Another close call. Haha. Anyway, here is chapter seven. I hope you all enjoy it. Nothing really to report this time. My birthday is on Wednesday. I turn 20... Man I feel old.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Kingdom Hearts. If I did then there wouldn't be so many plot holes and contradictions in Yu Yu Hakusho.


Chapter 7

Eventually the group quit joking and Yusuke pulled Kuwabara up before punching him in the face. When Kuwabara asked why, Yusuke replied that he was an idiot. Kurama watched the scene, amused while Hiei and Gnocx were indifferent. After Kuwabara recovered, he once again mourned the loss of his jacket, causing eyes to roll. The team of five finally leapt from platform to platform to reach the side of the room opposite where they entered and took the exit. They walked along until reaching another door that led to the interior returning to that of a castle. They opened the door and were presented with nothing but a spiral staircase. One by one they went up and came to the end of the stairs that led to a hallway lit with torches and branched off to smaller corridors. The hallway was incredibly long and ended at a set of double doors that looked as if they would open to a king's throne room. They began the trek down the hallway and while the long walk continued Kuwabara decided to break the silence.

"So," he began. "Just two Saint Beasts left, huh?"

"Yes," Kurama said.

"Good," Yusuke replied. "Let's kick their asses so we can go home and I can get some sleep."

"Good to know that you have your priorities clear," Gnocx replied, dryly.

"Yes, but let's not forget that there is one of these mysterious Heartless roaming about, so it's will take a bit of time," Hiei pointed out.

"I can taste your curiosity," Gnocx replied with a hint of Hiei's own sarcasm.

"Why would one of these things be here anyway?" Yusuke asked, looking back at Gnocx.

"As I said before the Heartless are darkness manifested into physical form. Darkness can come in many forms. My guess is the darkness sprouted from the greed in the hearts of the Saint Beasts brought them here," Gnocx replied only to be met with a blank look from Yusuke and Kuwabara scratching his head in befuddlement. "Think about it. I told you before that Heartless are essentially darkness and negative emotions in physical form. Every living being has some form of darkness in their hearts. The beast's darkness manifests from their greed as criminals, and their desire to finally leave Maze Castle as well as their anger that is directed at Spirit World for putting up that barrier. The Heartless that already exist are attracted to the darkness in their hearts. I'm surprised that the beasts themselves haven't been turned into Heartless yet."

"Wait, whoa, whoa," Yusuke interrupted. "People can change into them?"

"Yes," was the simple reply.

"And how would that be?" Hiei inquired.

"When someone lets the darkness in their hearts consume them, then they are transformed into heartless and their hearts are stolen from them,"

"I had actually never heard of the Heartless before this mission," Kurama pointed out.

"From what that fool, Koenma, told the two of us, it isn't surprising," Hiei said.

"What did he tell you?" Kuwabara asked.

"He essentially told us that the Heartless are typically an…otherworldly problem," Kurama said.

Kurama's statement caused Gnocx to whip his neck to look at him.

"Somehow I'm not surprised he'd know about them," Gnocx told him resignedly. "He is a sort of god after all. What about me?"

"Hold on," Yusuke interrupted again. "What do you mean 'otherworldly'?"

"We're getting to that," Kurama explained before turning back to Gnocx. "He saw you when you first arrived. He recognized your coat and deduced that you weren't from this world."

"So, he knew the whole time and didn't even tell his subordinate what she was getting into," Gnocx said more to himself, referring to when Botan, Yusuke, and Kuwabara showed up on his doorstep. "I didn't think that this coat would be that widely associated."

"I'm so confused," Kuwabara said.

"That's no surprise," Hiei prodded. "Just do yourself a favor and keep silent while the more intelligent of us explain things."

"You wanna die, shrimpy?" Kuwabara yelled.

"That's enough," Yusuke chastised. "Shut it before I put you both in the corner."

That last remark got a chuckle from Kurama and a set of glares from Hiei and Kuwabara at both of them, Gnocx just stared blankly at their antics.

"Anyway," Yusuke continued. "Explain yourselves please before I need to pound you two for being vague."

Kurama and Gnocx looked at each other before Gnocx decided to bluntly lay it all on the table.

"Essentially," he began, "I'm from another world."

This statement got a weird look from Yusuke as he appeared to be processing what was just said.

"Wait you mean like you're from Demon world?" Yusuke asked.

Gnocx looked at him.

"No," he replied without any elaboration.

"Then what the hell do you mean?" Yusuke asked.

"There are countless different worlds out there. More than just Spirit World, Demon World, and the Human World you come from. You can refer to them as alternate dimensions if you wish. That day you found me in the park, Kuwabara, was the day I arrived in this world."

"Hmm," Kuwabara said warily. "I guess that's why I felt something weird from you that day. Just…don't probe me or whatever it is you aliens do."

"Alien?" Gnocx parroted. "Probe?"

Yusuke glared at Kuwabara for his stupidity.

"I fear that you may be watching to many science fiction movies, Kuwabara," Kurama said with a sweat drop.

"I don't probe," Gnocx deadpanned. "I guess it's good to know you weren't actually stalking me."

"Are you still on about that?" Kuwabara screeched, attitude doing a complete 180.

"This sounds like it has a story behind it," Hiei pointed out, amused.

"Let's hear this stalker story," Yusuke said with a malicious grin aimed at Kuwabara.

"There's nothing to know!" Kuwabara bellowed.

