightly, rolling his eyes and standing to his full height to try and match Leon's gaze. The brunette still managed to loom over him, clearly disappointed.

"Well I'm glad. But what if she wasn't?"

"I'd figured that if she was a friend of Rikku's it was trustworthy. Cid wouldn't have let me even look at the girl if there was the slightest chance she'd endanger me!"

"I said she owed me a favor, kiddo. I never said she wouldn't take a stab at ya," the older man growled. "The only reason I let you look at her was because it was in Aerith's place. I knew she wouldn't let anyone so much as pluck a hair from your head."

"Does it matter, anymore? The point is I'm okay, and it's because of Yuna!"

"Yuna? Well why didn't you say so?" Cid snapped, drawing a long puff from his cigar. "She and I go way back. Best healer you'll ever meet, aside from little miss Red Roses, of course."

Riku and Leon both sighed, simultaneously dragging hands through their thick locks.

"Where's Cloud?" the younger asked. "I have to discuss some things with him. And you too, but specifically him."

"He's in the office," Leon replied. Something about the tone of his voice caught Riku's attention, and the boy looked up at him questioningly. The brunette did not respond, only unfolded his legs, pushing away from the wall he'd been leaning against, and disappeared into said office. Riku followed without hesitation.

The blonde's expression, whatever it had been, disappeared as soon as Riku set foot in the room, and was replaced by a scrutinizing gaze.

"You've seen a healer already," he stated.

"Yes. It was a Sap spell," the other explained.

"Which would be why it didn't show up when I scanned for poison. She used a Regen spell to counter the effects?"

"Yeah. If you could start buffing yours up, that would be great. I'll also need you to help me with my own. Apparently I've got a high level of vulnerability when it comes to Sap so we'll need to be careful about that in the future."

Cloud nodded.

"Did Axel have any information on the target?" Leon asked, his tempestuous gaze flicking briefly towards the blonde.

Riku's brows knit together in confusion. "Nothing for us to go on, really. I'm meeting with him tomorrow to see if he's managed to gather anything else."

"What information did he have, Riku? You always say it's nothing to go on until you run it by us."

Scoffing, the younger assassin replied. "He suspects that Sora is involved with the Organization more than we think he is. Roxas has gone missing, and Axel thinks he's involved in that too."

Cloud responded without needing even a second to process this.

"If Roxas is gone he'll head to where ever he considered home to be, unless his disappearance is permanent."

"Twilight Town, then. If Axel thinks Sora's involved, we'll check Twilight Town for him," the brunette added immediately.

"Traverse Town is always a go-to when Twilight Town is considered. There's a lot of traffic between the two cities, and most assassins prefer to be on the move. Sora might be moving between two different headquarters."

Riku shook his head.

"No. If Sora's as good as he's rumored to be, staying put would actually be easier for him. That's why we don't switch bases anymore, after all."

Leon nodded. "We'll consider both cities anyway. Tomorrow we'll be able to narrow down possible locations, if Axel's able to prove his worth, that is."

His sentence was punctuated by a sharp knock at the door and a gruff cruse from Cid.

"Get out here, kid. Somebody's here to see you!"

Leon and Cloud jumped instantly from their places, crossing deliberately to the door, both tensed and ready to take any necessary action. They exited first, waiting next to the jambs so that they were flanking the younger man as he stepped out the door.

Cid nodded gruffly towards a young woman who stood, smiling widely, at the front of the room. She waved as three pairs of suspicious eyes fell on her.

She had short, raven hair, clipped close to her face and held out of her dark eyes with a grey headband. Khaki shorts and a deep green top, decorated with bright blue, belted straps, clothed her girlish body, still soft with youth. Her cheerful expression did not falter a bit as the trio searched for any hidden weapons.

Their trained eyes picked up on several pocketed shuriken, and found possible covers for them in her oversized orange gloves and loose, tan boots.

"Says her name is Yuffie," Cid growled, narrowing his eyes at the other men.

"Yup!" The girl chirped, tossing her head proudly. "I'm your new apprentice!"

"I don't need, or want, an apprentice," Riku said coldly.

"Aw! Well, why not? I heard you could use an extra hand around here."

"Heard? Where?" Riku's tone was even more frigid than it had been before, and he could feel Cloud and Leon tense further, waiting for so much as a suspicious breath, and ready to spring as soon as it left Yuffie's lungs.

She chuckled nervously, rubbing at the back of her neck as her smile slanted. "Not so much heard as hoped, really."

"How did you find us?" Leon snapped.

She shrugged.

"Get out," Cloud commanded, causing the girl to whine softly. At a sidelong glare from Cid, she grimaced.

"Yeesh, alright, I'm gone. But I'll be around if you need that extra hand!"

As she left the apartment, Riku let out a slow, heavy sigh.

"Time for a change in location?" Leon drawled.