"I'll tell you about it once we are through here," Gnocx appeased and the Spirit Detective gave him an appreciative look, anything to get an embarrassing story about Kuwabara.

Kuwabara continued to flush in embarrassment as they got closer to the doors.

"How did you get here?" the orange head asked after a moment.

Gnocx responded by reaching into one of the pockets of his coat and pulling out his Star Shard. He showed it to the group who peered at it curiously.

"It looks like a piece of messed up jewelry," Kuwabara assessed.

"I assure you it's more than that, but I'll explain that later as well," Gnocx told them.

"At least I have a reason to skip school now," Yusuke said with a hint of excitement.

"I don't know, Urameshi," Kuwabara said. "Keiko may not like that too much."

"Meh," Yusuke shrugged off. "She'll get over it."

"You're gonna skip school, to hear my five minute explanation?" Gnocx asked dully.

"You bet your ass I am," Yusuke said with pride.

"Who's this, Keiko?" Kurama asked, changing the subject.

"Yusuke's girlfriend," Gnocx answered.

"She is not my girlfriend," Yusuke gritted. "And what would you know anyway?"

"Do the words, 'I left Keiko at the movie theater' not give that meaning or is it just me?" Gnocx asked.

Yusuke's cheeks got a light dusting of pink from embarrassment while Kuwabara laughed and Kurama chuckled. Hiei just tsk'd and muttered something about stupid humans and how he would never understand them. After what seemed like a small eternity, the group arrived at the set of doors. Yusuke stepped forward to open them.

"Wait," Gnocx said as he walked up to stand beside him.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked as Gnocx placed his hand on one of the doors.

"Looks like you were wrong, Kuwabara," the Nobody told him. "Yusuke's fight isn't next. Mine is."

"Seriously?" Yusuke gaped before turning his gaze to the doors.

"It's on the other side of these doors," Gnocx explained. "I can feel it."

Gnocx then put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder and softly pushed him to the side before grabbing both doors and opening them. The five walked into a large, square shaped room. This room was significantly lit because hanging from the ceiling was a huge chandelier that hung from a chain on the ceiling. There were also lit torches lining the wall as well as rows of thin pillars in a line a few feet from the walls on each side. There was only one problem with the room.

"There's nothing here," Kuwabara pointed out as he looked around nervously.

"It appears as if your sense was wrong," Hiei said a bit smugly as the rest entered the room.

They noticed that there was a door on the other side of the room and Yusuke made to start walking toward it. Before he could get far, a gloved hand cut across him and kept him from going further.

"What is it?" Kurama, who was right behind them, asked.

Gnocx didn't respond, but he had his sight on something toward the ceiling. At the same time the others looked up to follow his sight.

"What the hell is that?" Kuwabara yelled as the others had looks of mild shock.

The 'that' that Kuwabara was referring to was what appeared to be a dark blot on the ceiling. Like someone had spilled a giant ink well over it; except for the fact that it was squirming and appeared to be spreading. It got to the point where the whole ceiling was coated in an inky blackness and it only continued to spread down the walls. Suddenly the group turned as the door they came in from was slammed shut and coated with the blackness. It didn't stop until it covered the walls and spread to the floor, harmlessly passing their feet as if nothing were there and coating the entire floor, turning the entire room into a dark prison.

"What is this?" Yusuke said slowly

"Stay back," Gnocx instructed as he took a few steps toward the center of the room.

On the ceiling, a portion of the dark mass seemed to begin to drip off of the ceiling. The drop got bigger and bigger until eventually it detached from the ceiling and slowly floated down. It stopped, hovering a few feet off the ground, where it expanded like a balloon. It got to be almost ten times Gnocx's size at the least before it exploded in a cloud of dark energy. Gnocx threw his hands in front of his face as he was bombarded by the gale from the explosion. His coat billowing from the force, but he was able to keep his ground. The others tried to keep their footing, but Kuwabara was knocked over and flew into the wall. Kurama skid back about a foot, while Hiei and Yusuke kept their positions. Then, before anyone could do anything, some sort of clear barrier wall appeared and separated Gnocx from the rest of the team. The wind stopped and everyone opened their eyes. Eyes went wide at what was before them.

"Holy shit!" Yusuke exclaimed while the other three just stared wide eyed.

The monster standing not 20 feet from Gnocx was just that, a beast. It easily was large enough to occupy enough space height wise to reach about a third of the way to the ceiling. It was large, black, and crouched on all fours. Its mouth was open and bared a set of fangs as it stared Gnocx down with its glowing yellow eyes. On top of its head was what could be equated to a mane. The mane was a dark purple color and flowed behind it as if there were a constant breeze. Suddenly it stood on its back legs, revealing that it didn't need all four and roared at the team while flexing its claws and exposing the Heartless insignia on its chest.

"So this is a Heartless," Kurama said.

"How the hell are you supposed to beat this thing on your own?" Yusuke yelled at Gnocx.

Gnocx remained silent and held out his hand. One of his blades appeared and he got into a battle ready stance.

"He's dead," Kuwabara said with a certainty accompanied by his shaking.


I drew inspiration in designing this heartless from the boss in Beast's Castle in KH2 and the red eyes boss of BBS: Final Mix. So that's why it will be familiar to those of you who recognize it. I can't wait to get the next chapter up. I believe it may be the best chapter I've written and it made me smile when my editor read it because she said she was on the edge of her seat throughout the whole fight.

Next Time: Gnocx faces off with the biggest Heartless he has fought. Will he find a way to triumph, or will he fall?